When I was in Tokyo in April, I went to Okahan, a teppanyaki restaurant in Ginza, for lunch. Teppanyaki is very easy to love. Good meat, vegetables, a hot griddle, and a chef cooking right in front of you with two spatulas. When the ingredients are right, it doesn’t need much more than that.
Sometimes teppanyaki comes with a bit of a show. Onion rings get sliced in midair, ingredients are tossed around, and the cooking turns into a performance. Other times, the chef keeps things simple and lets the food do the talking. At Okahan, it was very much the latter. Calm, focused cooking without unnecessary tricks, which suited the place perfectly.
The best teppanyaki restaurants in Tokyo serve some of Japan’s finest wagyu, and that level of quality isn't cheap, especially at dinner. At lunchtime, however, many restaurants offer set menus at a lower price point. The most expensive cuts are typically found on the dinner menu, but lunch can still be a very good way to try high-quality wagyu without spending quite as much. If you’ve never had proper Japanese wagyu before, even a lunch set can be a bit of an eye-opener.
I arrived at Okahan about 15 minutes after they opened for lunch, and the restaurant was already full. I put my name on the waiting list and took a seat nearby. About 20 minutes later, I was shown to a spot at the counter.
My name stood out as the only non-Japanese one on the list, so I briefly worried about how easy communication would be. That turned out not to be an issue at all. Several members of staff spoke excellent English, including the chef cooking my food, and everything felt relaxed and welcoming.
Okahan is known for Matsusaka beef, one of Japan’s most prestigious wagyu brands. Matsusaka beef comes from Mie Prefecture and is particularly prized for its fine marbling and rich, tender meat. It’s one of the big names in Japanese wagyu, and one of the reasons Okahan is worth seeking out if you want to try premium wagyu in Tokyo.
I ordered the superior lunch set, which included a small salad, two kinds of wagyu steak, and green tea. There was also a small pot of Japanese-style beef stew, which the chef heated directly on the teppan. At the time, I wasn’t entirely sure what it was or how I was supposed to eat it, so I treated it like a soup and happily finished every last spoonful. Turns out, that was exactly how it was meant to be eaten.
The beef was soft, rich, beautifully marbled, and incredibly tender. I wanted to eat it while it was still hot, but I also didn’t want this delicious meal to be over too quickly.
Lunch at Okahan isn’t cheap, but it's a good way to experience high-quality wagyu in Ginza without committing to an expensive dinner. If you’re looking for a good introduction to serious Japanese wagyu, this is a very solid place to start.
Read my blog post about Gyu-An, another great place for wagyu in Ginza
Okahan Honten, Jewel Box Ginza, GINZA8階, 8 Chome-9-15 Ginza, Chuo City, Tokyo 104-0061, Japan
