Every winter I put on about 8kg in weight,
just because I sit inside for 4 or 5 months and do nothing.
So around October or November time I initiate operation weight loss
where I try and get a little bit fit and prepare myself for the winter months.
But that operation weight loss has been jeopardised today because of where he’s taking us.
Meat land.
Five restaurant, five meat dishes, all in one day.
Meat land it is then…
Today, we’re visiting the city of Oshu in Iwate
a region with a reputation for it’s many meat dishes.
From chicken and pork to it’s famous Maesawa wagyu beef - one of the top ranked cuts of
wagyu in all of Japan.
We’ll uncover 5 of the meat dishes enjoyed by the locals that give the area it’s reputation
for being the land of meat
And our diet shattering day begins at 9am with a somewhat unhealthy breakfast, in quiet
street in front of a shop that looks like a film set for a horror movie.
It looks like the house out of “the grudge” - a bit of a horror film house.
A ghost house.
It's weird. There’s just a pile of chicken sat in the window.
It’s the only giveaway it’s not the Grudge.
I don’t think the Grudge had fried chicken.
- This chicken is like the people’s soul food.
People grew up with it.
So they can forgive the appearance of the house.
- Exactly
Let’s go and check it out.
So she’s just weighed the chicken and wrapped it up like fish and chips in the UK.
The chicken is a little bit different from back home.
It’s marinated in soy sauce and ginger and mirin.
It’s not healthier as it’s still batter.
But it’s got a little bit of a different flavour to say Kentucky Fried Chicken.
It’s beautifully crispy.
- DO you like it?
I love it.
Just standing at the side of the road in this rural neighbourhood eating fried chicken.
- The people around here actually buy this chicken for Christmas like Kentucky fried chicken.
But it’s incredibly messy and they don’t give you hand towels.
Genuinely there’s no hand towels?
- No.
Why didn’t you tell me that before?
- My hands are still messy.
The region we’re in is famous for Maesawa Beef; one of the top cuts of wagyu beef in Japan
and winner of numerous awards.
We’re going to see it prepared in various ways, but first things first
we need to try cut of steak.
I’ve seen it.
I’ve seen the future of breakfast.
The future of breakfast is fried chicken.
It works.
I mean it felt a bit wrong at first sticking a big fatty piece of fried chicken in my mouth.
But I feel really energised and ready to take on the day now.
I recommend you eat fried chicken every morning for your breakfast.
- What kind of channel is this?
So if you guys watch these video enough you’ll probably be an expert on wagyu beef by now.
But for those of you that aren’t.
Wagyu literally means Japanese beef and the beef we’re having now is Maesawa which is
a cut of wagyu beef.
- Maesawa.
Maesawa; I always get it wrong.
Maezawa and maesawa.
Its 11am so it’s a little bit early for steak.
But given that we’ve got to cram in so much meat today it seems only right to have it now.
- Breakfast but what is this?
Is this lunch?
This is like pre-lunch.
- Blunch.
What?
Oh brunch.
- Blunch.
Brunch not blunch.
- Blunch.
No brunch.
B R.
Oh is it? Is it BR?
- Do it again.
No I’m not doing it again.
This is blunch.
Steak blunch.
So there’s three sauces that come with the steak; we’ve got rock salt, sesame and an
actual wasabi root, which is really rare.
Ryotaro is doing his wasabi.
- Normally it comes in a tube right?
Yeah normally it’s actually artificial mustard which is quite spicy.
But real wasabi root is this and it’s not that spicy but it has a more refreshing taste.
Wasabi and steak is the ultimate combination.
So the steak has just arrived.
I’ve got cut of fillet and you’ve got the sirloin.
The sirloin is a little bit thinner.
But which tastes better?
- Mine is always better.
Only one way to find out.
- Hit it.
Beautifully juicy.
This is the best blunch I’ve ever had.
Wow yours cuts amazingly.
It’s like I don’t even need to do anything with the knife.
It just slices.
- It’s because mine is fattier.
So the sirloin is noticeably fattier.
So if you want to get a cut of wagyu beef, if you want the real wagyu experience Sirloin
is better.
It’s got a lot more fat content.
How often do you eat Maesawa?
- How often?
Well you live in Tohoku.
- Like once every 15 years or something.
Once every 15 years!
Like for anniversaries.
It feels wrong eating this after eating some fried chicken for breakfast though.
Fried chicken for breakfast, steak for blunch.
- What are we expecting in the afternoon though?
I don’t know.
It’s going to be hard to top this.
Beef sushi isn’t too difficult to find in Japan; but it can be difficult to find it done well.
At Sukehachi Zushi they use the local Maesawa beef to prepare their sushi.
So we’ve had breakfast, we’ve had blunch.
Now we’re having brunch.
This is brunch.
That was blunch.
- That was blunch?
Fuck you.
Go ahead.
It’s good because I felt guilty today having five different courses of meat.
But now we’ve divided it up and created different types of things like breakfast,
like brunch, like blunch.
- So you don’t feel guilty?
I don’t feel guilty anymore.
