$1 "STANDING ONLY" Sushi & UNLIMITED A5 Kobe Beef Hotpot in Tokyo Japan

Good morning! Before getting into this Japanese food video, my Japanese snack boxes just arrived. So, a little Japanese snack time with the sponsor of this video, Tokyo Treat and Sakurako. Start with Sakurako. This month's theme is... Valentine's Bliss. And if you guys don't know, Tokyo Treat and Sakurako are Japanese snack subscription boxes. And these boxes are very different from each other. So with Sakurako, you'll get 20 artisanal, authentic, traditional Japanese snacks. Inside every month's box, you're also gonna get a tea and also a tableware item. And this month, first of all, looks like a deep-fried skritt cracker. This is really, really interesting. Check this out. It's a kanako dumpling. Look at it. A little skewer. Very delicate and a strong soybean flavor. I really like Sakurako because I prefer traditional, artisanal Japanese snacks. And a lot of times, the snack makers that Sakurako soars from has been around for over 100 years. So you're literally getting a taste of traditional Japanese culture. Plus, every single box comes with a booklet that tells you what all the snacks are. Interesting cultural tidbits from Japan. Next, the Tokyo Treat box. And this month's theme is my snack in Valentine. Again, booklet detailing all the snacks. Fun information about Japanese culture. And with the Tokyo Treat box, you'll get 20 of the latest, most exclusive, limited edition seasonal Japanese snacks that are only available in Japan. And this month's KitKat flavor is daifuku. And daifuku are mochi treats with azuki or red beans inside. It literally tastes like a crunchy, chocolatey daifuku. Also, this is real interesting. Plump chips. Oh, these chips are amazing. If you want to get this month's box, you have until the 15th of February. So what I love about this company's mission is that they're trying to promote the awesomeness that is Japanese traditional culture through the medium of snacking, which I wholeheartedly agree with. So if you want to give this a try, go to my link down below. You use my promo code, dumpling, and you'll get $5 off your first Sakurako box or $5 off your first Tokyo Treat box. And this is a great way to bring a bit of Japanese culture into your own homes. Like I said, every single month I get these boxes. I just feel so excited. I'm sure you will as well. I'm gonna eat these snacks for breakfast and enjoy the video. Guys, Mike Chen here in Tokyo starting today's food day a little later. But I've never been inside one of these standing-only sushi places. And check out this deal. So the price ranges from about 80 yen to about 400 yen. So at today's conversion rate, about 50 cents to about 3 bucks per piece. Let's go try some. So for 80 yen, it's about 50 cents. You can get the squid, the tamago. You get mackerel for 80 yen? No way. You can also get nigitoro. So you can just order and then he'll mark it on a little sheet in front of you while you order. That's so good. I love this. Salmon is so fatty and delicate. Oh, that mouthfeel is out of this world. The quality of sushi here is really nice. The rice deliciously vinegary. And the chef is just remembering all the orders you just call out. So whenever you want to eat something, just call out. He'll make it fresh for you, put it right in front of you and you're eating. I mean, I'm not the sushi expert of the world, but the quality is fantastic. The value is just tremendous. This is such a good place to come if you want to try some delicious sushi. You don't want to pay that much. The shrimp is so sweet. Again, every single piece I had, it's just ridiculously delicate and fresh. Really lean piece of tuna. Freshest can be. Softest can be. Under a dollar for that piece. And this is the ultimate. Eat a lean piece, chase it with a fatty piece. I mean, maybe it's because the fish market is right next door to this place. But the quality is just mind-blowing. I can't believe based on the price how good this is. That scallop is just so sweet. This is a gem of a place. I highly, highly recommend coming here. If you love sushi, the atmosphere is nice. The chef is really friendly. It's all locals here. I'm here on a Saturday afternoon. All locals. Amazing. Standing sushi bar right on the edge of Tsukiji. So many delicious pieces. Everything came out to be under 10 US dollars. The chef is so accommodating. Everyone, they're so lovely. You don't have to speak English. They got an English menu. They work with you. That's a high, high, high recommend right there. So Starbucks in Japan has a ton of stuff. They have meatball sandwiches, hojicha mousse cake. There's also strawberry crepe cake. And they have this. This is a Starbucks strawberry brownie frappuccino. And when this first came out, the line was about three hours. And every single Starbucks wouldn't get one of these. It's not fresh strawberries, but you