How to Eat Gyu-Kaku's 3,780-Yen All-You-Can-Eat: Grilling Methods and Hacks from Morita

Morita first reports the results of eating and scoring every item last time. It's awkward to say at a restaurant with the character for "beef" in its name, but the chicken was underwhelming. On the other hand, there were five items they could confidently say you should eat.

Morita names three essential elements of all-you-can-eat: the quality of the meat, the seasoning, and the side dishes. Only when all three come together does all-you-can-eat work, and Morita judges that Gyu-Kaku has all three.

Morita also compares all-you-can-eat with neighborhood yakiniku restaurants. All-you-can-eat places have to pay attention to everything: service, hygiene, meat quality, speed, and satisfaction. When it comes to the deliciousness of the meat alone, Morita thinks they can't beat neighborhood yakiniku places, which specialize in it: smoke billowing everywhere, no concern for service, and nobody minding if the dishes are a little dirty. But in the sense that both families with children and couples on dates can enjoy it, Morita says Gyu-Kaku is well designed.

They ordered the standard Gyu-Kaku course, and the two say that with the all-you-can-drink option added, it should come in at around 5,000-something yen.

Early on, Morita emphasized the enzyme treatment of Gyu-Kaku's offal. According to Morita's explanation, the enzymes used in Japan fall roughly into three types: those derived from grapes, those derived from pineapple, and those derived from other things such as ginger. Using any of them loosens the meat's fibers and also retains moisture, so it comes out fluffy. Morita surmises that Gyu-Kaku's offal is always treated this way, and also suspects the offal itself is probably not domestic.

When they grilled shimacho in the middle of the episode, Morita said "the fibers fall apart just from picking it up" and declared flatly that it had been treated. Morita is introduced as someone who owns a ranch and is also involved in meat processing. Morita added that enzyme treatment doesn't mean anything bad is being put in. The explanation is that it simply uses things derived from grapes, pineapple, ginger and so on to speed up aging.

When Ryuji asked about the tabletop grill, Morita answered that it's "special." The center of the grate is raised, which disperses the heat. As a result, it's hot whether you grill at the edge or the center, and everything cooks evenly anywhere on it, Morita explained.

There are two sauces on the table. One is a yakiniku sauce with umami and garlic, and the other is a lemon sauce for when you want something light. Morita says lemon goes well with chicken. As a recommendation, Morita introduced a method of mixing the two at a 1:1 ratio to make ponzu ahead of time. Morita says they were stuck last time because there was no ponzu. Adding a condiment made with green onion and ume plum, Morita summed it up as five ways to eat.

That condiment is the item Morita said "I want you to order first thing when you arrive." You mix two items, a green-onion one and one containing ume, the moment they arrive. Ryuji was surprised it was such a hack right from the start. Morita also says they recreated it using store-bought S&B seasonings. Morita named kimchi as another item you must order.

The first thing grilled was beef liver. Morita guesses it's probably American. The membrane that's usually peeled off was left on and it was cut roughly, and Morita praised it for not having anything unnecessary done to it. In the previous scoring, it got 10 out of 10. Eating it with the lemon sauce, Ryuji was surprised that it was sweet with no gamey smell, and said eating beef liver at Gyu-Kaku had never been an option for them.

What Morita brought out here was a liver ajillo. You ask the restaurant for aluminum foil and sesame oil, have them add garlic, and make it. According to Morita, wrapping it in oil uses osmotic pressure to lock the umami inside. If you leave it there from start to finish it becomes tender, and something like chicken turns into a stew after an hour, Morita says. Ryuji laughed that nobody eats it that way, but after tasting it said they "like this way better by far" than the grilled version, even saying it should be added to the menu. It's a secret menu item rather than an official way of eating, but Morita says it seems any location will do it if you ask.

Next was tontoro. Morita says it's a cut that doesn't come up much at yakiniku restaurants. The grill's heat is strong. Morita speculated that it's probably designed so families can grill everything at once within the three-hour all-you-can-eat. Pork is grilled over high heat and taken off as soon as it's done.

Here Morita recommended the ponzu made earlier. Ryuji was surprised: "It's this delicious?" In the wrap-up at the end, tontoro was also named as a must-have.