So if you’re going to eat lots of different food in one day and you feel a sense of guilt,
just eat blunch.
And brunch.
And then lunch.
But this is brunch.
And this is beef sushi.
So it’s just arrived.
At first I thought it was half fish sushi but it turns out everything on this plate
contains Maesawa beef.
We’ve got sliced maesawa beef sushi at the front here.
Minced maesawa beef with a quails egg.
And then maesawa beef with cucumber.
You know when you go for sushi and you look at it and you think “I don’t want to eat
it because it looks like art” that’s what this looks like.
So artistic.
Look at it.
Beautiful, it’s really good.
- Take my breathe away.
This is my first time eating beef sushi and if you close your eyes it tastes a bit like
fatty tuna.
But its slightly saltier.
So good.
I think my favourite one is the quails egg because as you bite into it the egg soaks
into the beef and the rice and it has a really rich flavour.
- You’re getting better at reviewing food.
Yeah I need to read some more book on how to describe food.
The best one for me was actually sliced beef on the top.
with the wasabi salt.
With the wasabi salt.
The wasabi salt is to die for.
- It was just divine again!
Yeah…he’s a very scary man.
He’s a very scary man isn’t he?
No-one said I was scary.
I’m just so nice.
What do you think of Ryotaro?
Leave a comment below.
- Don’t say that.
If you can describe Ryotaro in one word, what would that word be?
For me that word is creepy.
- Please do not involve the world in this.
On commenting on my personalty.
I’m involving the world…
After involving the world - which is you - for our fourth course we decided to pop into a
Ryon Ryon, a popular local cafe for a lighter snack; a simple but filling dish and a much
welcomed break from beef.
Here you are.
Thank you.
Please try our special rice ball.
Good English.
- Thank you I studied abroad for 5 weeks.
So having eaten fried chicken and steak and beef sushi I was about done for eating this
week.
Not yet.
But then this was put before me and the smell of the bacon rose upon my nose and my desire
and lust desire for food returned once more.
So what is this?
It’s pork?
It’s rice wrapped in pork - kind of like bacon.
It’s bloody good it reminds me of the kind of bacon you get back home.
Japanese bacon leaves a lot to be desired.
It’s kind of like sticky BBQ sauce.
The pork has been marinated in sugar and soy sauce and a little bit of sake.
And the juices from the pork have soaked through the rice giving it a nice juicy taste.
It’s pretty good.
- It’s got sesame and some herbs inside too.
Is it healthy?
- It should be.
It’s got a herb in it.
It’s definitely not.
It’s got a herb in it.
If something is unhealthy put a herb in it and instantly better for you.
FACT.
Our last stop of the day is one of the best reviewed Yakiniku grilled meat restaurants in all of Tohoku
If you’re looking to try various cuts of meat at a reasonable price point,
yakiniku is the way to go, as you get a lot of bang for your buck - although the menu
can be pretty overwhelming.
We’ve got to strike a balance between things that are exotic and interesting and things
that look good on camera.
We’ve got every thing from ultra premium spare ribs to uterus and loin.
I think we’ll give uterus a miss.
Although part of me wants to see what it looks like as long as I don’t have to eat it.
Can you eat uterus?
I just had a uterus last night.
- So I don’t mind having it again.
A typical cut of Maesawa steak usually costs 8,000 yen, but given yakiniku cuts are thin,
here a prime cut of Maesawa will set you back 2,500; and a discount like that it’s no
wonder Yakiniku bbq are so popular in Japan.
It turns out uterus looks as bad as it sounds
That is uterus
And I can safely say to a great degree of certainty that I will not be eating it.
Yes you will
Well I bloody won't.
- So Chris the meat land challenge is over.
Five restaurants, five dishes.
What do you think?
I feel so full of meat.
It genuinely is a meat land.
I’ve eaten a staggering amount of meat today; more meat than I’ve ever eaten in any other
day of my life.
In fact I’m probably never going to eat meat again… for the 24 hours.
But I feel bit guilty though.
This video has been just filled with so much meat.
I know quite a lot of vegan people watch this channel.
That was a real 4d experience there.
I feel guilty for not having anything in this video that can be of any value to a vegan viewer.
We really should make a video for vegans in some way.
And I’m not going to be in it.
No you have to be in it.
Top 10 dishes for vegans visiting Japan.
Natsuki can do it.
Natsuki can’t eat anything that’s got vegetables or health in it so that’s going to be difficult.
But we’ll work on it.
10 vegan dishes to eat in Japan.
Then I’ll feel redeemed.
I won’t feel guilty anymore about the staggering amount of beef we put in these videos.
As I said, probably don’t eat this much meat in one day.
But if you want to try award winning Maesawa Wagyu beef steak or sushi or pork or fried chicken.
Oshu city is about a two hour bullet train north of Tokyo station or about half an hour train away from Sendai.
You can find details of the places we visited, in the description box below.
But for now though guys as always, many thanks for watching, we’ll see you next time.
And uterus.
It’s chewy.
I like it.
But I told you I had uterus just last night.
You disgust me.
- Like two days in a row uterus.