taste a little brownie bits. And for some reason, it's not overly sweet. So this thing is fruity, it's crunchy, and nice and creamy. It's not wait three hours good, but maybe it's a wait 30 minutes good. Welcome to dinner. Whenever I'm around Ginza, I always look for all-you-can-eat yakiniku or shabu places. And I just found this one. This shop serves three of the best known Wagyu in Japan. The Kobe, the Matsuzaka, and the Omi. And the menu goes from 11,000 to 30,000 yen. I got the 20,000 yen just kind of in the middle, the medium all-you-can-eat, which includes A5 Wagyu sirloin. I think what you get of the 30,000 is Kobe beef sirloin. Either way, you're getting Kobe beef, Matsuzaka beef, and Omi beef. This should be good. So they first bring in a box of assorted vegetables and mushrooms. Dipping sauce right up front. Sesame paste, a miso, and the broth right here. I think this is dashi as well. The sirloin that I'm paying extra for. Looks like thin slices of beef that just braved through a snowstorm. Patches of white marbling streaking throughout. And this is an assorted plate of meat. So this is what I'm paying extra here. I paid about, I think, a 10,000 yen extra to get this. But just a regular beef they give you with a shabu looks amazing. And it looks like on the menu, over a dozen cuts of meat that I could order. This is definitely the best cut. Let's eat. Itadakimasu. My mouth is watering so hard right now. Let's start with this. This is a mix of Matsuzaka, Omi, and Kobe. Three of the best, highest quality wagyu in Japan. Not to overstate it, but this is the most beautiful looking slice of meat. This piece is surrounded. And of course, fat is just coursing through this thin slice. There's definitely more fat than lean. And this thing cooks about seven, eight seconds. There you go. I'm gonna choose the sesame sauce for this one. When I took a bite of that, the theme song for Highlander by Queen just popped into my head. You know, the whole thing about like, you know, one can be my equal. Not much really in this world can top that bite. Sukiyaki and shabu is some of the best ways to eat wagyu. Just because when you grill it, sometimes the fat content tends to tend to render off. You don't want it to render off. You want that marbling to stay put. And oh my goodness, how it melts. Just absolute perfection. It looks like beef that got snowed on. But when it touches your tongue, it disappears like snow. Instant. Again, don't have to boil it too long. And the sesame plays, it brings a really nice creamy flavor. But really, you don't need much. A little dashi. And just let that wagyu do its thing. Listen to the amazing quality wagyu. Of course, it's not a cheap, all-you-can-eat buffet. But for the price you're paying, you're definitely getting the good stuff. So different dipping sauce. Sesame, dashi, yuzu, and miso. And I'm still feasting off the plate of meat that you would get if you get the cheapest option of the all-you-can-eat, which I think is about 11,000 yen. But you are getting some amazing A5 wagyu. That's not bad. Miso is perfect for dipping this. A little sweet, tons of umami mixed in with the meat. I do see a difference between this cut, which is already so ridiculously marbled, with this. This just looks like the ultimate in luxury. Look at this. I'll put it side by side. Already delicious, melt-in-your-mouth wagyu. This is the sirloin that I paid a lot extra for. You can see that less fat around the edges. 100% more marbling in the sirloin. It's almost translucent. You can almost see through this. Again, cooks in under 10 seconds. Dip this in a little dashi. It's just the best of the best. I didn't even get the 30,000 yen option, which is even better than this. Even just tasting this right now, it's hard to see something that's better than this. Even more buttery than the already extremely buttery wagyu. I feel like this place has some cuts that's a little more lean, so you get more of a beefy flavor. The sirloin, it's just pure butter. You still are getting a nice beef flavor because the sirloin is a more of a leaner cut, so you're not getting overwhelmed by the marbling, by the fat, but this is just so velvety when you chew it. There's nothing like this. I mean, I don't care how many times I've had 85 wagyu. Every single time I eat it, it just shocks me all over again. I always recommend this whenever you come to Japan. If you can, find some amazing all-you-can-eat 85 wagyu steak places, like a shabu place or a yakiniku place. I mean, you can go to a fancy restaurant and get a steak for over $100, maybe $200, maybe $300, but coming to places like this, if you just want to get the $70 option, it's such a great deal. Amazing, amazing quality stuff. Round one is done, and the vegetables laid out so beautifully. Radish. I have all sorts of different mushrooms. Some enoki, oyster mushrooms. These ones are really interesting. Oh, these red mushrooms. I've never seen these before. Wood ear. A lot of mushrooms go in the broth. I'm gonna make this broth nice and earthy. Put some tofu in here. What I feel the vegetables' role is, it's just to enable you to eat more wagyu, so it cuts down on that fattiness, and that's why I would always recommend dipping it in the yuzu sauce. I mean, the sesame paste is delicious, but it's gonna get heavy really quick. Now, the shabu is getting interesting with the veggies in there, and the veggie is gonna be boiled in a nice beef juice. Wagyu with some mushrooms. Oh, this red mushroom is so meaty and nice. Mushrooms go so well with the beef. Just a little difference in texture because the mushrooms are so snappy, and the beef's so buttery. Of course, vegetables, all you can eat as well. So the original platter, there's a lot of different cuts. I had the menu translated. They have close to 20 different cuts of beef. There's some different cuts of pork as well. You can get a pork platter. Some of them taste way leaner than others. There were some cuts, I think it might be the loin. Really, really lean. I don't recommend that. Oh my gosh, I didn't even realize this. Having so much fun eating. This is so delicious. I've been here over an hour. Most of the time, these all-you-can-eat places are 90 minute time limit. I have 30 minutes. So I'm gonna see you guys for noodle time. So last order. All in all, probably put in about eight orders of meat. It does start dwindling as you progress. So eventually, they just start bringing us like one or two slices per plate. And then they did bring over noodles. Fresh noodles, aka, please stop eating our meat. But I did find that if you continue to order that meat mountain they have here, that doesn't get much smaller. So got one last one of those, and then I'm gonna chase it with these noodles. Noodles I don't love. They were pre-cooked, so a little soggy. Everything else though, from the meat to the vegetables, especially the mushrooms. Amazing. But for me, I think next time, come back, get the meat mountain. I'll be really happy. This is a really good place though. Everyone's super friendly. They speak English. I will recommend. Oh wow, the place I wanted to go to. One has a line wrapped around that corner. Holy moly. Both places just opened too. This is the other location. Slightly less wait. So this is a udon restaurant. One of my favorites in Tokyo because they serve these super wide. Look at this. Super wide udon noodles. And all sorts of different broths, dipping sauces. And this one is their seasonal one, which comes with egi, kura, little fishies, scallions. All in a dashi broth. That's so good. That is so good. This place is so good. That's why there's always a line in front of the door. The broth's refreshing. It's very seafood-y, a little creamy from the egg yolk. And you get a little burst of the kura in here. The noodles are just so refreshingly chewy. A little bit of okra here as well, along with the scallions. And the little fishies provides such a clean flavor that's filled with umami. This other set I got, beautiful, freshly made udon. Surrounded by the wide, flat udon on the side. So you get two different types of texture. Wasabi, radish, dipping sauce here. I think this is sesame. Sesame, there's hot dashi. I think a little bit of yuzu. Beautiful tempura on a bolt as well. This one's sashimi, konjac jelly, and little pickles. Put the wasabi, and the scallions, and the radish into the dipping sauce. Start with some perilla leaves. The tempura is absolutely perfect. Absolutely perfect. So light and crunchy. Whenever I have the option of getting cold udon, always try the cold udon. The texture is just unreal. The chew, the refreshingness of the noodles. The clean, smooth slurp that comes with every single strand. And it grabs onto the dipping sauce so well. And a cluster of mushrooms. The wide udon texture, a little less chewy than the thick regular udons. But it is way smoother and more delicate. If you're a fan of udon, this is definitely something you should try. Pairs so well with the tempura. Every single ingredient is so fresh and nice. When you come out of Pai, there's also a store where you can buy the noodles to take home. I've been sneezing, I ate so much. I gotta line up. At least an hour away. I've never seen this before. This is um, looks like dinner rolls stuffed with fruit. Muscat grape one, and a regular grape one. Looks like a dinner roll stuffed with grapes. That's pretty much what it looks like. I mean also kind of looks like a pokeball. It looks like a dinner roll stuffed with grapes. It tastes just like a dinner roll stuffed with grapes. Last thing I'm eating before heading off to film a ginormous Wagyu cowboy steak. That's why I ate so light today. As always, all the places I went to is down below for you guys. Thank y'all so much for watching. Until we eat again, see you later.