The two also reacted to the kimchi. Ryuji had previously tried Gyu-Kaku's kimchi in a segment comparing store-bought kimchi and said it was so-so. But eaten in the restaurant, it was delicious, Ryuji says. Morita answered that the restaurant version is a different thing. The garlic chive kimchi was also well received.

In Morita's previous evaluation, the pork kalbi was underwhelming. This time, they put the green onion and ume condiment on the grilled meat and rolled it up to eat. Ryuji said "Seriously delicious," and Morita calls it an all-purpose condiment.

With the pork tongue, Ryuji noticed it had been thinly sliced and trimmed. According to Morita, the tongue is long lengthwise so it's sliced lengthwise, and lengthwise-sliced tongue is almost nonexistent. If you overcook it, it shrinks to half its original size, so Morita says to eat it just before it gets to half, while it's still a bit moist.

Ryuji detected a slightly gamey smell in the pork tongue. Morita also admitted that their score for eating pork tongue plain had been quite low. But with the green onion and ume condiment, it works. The two agreed that green onion and ume are essential, and that without them it actually doesn't work.

What Morita said "you mustn't underestimate" was the pork skirt. Most people probably don't order it, Morita says. You grill the thick chunk slowly and cut it with scissors at the end. Ryuji watched thinking it was overcooked. But Morita explained that grilling it this far lets the enzymes penetrate inside. Tasting it, Ryuji was surprised—"What is this, it's so good"—and recommended it to the staff as well.

Here Morita shared tips on the order of requesting and grilling. The pork skirt arrives partially frozen. According to Morita, pork doesn't release much drip when it thaws, while beef does. So beef should be grilled and eaten right after you order it. If you order pork and let it sit, the enzymes, sweetness and sauce flavor work their way inside. Morita's recommendation is this: order everything together at the start, and always start grilling with the beef. Waiting for the pork to absorb the flavor before grilling it is also an option, Morita says. Ryuji replied that they had never paid that much attention.

For the shimacho, Morita instructed grilling the skin side first. If you don't grill the skin it won't shrink, the fat drips off and the whole thing is ruined, so you keep the white fatty part facing up. Morita's view is that the fat is umami, so you want to keep it. Morita also says this may be a characteristic of Kansai-style yakiniku.

While waiting, the two ate Korean seaweed topped with green onion and agreed that "this is the right answer."

While grilling the pork skirt, Morita touched on the history of yakiniku. According to Morita, Japan is a Buddhist country, and around 675, Emperor Tenmu issued an edict banning beef. In addition to the Buddhist perspective, it was also meant to distinguish people who came from overseas from Japanese people, Morita says. Then, when Japan lost the war, eating beef became acceptable, Morita says. As for the origin of all-you-can-eat, Morita explained that it began in 1958 when a restaurant opened in Mie Prefecture that let people do something like a Matsusaka beef tasting comparison. All of this is Morita's own interpretation.

Morita also talked about the state of the industry. All-you-can-eat restaurants have come and gone. Sometimes the prices don't work out, and in Morita's industry it's said that "a beef shock happens once every eight years": foot-and-mouth disease, mad cow disease, import problems and so on. Morita praises Gyu-Kaku for having overcome all that and kept going. Morita also said Gyu-Kaku was founded around 1996, so it might be just about its 30th anniversary, and that keeping all-you-can-eat going for 30 years is impressive—though Morita added the caveat "probably."

The chunk of skirt steak is cut with scissors perpendicular to the sinew. Cutting through the sinew makes it tender. Morita says many people probably don't know this way of grilling it. For the version with miso sauce, Morita explained that in Matsusaka there's a way of eating where meat is soaked in miso sauce, quickly marinated in oil, and grilled. Ryuji laughed, "I can't tell if it's actually delicious or if Morita's commentary is making it delicious," but said it really was delicious.

What caught Ryuji's attention when eating the offal was that it had no gamey smell. Morita explains that chain restaurants, as a whole category, specialize in eliminating gamey smells so that even children can eat the food. In sushi terms, they're good at eliminating smells even from toppings prone to them, like gizzard shad, other oily fish, and conger eel. Ryuji also recalled a sushi chef who said "it used to smell, but now there's none at all."

According to Morita, neighborhood yakiniku restaurants can't do this, because domestic meat is considered best. Morita guesses Gyu-Kaku's is American, and says Australia and the US are overwhelmingly good at processing meat to remove gamey smells. Ryuji shared an experience of recently buying imported shimacho and stir-frying it, and it smelled far worse than here. Morita replied that this is probably processing only Gyu-Kaku can do.

