Atlantique Kobes

Well, I must say I'm disappointed. No, that's not strong enough. Pissed off? Maybe. I went in to get my Kobe steaks at Atlantique today. They were part of a large (3.8 kg/8.3 lbs) chunk of meat that had been vacuum packed. Werner the counter guy informed me that he would be charging $120/kg. That is about CDN$54/lb. Mighty steep. Upon looking at the cut, I immediately noticed that, unlike the cuts I'd seen in Japan, this wasn't heavily marbled — no, all the fat was in two huge veins running throught the entire cut.

I asked him to make me three one-inch steaks and then trim them. Of course, he acted offended, and told me that the fat was the best part and most of it would render off. Well, to him, the fat was just as golden as the rest of the steaks, obviously. I, not being a confrontationalist, kept it to myself and let him slice it up.

The three steaks came to — get this — $200. Upon looking at them — judge for youyrself — I calculate fully one third of them is just a big slab of inedible fat. Umm, that's $66 worth of fat . . . a new record.

The most expensive fat I've ever bought.

I'll let you know how they were, but they'd better be good. Very, very good.

Holy Grail, Cracked

Sorry for the delay on this posting, but I guess I was too blown away to tackle it right away. Here is the infamous $45 steak that I tracked down at Kintetsu department store in Nara.


It can't weigh much more than 8 oz., so that easily makes it the most expensive steak I have ever eaten at $90/lb. Remember that this is not a steak ordered in a restaurant, where they'd easily mark it up by a third, if not a half, to make the price $60 or almost $70.

It was a Matsuzaka steak. Matsuzaka beef is grown in Mie prefecture, which is very close to Hyogo prefecture (where Kobe is situated.) The cattle — Tajima — is the same breed.

How was this monster of monster steaks? Well, the small size alone was disappointing. I would have preferred to have had it grilled over charcoal but that option wasn't available; I cooked it simply on a gas stove in butter with some shaved garlic to rare, no sauce.

It was indeed melt-in-your-mouth tender, but I've had lots of steaks like that. Bottom line is that the Holy Grail was a bust — and that the most expensive steak on Earth is not necessarily the best one.

Whole Side of Kobe From The Germans

Okay, I keep calling them Germans and they're Austrian so I know that's not fair, but I have placed on order with Werner at Atlantique in Cote des Neiges a large slab of Kobe beef for next Friday. I have no idea what it is going to cost, but I know that it will be frighteningly expensive, probably more so than in California — but not as expensive as Japan.

The End is Near

Jack Sprat would not be a great meat eater here in Japan. Take a look at these specimens found at the local supermarket; “marbled” is not an appropriate term for these babies. There’s almost less meat than fat on them. This one (below) at 1,968 yen, is about US$18. You’ll note that it’s only about a third of an inch thick—one minute on both sides and it’d be medium rare. It’s called a “Kuro-ge” (“Black hair,” referring to the color of the cattle) “Roast steak” and comes from Kagoshima, which is all the way in the south of Japan.



These specimens below are also from Kagoshima and are called “Roast Slices.” It’s anyone’s guess as to how you’re supposed to prepare them. I’m not going to find out, since I didn’t buy them.


No, I didn’t buy them. Instead, I bought quite possibly the most expensive steak I have ever seen in the entire world, today; a fairly small piece of meat that cost exactly US$44.45. I videoed the whole thing and will provide photos upon my return to Montreal.

I’m going to have to eat it here, as they don’t seem to understand freezing and vacuum-packing, but perhaps it’s for the best, as it’s a long, long way home.

Report to follow.