Yoroniku

At Yoroniku, you don’t touch the grill. A dedicated staff member is assigned to your table to cook every single piece of meat, a service model pioneered here by owner Hideyuki Kuwahara when he opened in 2007. The now-commonplace practice of dipping grilled beef in raw egg yolk and eating it with rice also started at this very restaurant – two innovations that have since been adopted by high-end yakiniku spots around the world. Located in a basement in Minami-Aoyama, a short walk from Omotesando Station, the restaurant itself is calm and chic. The space is divided into several areas, but the private rooms are the primary setting for the full experience, creating a sophisticated environment for the meal. There is no à la carte menu. The meal is a set course, a carefully structured journey through A5-grade Kuroge Wagyu, often sourced from the purveyor Hiyama. It typically begins with leaner cuts and beef sashimi before progressing into richer, more marbled pieces. Signature dishes include the “Silk Loin,” a slice of seared beef wrapped around a small rice ball, and the “Bukkake Truffle no Sukiyaki,” which brings together meat, truffle, and a raw egg dip. The courses are punctuated with items like dashi soup or somen noodles to cleanse the palate, and the meal almost always concludes with a signature shaved ice in a flavor like hojicha or matcha. Reservations are mandatory and need to be secured far in advance.