The must-haves the two had named up to this point were tontoro, beef liver, and pork skirt. Ryuji admitted honestly, "I'm cheap, so I can't help wondering whether eating pork at Gyu-Kaku's all-you-can-eat is the way to go." Even so, Ryuji acknowledged that in terms of the happiness of deliciousness, pork skirt is definitely worth it.

Morita has a pet theory. If you rank the "cut people most want to eat" in the yakiniku industry, number one is tongue and number two is skirt. But you can't make a meal of tongue alone, and only the first two slices or so are really delicious. You start wanting skirt and offal too. So all-you-can-eat, where you can eat a variety of things, is well designed—that's the thinking.

A dish combining avocado and kimchi was also well received, and the two said, "For 3,780 yen, this is impressive."

According to Morita, the 3,780-yen course is mainly pork. On the next course up, there's more beef, the tongue becomes beef tongue, and skirt and tripe are included too, Morita says.

They grilled the chicken again this time, which had been disappointing in the previous scoring. According to Morita, because it's frozen, the meat flakes apart. Ryuji's impression after eating it was that they didn't notice much of a smell, but it wasn't amazingly delicious either. Morita said it was jiggly thanks to enzyme treatment, but didn't change their evaluation.

What Morita proposed here was turning thinly sliced pork belly samgyeopsal into sukiyaki. Samgyeopsal on its own is bland. According to Morita, sukiyaki's warishita broth is made of sugar, soy sauce, salt, mirin, and sake, and Gyu-Kaku's sauce contains nearly all of those. All you have to do is adjust the strength, Morita says.

Here's how to make it. Order two plates of samgyeopsal and ask for aluminum foil. Dilute the sauce about 2:1 to make warishita, cut the meat into about thirds, and put it in. Bringing it to a boil makes scum form, so the key is not to let it boil, Morita says. Morita also said that while scum normally forms with sukiyaki and shabu-shabu, it's unheard of for pork not to produce any.

Ryuji worried whether doing this at Gyu-Kaku would get them scolded or spark an online backlash. They had the store manager's permission, and the restaurant would provide aluminum foil. After eating it, Ryuji's verdict was "this is way better," and the staff, who had been skeptical, also said it was delicious. Morita said this might be the right answer for pork belly and recommended eating it as a warm dish as the weather gets colder. Of the store manager who helped out, Morita said they must really love beef, and laughed that they wanted to call the manager "Mr. Gyu-Kaku."

They compared two kinds of cold noodles. The two were surprised by how good the noodles were and agreed that adding vinegar is a must. Ryuji said the ume-shiso cold noodles were overwhelmingly better, calling it something distinctively Gyu-Kaku that other yakiniku restaurants don't have. There was also a comment that plenty of good yakiniku restaurants serve cold noodles that aren't as good as these.

Bibimbap isn't ordered much because people fill up on meat. Morita added Korean seaweed and praised it as impressive just for building up the colors. It was also mentioned that you could wrap meat in it.

Last was the kuromitsu kinako ice cream, which the staff go out of their way to recommend: "Please order it." Ryuji said a memory of eating it when young had stuck with them, and raved about the quality of the ice cream.

The staff member at the table is introduced as the type who normally "won't go just because it's all-you-can-eat." That staff member said the level was high and they'd like to come again. Ryuji says that this person doesn't eat at all off camera, so they're something of a litmus test.

The items named in the wrap-up were as follows: the beef liver ajillo, the absence of gamey smells, tontoro, and pork skirt. And the green onion and ume condiment, while underwhelming with beef, goes with chicken and pork in an all-purpose way. Ryuji reflected that you wouldn't figure this out eating normally, and you wouldn't even think of making ponzu in the first place. It was also mentioned that ponzu probably goes well with skirt.

Ryuji says they basically had the impression that all-you-can-eat was so-so. While allowing that it might be because Morita taught them how to eat it, Ryuji concluded that they really like this all-you-can-eat. Morita said there were new discoveries on the second visit, and that you can't figure it out in one visit, so they hope people will come several times. With talk of a rematch on the next course up and of visiting another all-you-can-eat restaurant, the episode wraps up.