[Kyoto] Niku Bugyo Kyoto Ushimitsu (肉奉行京都牛光): Elegant Kyoto-Style Beef Specialty Restaurant

2021.5.10

Affordable Kuroge Wagyu Dishes in Kyoto

Niku Bugyo Kyoto Ushimitsu, a restaurant specializing in gyuniku gozen (beef set meal), offers a variety of Kyoto-style beef dishes. The restaurant’s mission is to provide its customer base with the opportunity to fully experience the difference in meat cooking methods and the associated effects on texture, flavor, and appearance. The menu is comprised of three main set meals: Niku Mabushi, Steak-Jyu, and Kuroge Wagyu Niku Sushi.

Niku Mabushi, served in an ohitsu (wooden rice bucket), is a medium-rare beef simmered in homemade sauce atop rice. It may be eaten in three ways. For your first experiment, simply turn over the ochawan (rice bowl) and scoop some of Niku Mabushi from the ohitsu into it. Eat the first few bites without any condiments. Next, try adding various condiments to experiment with alternative flavors. Condiments available at each table are: Sakura Shio (salt), fried garlic, and Black Shichimi (seven-flavor chili pepper). Finally, the third way to enjoy Niku Mabushi is to prepare a rice porridge called ochazuke. To do this, take the small soup bowl and pour the savory beef soup it contains over the ochawan containing some of the meat and rice. Mix in the wasabi, chopped scallions and seaweed to add a subtle kick to the resulting tasty porridge. You will have a choice of either Australian Beef or Kuroge Wagyu.

Steak-Jyu is a thinly-sliced, medium cooked, beef seasoned with pepper and homemade steak sauce atop rice. Enjoy a few bites as it is, then try adding condiments to your liking. You will have a choice of either Australian Beef or Kuroge Wagyu.

Kuroge Wagyu Niku Sushi is roast beef cooked over low-temperature, served atop sumeshi (rice flavored with vinegar), and sprinkled with ikura (salmon roe).

As an additional side dish to accompany your set meal, the restaurant recommends ordering a small serving of Niku Nigiri Sushi (literally, beef on top of rice). Served medium-rare, the dish comes with three different pieces of Kuroge Wagyu Nigiri. Pictured below, from left to right, are: lightly grilled beef with wasabi, low-temperature cooked roast beef with ikura (salmon roe), and lightly grilled (aburi) beef seasoned with salt and lemon.