Yakiniku Yamawarau Omotesando

As many of you know, the pants we wear around here are quite fancy. As such, we get our hair cut at a vegan hair salon in Harajuku. Didn’t know vegan hair salons existed? That’s because you’re not young and cool like us. We like to turn these visits into a full outing, getting lunch and then going to the haircut. Then after I’m done and Eriko’s still getting her style, I head to &T to do some work and drink coffee while dogs bark, and she eventually joins me before we go home.

The lunch component to this can be a problem. Harajuku is full of viral spots that get super crowded, and Omotesando has a lot of pricey restaurants that often offer food that’s more about looks. However, there are some bright spots nearby. There’s even one street, which I have just now labeled Puppy Street, that features Breizh Creperie, vegan favorite Mr. Farmer, and just around the corner, pancake spot Taste the World.

I couldn’t figure out what I was in the mood for on this visit to Omotesando. We considered going to the food court at Harakado (home of Angelina) or Mr. Farmer. At the train station, I decided we should do Mr. Farmer so I would feel good about myself since I knew I would be ordering a giant batch of truffle fries at &T later. We walked up Puppy Street toward our favorite healthy restaurant, but then something caught my eye.

Yakiniku in Omotesando

Those pictures of steak and Hamburg look pretty good, don’t they? They always do. We pass this place every time we’re here, but we’ve always had someplace else we wanted to go. Not today, though. Today, we had freedom. I assumed it would be expensive, but when I went up and looked at the board, I saw the prices were quite reasonable. I made a split-second decision, and we went in.

This is Yakiniku Yamashofu. Or maybe it’s called Yakiniku Yamawarau. The kanji for those two things are the same, so Google Maps seems to be confused about the name. The point is, it’s a yakainku restaurant, which means beef. We went inside.

There’s a bunch of counter seats, each with its own little grill in front of it, and an array of tables as well, each with its own little grill. Yakiniku is usually done like Korean barbecue, where you are given raw meat and cook it yourself. However, it isn’t always like that. You’ll see restaurants in Japan that advertise “Yakiniku” when what they really serve are bento boxes of beef and rice. Yakiniku means beef, but not always cook-your-own beef.

We sat at the counter, which was nice and clean like the entire restaurant. You can watch the people prepare the food, I guess, but there’s not much to see; this isn’t a teppanyaki. They had a menu of raw meat that could be ordered, but we focused on the lunch deals. I got a steak bowl, which came with unlimited rice and visits to the Namul bar. What’s a Namul bar? It’s got a bunch of little salads that most people would be thrilled to get, but contain ingredients that are dangerous for my tummy. Eriko tried them and said they were good. She ordered the two-piece Hamburg set, which also came with salad and soup.

We saw multiple young women eating by themselves. Ladies, if you want to impress me, eat a solitary lunch of self-cooked beef.

Wagyu Steak Rice Bowl

My steak bowl was brought quickly. It included rice, a raw egg, compound butter, onions, crunchies, and a sweet sauce on the side. The meat looked pretty high in quality for 1,738 yen. My big worry was that it would be underseasoned, as I saw no salt nearby.

I had nothing to worry about. This steak was great. Nice char, property cooked, peppery, with a hint of salt. It was great on its own, so I didn’t put any of the other stuff on it. After finishing the steak, I tried the other stuff. The herb butter was a bit strong, but was nice when mixed with everything else. My favorite part was the sweet sauce. Just that sauce with rice would have been delicious. Sadly, I forgot about the unlimited rice and didn’t order more.

This was definitely better than your average steak lunch set. Usually, if you see a cheap steak lunch in Japan, you’d best keep walking. Not here. This was superb. I told Eriko that if I lived in this neighborhood, I would eat lunch here all the time. She agreed that yes, I would probably do that.

Hamburg steak set lunch

One nice part about the steak bowl was that it was cooked for me. Eriko’s lunch was self-cook, meaning it could be easily screwed up. She read the directions carefully and cooked it for four minutes on each side as she mixed her sauce and egg and tried her soup & salad.

Hamburg steak is popular in Japan, but is something I almost never order. This is because it usually tastes like garbage. A lousy overcooked beef patty? I do not want. I wanted to try a bite of Eriko’s regardless, because I wanted to see if this place was any different.

Folks. FOLKS. This thing was amazing. Juicy, beefy (no filler), with a wonderful grill taste. I couldn’t believe it. No question, the best Hamburg steak I’d ever had. We battled over the rest of it. The rice it had been sitting on tasted amazing, with sauce and beef juices permeating each grain of rice. It was fantastic. We were satisfied.

Verdict: is Yakiniku Yamawarau worth trying?

I would 100% recommend eating here. The steak bowl is a great value, and the Hamburg steak for 2,178 yen (2,838 for 300g) is also a good deal. I cannot believe they got that much flavor out of a beef patty. Maybe Eriko is just an amazing cook. I don’t know, but I’m dying to go back here.

I need to schedule more errands in Omotesando so I can have an excuse to treat myself. If you work in this neighborhood, you have to eat here. If you’re a tourist, yes, there are other interesting places to eat nearby, but this is a great way to experience staples of Japanese cuisine in their finest form, and at a low price point. Just know you will be disappointed in every other cheap steak or Hamburg plate you get anywhere else, because this is the best.

Where to find Yakiniku Yamawarau/Yamashofu Omotesando

Address: 〒150-0001 Tokyo, Shibuya, Jingumae, 4 Chome−9−4 １F

Hours: 11am-3:30pm, 5:30pm-10pm

Website: Yakiniku Yamawarau

As I said, this place is sometimes listed on map apps as Yakiniku Yamawarau and sometimes as Yakiniku Yamashofu. If you can’t locate one, try searching for the other.