Dinner at Niku to ieba Matsuda Nara Honten

I wanted to broaden my horizon in the wagyu world, and my experience with beef-focused has just been in a teppanyaki restaurant in Conrad Osaka and Nikuryori Chii-chan in Kobe.

After looking around during my solo stay in Kansai, there was one restaurant that caught my eye named Niku to ieba Matsuda which earned Tabelog Bronze Award and is a Michelin-listed restaurant.

Nikutoieba Matsuda has multiple locations like Osaka, Nara, and even Hong Kong. But, the one in Nara is the main branch where the head chef Shinji Masuda takes helm! Thus, I commuted around an hour from Osaka to this place.

Niku to ieba Matsuda Nara Honten- Booking

You may book a reservation through Omakase or Tabelog. Both will have a non-refundable booking fee of 390 yen and 440 yen respectively. Thus, I went with Omakase, and it seemed to me that Omakase offer more slots than Tabelog, but it may just depend.

Booking a spot is relatively easy since last minute bookings are possible, and full calendar slots are opened a month in advance. There are lunch and dinner courses where lunch is shorter but cheaper while it’s the opposite for dinner.

For dinner, there’s option to pay more for drinks pairing but I chose to just have the course and choose my drinks on-the-go. The course price paid was 15,800 yen before drinks which I find to be a great value.

Niku to ieba Matsuda Nara Honten- Location

The restaurant is located in front of Yamato-Yagi Station in Kashihara of Nara Prefecture. The entry is to the left of the 7-11 where you’ll take an elevator to the 2nd floor. Beware that Google Maps may navigate you towards the back of the building and leave you confused. Just remember, the entry is to the left of 7-11.

After stepping out of the elevator, you’ll see Niku to ieba Matsuda’s logo with ink splashes. You’d wait with other guests in front until you’re called for your seating arrangement.

Niku to ieba Matsuda Nara Honten- Wagyu Omakase

Once I got to my seat, the first thing I noticed was how luxurious the restaurant feels with black and gold interior. The ingredients of the day are displayed in their raw dry-aged form!

A4 Yamato wagyu are served. Yamato is the wagyu brand from Nara, and it’s my first time trying it. A4 wagyu will have leaner texture than A5, making it more tolerable for longer courses.

For the drink, I kept getting the Yamato soda which is a homemade drink of this restaurant. It has a herbal and citrus-y flavor.

Shortly after, the mushroom chawanmushi came to start with a gentle taste.

Then came a set of three samples (from left to right) of beef tartare on top of chips underneath a ginkgo leaf, sirloin roast, and omi beef tongue. Everything just melts in the mouth, especially the beef tongue.

The fall-themed presentation was a nice touch as well.

After that came Miwa somen with braised beef. It’s a Nara-style noodle soup with spicy ginger aftertaste.

Next is the hamburger steak with demi-glace sauce.

Then, a palate cleanser to prepare for the second half of the course.

A beautifully-cooked strip loin came after. The fat melted on to the meat and created a glossy texture. Such mouthwatering sight that I wish there was more of it!

It’s served along fried turnip, Egyptian salt, and black pepper.

After that, a beef katsu sando with mustard on the side!

Then comes the sukiyaki as the penultimate dish that include sirloin and shiitake mushrooms.

Mixing the egg and dipping the sukiyaki was so good! The rice is also from Niigata which is a region known for producing top-quality rice!

The final main dish is the spicy beef curry with the same rice from Niigata.

Then finally, the dessert made of Hokkaido milk that’s the perfect follow-up after eating something spicy. The sweet potato chip added a nice touch along with the little flower!

The experience lasted around 2.5 hours so it’s a little bit longer than a typical omakase experience. Though considering that there are 12 guests in total, it wasn’t too bad.

Lastly, I found the service to be excellent in particular, especially being the lone foreigner in here. Usually, when there’s a language barrier, the chef or waiter would understandably just give me the dish without explanation. But in here, the waiter would prepare a tablet and show me a translation text that’d show what dish is being shown whenever they have difficulty explaining in English. This never happened in any other fine dining establishments I’ve had in Japan, so I thought that’s a nice thing to note. I greatly appreciated their effort in trying something different from the rest!

Because of the great food, service, atmosphere, and value, I really enjoyed my time here and would love to make another trip here, even with an hour-long commute from Osaka!