Tongue Restaurant

I love tongue.

However, I am used to the ultra slim sliced tongue they serve at the Korean BBQ joints back home.

This is not the same. No lemon needed. No sesame oil infused with salt required. Just good old tongue!

We took the train down to Umeda for some shopping and, since I expressed my affair with tongue, a visit to Rikyu was arranged.



If you followed the link for Umeda above, you understand what a major transportation hub it is. The tunnels underneath the station and streets in the area are filled with all sorts of stores - eating, drinking, whatever. Sorry, but you need to go to really understand how vibrant it is.

At the end of one of these subterranean malls is Rikyu.

If a restaurant doesn't have a waiting line, don't expect anything fantastic. The queue is a sign of something good to come. Additionally, if you wait for more than 10 minutes an employee will come out every 5 minutes to apologize for the long wait. And to think how patient I have been to wait for 40 minutes to eat Outback steakhouse...

We did request special seating, so the apologies came twice - in other words a 20 minute wait for something I could wait a life time for...

This is by no means impressive. I think it is beef, maybe even tongue. I have no idea. They brought it out before our order and I ate it - it was delicious.

THIS. Tail soup. This was impressive. Buried in a forest of onion are succulent pieces of beef tail. The broth was delicate. A serious appetite stimulate.

Yamaimo, Dioscorea japonica, shredded and topped with a raw egg. Muddy, melty, ooze ooze - how to describe the texture? Mix it all up and pour in on top of a bowl of rice for a special treat.

Finally, the main dish. Tongue - in all of its glory. No anemic paper thin slices of meat here. No, this was the tongue of a cow - thickly sliced and charcoal grilled over high heat. No sauce required - absolutely impressive. The smudge of green goo on the top right of the plate was some miso pickled jalepeno. The heat of that with the meaty flavor of the tongue will stay with me for a long time. The rice was cooked with barley adding some additional texture to set it apart from your normal bowl of rice. All in all, awesome.

I figure any of the restaurants in the bowels of Umeda would provide some level of satisfaction for sure. However, this was an unexpected treat. If you get a chance, get some.