Sukiyaki in Asakusa
Sukiyaki styles
You can find Sukiyaki (すき焼き) served a couple of different ways:
Donburi – A Donburi refers to a Rice bowl dish. Sometimes you’ll come across the occasional Donburi that is topped with ‘Sukiyaki’ cooked beef.
Shabu Shabu – This is the hot pot style where they serve a broth that’s made with the same base ingredients to cook your meat and vegetables in.
Traditional Sukiyaki – Cooked at the table in a shallow iron skillet. The Beef, vegetables and other ingredients slowly cook and simmer in the Sukiyaki sauce. Sukiyaki is served with a side of raw egg for dipping steaming beef into, the heat from the beef lightly cooks the egg.
Sukiyaki is a delicious rich, sweet and salty mixture of soy sauce, sugar, and mirin.
淺草今半 - Asakusa Imahan
Asakusa Imahan is a specialty beef restaurant. They produce and serve Imahan raised Wagyu and their menu consists of traditional Japanese cuisine to highlight their very special Beef.
For a Sukiyaki Dinner Course prices start at ¥8,000 (roughly $110 aud) all the way up to ¥23,000 (roughly $320 aud) for their finest quality of Beef and Course set Per Person.
For a Sukiyaki Lunch Course prices start at ¥3,800 (roughly $52 aud) to ¥6,000 (roughly $84 aud).
Prices are excluding tax.
Tip – Many restaurants in Japan offer discounted lunch specials. If you find a restaurant you would love to try but are worried about the cost, try to see if they offer a lunch special.
We opted for the Sukiyaki Lunch Gozen for ¥3,800 each.
We were taken to the banquet hall on level 3 which is a beautiful large Tatami room (be prepared to leave your shoes at the entry. Wear socks or take a pair with you as you will not be allowed to wear shoes in a Tatami room).
After making our order we were given our appetizer which is seasonal. It was light and delicious!
Our hostess for the afternoon began to bring in the main course, Sukiyaki! She prepared the skillet, the base and began adding the ingredients for us. The service was impeccable as she always kept an eye on the dish and how we were coping with cooking. If you’re a confident cook they will allow you to take control of the cooking, however, as we wanted to do justice to the beautiful ingredients we asked for assistance.
All the hosts and hostesses wore beautiful Kimonos. We never felt rushed and everyone was very helpful. It was a wonderful atmosphere.
The Imahan Beef just melted away. The Sukiyaki broth didn’t overpower the flavour of the beef and the marbling of fat cooked through the meat making it beautifully tender.
We absolutely loved our experience at Imahan Asakusa and thought it was well worth the cost.
How to get here - Asakusa Imahan is only a short walk from Sensoji Temple and the Ginza Line Tawaramachi Station is just 5 minutes away.
3-1-12, Nishi-Asakusa, Taito-ku, Tokyo, Japan. 111-0035
Note - Lunch is served 11:30am to 3:00pm. Reservations aren’t accepted for lunch but encouraged for dinner.