Grilling Wagyu at Rakuken Taipei
Tonight was a night to try out a place I missed last time I was in Taipei, Rakuken. It’s a yakiniku restaurant that’s pretty difficult to get reservations for. This time around we got reservations way in advance, many weeks ahead. It’s located in Da’an which I tend to see as a hub for all the mid to high range eats in the city. Sure, there are great establishments around the city. It just feels like there’s many located around this neighborhood. Rakuken being one of those places.
I must confess, this place did haunt me on Instagram. The shots off beef on the cow shaped tray lured me in, while the comments about the food eventually had me sold. This became a spot for me to try. Silly huh? Well, it’s not the first time my social feed made me crave something. All I follow is food pics for goodness sakes. I may need help.
Back to the restaurant. The meat locker displayed their selection of wagyu. Very impressive. I’m so glad they’ll be matching the meet to the area of the cow because I could only identify two of the cuts, “that looks like sirloin and that filet mignon.” I probably got them wrong. Anyways, this was in the lobby where we spent only 5 minutes while our table was being set up.
No, this was not our dinner seating. It’s the waiting room seats. And you would be correct to think that I wanted to take at least one home with me. Unfortunately, I could not stuff them into my bag.
Our actual seating was bar seating. There’s only four seats available here. It comes complete with a grill that the wait staff will man and gives you a peek into the back kitchen. Lots going on behind the scenes. They’re preparing the cut trays of meat and preparing all the other dishes if you’ve ordered the sets. Don’t worry, you will get a closer look at the selection of meats. They bring out their proud cuts to each table to help you decide on dinner. We were almost sold on the Blackmore Wagyu. Almost. Instead, we decided to utilize our budget for a wider sampling of beef.
Once we settled on our set of five Japanese and one Australian cuts of beef along with other courses at $7800 NTD (there are less expensive ones at $6800 and $5800 NTD which has less Japanese beef), it was time to sit back and let the food come to us. This place was all about service. They bring out the food to you, let you take pictures, grill the meat for you, and let you know which condiment works best with the piece. I like that. No thinking, just eating and deciding what tasted the best. By the end of the night, we settled on two favorites. They just happen to be the ones we ordered a la carte. Not to say the others weren’t good. They were. We can’t help having our must try selections at yakiniku restaurants.
Rakuken Taipei
No. 9, Lane 91, Section 4, Ren’ai Road
Da’an District
Taipei City, Taiwan 106
Verdict: Very pricey and spot on for service. However, personally, I will probably find myself returning to other establishments.
We finished off our meal with a milky dessert. I don’t recall too much about it due to the impending food coma. Must have been good since I did finish it.
And finally, my favorite cut of beef. Although it’s not the fattiest cut, I still enjoy the tenderness even if it’s not at the level of melt in your mouth type of wagyu cut.
These are the cuts of hanger steak being prepared on the grill. Looking back now, you get a lot more than you’d think for the price. Kinda glad this wasn’t America where the price of this cut has gone way up.
As for me, I added the filet mignon to our meal. Why? Well I wanted to make sure to try something that wasn’t too too high in fat. This would be it right? $1380 NTD
Okay, this was the addon my gf picked. In direct translation from Chinese, it’s the “diaphragm” muscle. Since I never heard of this cut, I had to look it up. For Americans, it’s usually cut into two and sold as either hanger steak or skirt steak. Given that this wasn’t as tough as skirt steak, it must be the other. And boy did it taste good. $780 NTD
At any other seating, this would be the star of the show. Tender cuts of beef with a crunchy tofu skin wrapped in that soft warm bun. Great taste but I had to make room for more beef.
What do we have here. Beef… noodle… no not soup. Simply beef and noodles. Nice and chewy. It has the main ingredients of nu ro mien with even some of its flavoring, but without the broth.
Did I say that other cut was pretty rich? Well, this one is even richer in fat. Oh, we needed to hit the brakes a bit after this one.
This was a nice surprise, a light broth with tasty little clams.
I believe this was the ribeye, cooked on cast iron. This was pretty rich. So glad we shared it between two. I don’t think I’d be able to eat any more if I had the whole thing.
The salad was less like a salad with the dragon fruit and candy tomato. But between the courses it’s help reset your palate. Note, you can ask for more if you really like it.
Here’s the finish product. Okay, maybe it was pretty difficult. One of the slices didn’t make it through the grilling.
Here, our server is grilling our meat, along with two slices of wild truffle. Yeah, that’s pretty tough to do. They are quite thin.
It was great to see briquettes being used in the grill. There are other cooking methods like on a cast iron pan, but this was my favorite when it comes to grilling. I sure hope those we live briquettes burning.
Here was our wagyu set. It’s all laid out in relation to the parts of the cow. Not exact placement of course, but gives you an idea. You can tell visually which parts are the fattiest parts.
Here’s the actual appetizer, our first course, a slice of rare wagyu in a light kombu broth.
These came out first making us think that they were the appetizers in the set. They really weren’t. Though you can munch on the kimchi, pickled daikon, and pickled cucumbers while you wait. I did find them quite refreshing in between the courses and you can always ask for more.