Miyazaki Gyu Restaurant: Experience Luxurious Japanese Wagyu Beef in BGC
MIYAZAKI GYU, as the name suggests, serves Japanese Black Wagyu Beef from the Miyazaki prefecture in Japan. That information alone should be enough to convince you to visit this place. The restaurant is located at the Podium Level of One McKinley Place on 26th St., Bonifacio Global City.
The place is cozy, with only about 30 available seats so it’s probably best to call ahead to make a reservation. Before I talk about the meal that I had here, let me give you a glimpse of a couple of slabs of Miyazaki Beef. It’s good to appreciate this beef before it is cooked and sliced so that you can really see the extent of the marbling in all its glory.
Beef this good can’t just be handled by any chef. The menu here was designed by former Iron Chef Challenger Kensuke Sakai. In fact, my friends and I were lucky enough to have our sukiyaki and yakiniku prepared by Chef Sakai right in front of us! What a surreal experience!
Now, we can’t expect Chef Sakai to prepare meals tableside for all the guests at all times. However, you can rest assured that each morsel that goes into your plate was vouched for by a chef of his caliber.
Let’s talk about the food. We started our meal with a selection of appetizers. The salad was soba done two ways. Some of the noodles were boiled as usual but some were fried until crispy. This gave the salad an interesting crunch. Slices of sukiyaki beef provided a decadent and savory accent to an otherwise light and refreshing dish.
It’s hard to choose a favorite in this ensemble menu. I really liked the roasted nori flavor that came from the beef maki rolls. This came with a sweet, almost teriyaki-like sauce so there was no need to dip it in soy. The nigiri-style sushi was also divine. Paper-thin slices of Miyazaki Wagyu Beef were laid on top of sushi rice. A hint of ginger completed the medley of subtle flavors that complemented the buttery beef.
To better appreciate the beautiful Miyazaki Wagyu Beef, we tried the steak tartare. Raw beef is chopped and mixed with eggs, chives, fried garlic and mayo before being served on top of crispy baguettes. The creaminess of the beef is really evident when served this way. Simple, elegant and extravagant all at the same time.
Moving on to the first of several main courses, the Beef & Reef is a combination of Miyazaki Wagyu Beef Steak and Garlic Butter Prawns. The prawns actually had a hint of Marinara flavor to them. It threw me off because I wasn’t expecting it. However, it was a good way to cut through many of the soy-based flavors that we were having. Needless to say, the beef was seared to perfection. I had mine rare while most of the others had theirs served medium rare. DIVINE!
They also had a unique take on the beef gyudon here. Instead of beef strips, they have a minced beef rice box. the flavors were almost exactly like a gyudon except the beef was minced. This is sure to be a lunch time favorite every time I find myself in the area!
Now for the real heavyweights. Remember those slabs of Miyazaki Beef that Chef Sakai and I were holding? Thin slices were taken from those slabs of carnivore gold and they went into the sukiyaki that Chef Sakai prepared for us. Each movement was so calculated and precise. I couldn’t tell if he was cooking or dancing. Such a respect for the ingredients!
I have run out of words to describe this dish. You will need to try it for yourself to understand why 100g of Premiere Beef Sukiyaki costs Php2,200. It may not be for everyday consumption, but I promise you that it’s worth saving up for!
Since quite frankly, we can’t really have enough of this glorious Miyazaki Wagyu Beef, we finished off our meal with a Yakiniku Mix Platter. Five different cuts of meat all kissed by the intense heat of the grill. The smell was intoxicating and the taste was just incredible. In lieu of cake, this was our dessert. And why not? It sure was a treat!
See the full menu and prices on Zomato: