Yakiniku Zen Ikebukuro

There are plenty of yakiniku BBQ beef restaurants in Tokyo, but few are as good as Yakiniku Zen. The staff here directly source premium black wagyu beef for their dishes, which are all grilled on the table right in front of you. They use a unique grilling method, with a bamboo lattice — holding the ingredients above the coals on strips of the stalks — replacing the standard steel grill. This avoids charring the meat, while reducing smoke and leaving the restaurant’s atmosphere clearer. The result is incredibly juicy and tender meat. The menu is, in a word: huge. You can enjoy a range of different cuts — lean meat, fatty cuts, tongue, ribs, chateaubriand, and more — alongside offal pieces such as heart and liver, thought to give energy and vitality. In addition, there’s an extensive non-beef menu, with dozens of choices from seafood, to noodles, to kimchi (a nod to yakiniku’s Korean roots). Feeling hungry yet? We could list all of their delicious drinks too, but we’ve taken up enough of your time already. Suffice to say that the choices are almost as broad as for the food. Yakiniku Zen Ikebukuro is one of the best places in Tokyo for a full, splash-out, grilled feast.