Kuroge Wagyu Doyama Review: A local yakiniku favorite in Umeda, Osaka, Japan
One night, I ended up having a solo dinner in Osaka Umeda.
I was originally going to try another famous yakiniku spot nearby,
Horumon Uchida Osaka,
but the wait was too long, so I quickly looked around and found this place instead.
Kuroge Wagyu Doyama
Its Google rating was a strong 4.5, so I decided to just go for it,
and it turned out to be a pretty great yakiniku find.
It’s literally right across the street
from Yakiniku Horumon Uchida Osaka.
It takes about 5 to 7 minutes on foot from Umeda Station.
It’s tucked inside a small alley, but it’s easy enough to find if you follow the map.
Kuroge Wagyu means black-haired wagyu,
Doyama (堂山) is pronounced something like “Doyama” in Japanese,
and I’m guessing it’s just the neighborhood name.
Once you walk in, there’s even a greeting written in Korean, which was honestly kind of cute.
The seating is set up with a counter wrapped around the kitchen,
a few standard face-to-face tables,
and one side-by-side two-person table like this.
I really liked how quiet and cozy it felt.
There were more Japanese locals than tourists,
and I kept seeing solo diners come in too.
It was also nice that the restroom was inside the restaurant.
This is the kind of place that serves different cuts of beef and horumon (beef offal, including large intestine),
so I worked pretty hard with Google image translation to figure things out.
Lately, whenever I go to yakiniku restaurants in Japan,
a lot of them seem to sell napa cabbage kimchi and cucumber kimchi.
And honestly, they’re usually pretty good.
At this rate,
I just hope Western travelers don’t start thinking kimchi is Japanese…!
Osaka Umeda yakiniku restaurant menu
There’s also a Korean-language version of the menu,
so ordering wasn’t difficult at all.
You can order individual cuts of beef,
or go with a set menu.
I chose the assorted beef set called “The Best 3 Kinds of Beef”,
and for the horumon menu, I ordered “Rare Large Intestine”.
At the very back of the menu, there’s even an explanation of the sauces,
plus a list of things you can request.
Just like the menu says, from left to right it goes: a slightly sweet sauce,
a tangy sauce, and then an all-purpose sauce.
This kind of house cabbage salad
is something you see all the time at Japanese yakiniku places, and it’s always good.
Water and a Kaku Highball.
When I’m in Japan, I can never resist ordering either a highball or a beer at restaurants.
Here comes the Best 3 Kinds of Beef set. Looks good, right?
The menu doesn’t actually say which cuts they are,
but judging from the individual item list,
I think they were tenderloin, skirt steak, and sirloin.
It was a great portion size for solo dining.
The total came out in the low 40,000 won range, and considering the quality of the meat, I thought the price was pretty fair.
Each piece of beef came lightly seasoned.
The marbling definitely passed the test.
The grilled large intestine was in the 8,000 won range too, and the portion was surprisingly generous.
Time to start grilling.
The charcoal fire was strong, so everything cooked quickly,
but the grill itself wasn’t hard to work with, so it was still easy enough.
It practically melted in my mouth. Seriously so good.
I walked in with zero research,
and somehow still ended up finding a great spot.
The meat was delicious, the staff was kind,
the location was convenient, and the atmosphere worked really well for solo dining.
They also take credit cards, so overall,
this was a very satisfying yakiniku restaurant in Umeda, Osaka.
If the more famous place nearby doesn’t work out,
I’d definitely recommend giving this one a try.
Japan eSIM 25% discount (not 20%, but 25%!!)