Wagyu Yakiniku Kakunoshin Roppongi

Restaurant Details

If you think you know wagyu, think again when you step into Kakunoshin.

A wagyu specialist eatery in Roppongi, Kakunoshin occupies a charming building by the station. The first floor is reserved for a creative “niku kappo” venue, where small seasonal dishes complement the meat offerings. The third floor is dedicated to Wagyu Yakiniku Kakunoshin Roppongi, focused solely on one thing: mouthwatering wagyu grilling.

Helmed by Iwate-native Chiba Matsuo, whose family has raised wagyu cattle for three generations, Kakunoshin represents his passion for defining — and redefining — the potential of wagyu. In fact, when his elementary school in Iwate closed down, Chiba transformed the site into a sprawling hamburger production facility and “meat school.”

It’s no surprise that Kakunoshin’s wagyu degustation is a revelation. Chiba selects female Japanese kuroge wagyu, aged for 30 months, weighing 400 kilograms. The beef is aged in-store in a climate-controlled chamber, then hung, sectioned and grilled tableside on an iron mesh, using only wagyu fat and his signature “Water Balloon Method” — no seasoning needed. The result is ridiculously good, hitting all the right notes of robustness and tenderness.

Other menu items are equally spectacular. Instead of seaweed, thick-sliced wagyu wraps around sushi rice in a gunkan-style dish, topped with uni and Hokkaido crab. The chilled chawanmushi, made with eggs and finely chopped shiitake mushrooms from Iwate, has a delightfully grainy texture. And there’s the oriental take on America’s surf and turf: a massive pocket of wagyu stuffed with scallops.

Drinks do justice to the food, too. Head manager Toda Akiko explains their sake philosophy — for instance, pairing chilled chawanmushi with warm sake to evoke the feeling of being “in an onsen.” These days, Chiba still shares his latest wagyu R&D and meat activities online. It's no surprise he’s affectionately called the “Niku Ojisan” — the “Meat Uncle.”