KINTAN Coredo Muromachi (Tokyo, JAPAN) ★★★☆☆

After a quick ramen dinner, we all headed back to the hotel together but just when I was about to take a shower and crash early, Jelloman told me to go down and get some bottled water and milk for tomorrow. So I dragged myself off the couch, got dressed and went back down to Tokyo Station. This was when I started thinking, perhaps I should go out for a late-night snack on my own. But where?

Two months ago, I read a column in a magazine on the top food trends in different Asian cities. The trend they wrote about Tokyo was "uniku", which is a combination of uni (sea urchin) and niku (wagyu beef) where fresh uni is served with wagyu, cooked or raw, some in the form of an uni wagyu sushi. I wasn't sure if this is a new trend. Felt like it's been around for a while but I began doing my research on places to visit for uniku, especially places near our hotel in Tokyo. And all signs pointed to KINTAN Coredo Muromachi (肉割烹 KINTAN コレド室), a trendy, upscale Japanese restaurant at Coredo 1.



KINTAN Coredo Muromachi is just a comfortable 10-minute walk from our hotel so I didn't even break a sweat walking over.

 

These wagyu sushi were the sole reasons I decided to come all the way here for. There were 16 of them shown on the poster outside the restaurant and apart from a couple of them that features fresh sea urchin, there were others that come with prized ingredients such as black and white truffle, foie gras, gold foil etc...

 

At first, they gave me the stop sign at the reception because I didn't have advance booking. But after I explained my intention (here for a quick bite only) and how much I love wagyu sushi, they reluctantly let me in and escorted me to the bar table.

 

I was first started off with a small welcome bite, braised beef with daikon.



This was pretty tasty. Now time for some wagyu sushi.



I didn't order a lot since the miso ramen I just had was a very filling one. Just 4 pieces of sushi, some of which I have asked the chefs to slightly torch them for me since I'm not really a huge fan of raw beef (especially beef tongue) unless it's a beef tartare.

 

I don't know if it's meant to start from left to right.

 

Beef tongue - Not the best presentation but surprisingly soft and tender without a bit of chewiness. Even without much seasoning, it was pure joy for the palate.

Wagyu with black truffle - The wagyu beef was slightly torched so it came with some nice charred smokiness. There was some sweetness to back it up too thanks to the homemade sweet soy. Just one single blemish, a bit of tendon resulting in some chewy texture.



Wagyu with uni and caviar - This was exactly what I came here for, the uniku. The wagyu was again slightly torched for some nice smoky flavors. I really like the flavor profile there but too bad the wagyu was again a little chewy. This was perhaps partially my fault. Maybe the wagyu was meant to be enjoyed raw.



Wagyu with fresh chives - The color of this was a little bit different from the previous two so I am guessing it's a different cut. Texture-wise, it was a little more tender and it's richer in flavors. Surprisingly, this along with the beef tongue sushi were the better ones for me tonight.



I was getting late so as much as I wanted to order more, I quickly took a few more sips of my black Oolong tea and called it the night.





Food Rating: 5.5/10
Price: ￥￥￥
Address: 3/F, Coredo Muromachi 1, 2-2-1, Nihombashi Muromachi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103-0022 Japan
Closest Metro Station: Mitsukoshimae
Tel: +81 3-3516-1129
Website: www.muromachi-kintan.com
Opening Hours: 11:30am - 2:30pm, 5:30pm - 10:45 pm (Tue - Sat), 11:00am - 2:30pm, 5:30pm - 9:45 pm (Sun - Mon)