The course comprises twelve dishes that change monthly but always with steak as the climax. Every guest is given ample opportunity to savor Jun Tajima-gyu beef – incredible wagyu deserving of the title of Japan’s best. Chef Tanaka is uniquely skilled in presenting the niku kappo counter fine-dining style featuring wagyu; the genre requires the master to seamlessly incorporate a commanding presence like premium wagyu beef into the delicate style of Japanese cuisine.

He formulates dishes with ingredients to complement the premium beef, with each cut given unique and minimal treatment, only possible because of Tanaka’s unparalleled knowledge of the product. He uses kombu and salt to cure and tenderize and exquisite knife cuts to showcase the product he is so proud of. You can hear guests’ collective oohs and aahs as he slices into the beef, revealing the mouthwatering, juicy inside.

Guided by the ingredients in every moment, Chef Tanaka considers it a privilege to work with this beef. His gentle touches create culinary masterpieces for guests to savor in presentations and on tableware that elevate the food to works of art. The sommelier’s selection of fine wines is the final puzzle piece in a deeply satisfying meal.

One course in a traditional Japanese meal is always served in a lidded dish, and Tanaka’s warming creation is a plump, succulent dumpling filled with snow crab. A signature dish born at the flagship restaurant, Nagoya’s Setsugekka, contains kombu-cured Tajima-gyu lean thigh meat wrapped in crips seaweed with a green shiso leaf and ginger and topped with karasumi mullet roe. Another specialty is the ichibo or aitchbone rump of Tajima-gyu, aged for 48 months and cured in kombu, then cooked as a block over charcoals before being cut to serve. It is impossible to move your gaze as the chef presses the block against the charcoals to achieve a beautiful crust. And the color contrast when he slices the beef is a tease making it hard to wait to sink your teeth into this beef. Then the main dish – Chateaubriand Tajima-gyu steak aged 48 months, skillfully seasoned with several salt varieties and cooked to perfection in the rogama.

INGREDIENTS
The beef selected by one of Japan’s premier meat professionals is purebred Tajima – an extremely rare variety constituting less than 0.1% of all beef on the Japanese market. The Tajima purebred cattle can only be raised by designated farmers in highly monitored environments and go to market between 28 and 60 months. The cultivation methods result in super fine muscle fiber and excellent marbling that satiates guests with a smooth, tender texture. Tanaka only uses cattle raised over 40 months. His supply of this premium beef is guaranteed because his annual order tops 100 head of cattle. He examines each animal, not content to simply know its origin or brand.