Where’s the beef?

Is Kobe beef really from Kobe? On a recent trip to Osaka, we thought we’d try and find out, so we took the 40-minute drive to Kobe late one chilly afternoon, with just enough time for a quick look-see around the city before heading off to dinner.

Twenty-two years after the devastating magnitude 6.9 earthquake hit this port city, Kobe today is a bustling metropolis of under two million. Over 6,000 people died in the January 1995 earthquake, and nearly 400,000 buildings were irreparably damaged, as were elevated roads, bridges, railways and most of the docks in Kobe port. Half of the factories of sake, a major industry of the region, were destroyed. The remarkable recovery of Kobe – 15 months after the earthquake, Kobe’s manufacturing activity was up to 98 percent of pre-quake levels; railways were 80 percent operational after a month – is truly a testament to the people’s resilience, as well as their community spirit, volunteerism and pride.

It being a late Sunday afternoon, we drove leisurely around the city center through wide avenues lined with gleaming skyscrapers and boutiques of international luxury brands. Noting our interest in these boutiques, our host, an amiable retired businessman who had lived and worked in Manila for ten years back in the ’70s and ’80s, said with obvious pride that Kobe is known as a fashion capital.

But we came to Kobe for the beef, so we headed forthwith to dinner. I’m not trying to keep secrets but I can’t tell you where we ate because the place we went to has no English name and no English menu. What it had were framed certificates attesting, our host explained, to the authenticity of the beef served – what farm the cow came from, when it was slaughtered… why, it even had a nose print of the cow! Judging from the number of certificates on the walls, this restaurant has been serving the prized beef for quite a few years.

Kobe beef, prized for its delicate marbling, comes from pedigreed – bloodline is very important, our host stressed – Tajima cattle born, raised and slaughtered in Hyogo prefecture, where Kobe is located. These prized wagyu – myth buster: the term literally means Japanese ( wa) cattle ( gyu) and is not a brand of beef – are raised in small numbers in family farms in the Tajima region. The meat must pass a series of strict requirements (it must be a bullock or castrated male to preserve the purity of the meat) determined by the Kobe Beef Marketing and Distribution Promotion Association and only the highest grade can carry the Kobe Beef label; hence the certificates. Such is the pride of Tajima farmers in their heritage.

Back to our dinner. We occupied two inner rooms in this very small restaurant, each for six surrounding a gleaming teppan (metal griddle). We didn‘t know what was ordered, but expectations were certainly high, and we were not disappointed. From the appetizer of teeny slivers of beef so delicate in flavor to the ox tail consomme that banished the near zero cold to the perfectly grilled star of the meal (only 100 grams per person), it was quite an incomparable experience. So I don‘t think I will be having steak again for the rest of the year.