I understand this thread is about having meals at home when we are restricted from going out during the pandemic. But I did not want to start a new thread and this thread has been going strong about food.

Looks like people are moving again domestically in Japan, although international visitors to Japan are still restricted. I made this trip to Matsusaka in Feb. 2020, things were starting to slow down but things were not shut down yet.

I like food and when traveling I tend to choose a local flavor. This post will be about a fancy meal, although I have not posted about fancy meals here at FT. There are enough people who post about Michelin starred restaurants here, and I do not fancy Michelin starred restaurants so never felt like posting about fancy meals here at FT. But I will try this time.

I was at Nagoya and had a little bit of free time to myself. I decided to have Matsusaka beef sukiyaki at Matsusaka. Matsusaka beef is as good as Kobe beef, but I think even among Japanese Matsusaka beef maybe a little less known. For sure outside of Matsusaka, Matsusaka beef may not be readily available compared with Kobe beef. I am sure I could have found a place around Nagoya station for Matsusaka beef, but I had little time for myself so decided to take a side trip to Matsusaka. Matsusaka is a city little more than 100 km south of Nagoya in Mie prefecture. Matsusaka is located at the entrance to Ise Shima region of Mie. From Nagoya it is choice of JR Line or Kintentsu Line to Matsusaka. For me it is no brainer, Kintetsu Limited Express to Matsusaka. Who can say no to Kintetsu Limited Express? More about Kintetsu Limited Express on this website.

Kintetsu Limited express train I took from Nagoya to Matsusaka was ran by Urban Liner.


Urban Liner used to run on Nagoya - Osaka (Tsuruhashi, Uehonmachi, and Nanba) non-stop limited express service. But now Kintetsu has introduced new Hinotori trains on this route that Urban Liner is now serving other limited express services in Kintentsu Line. Urban Liner has a Deluxe Seat, a regular seat is 2x2 seat but Deluxe Seat is 1x2 seating with 320 yen additional from a regular seat regardless of distance. Of course, I went for Deluxe Seat.

The picture of Urban Liner train is at Kintetsu Nagoya station. Next to it is an ad for Matsusaka beef sukiyaki restaurant Gyu-Gin Honntenn (牛銀本店, website in Japanese only), 15 min. walk from Matsusaka station. This is a nice restaurant which was established in 1902 specializing in beef dish. This is not where I had sukiyaki but this is not a bad place either. For this resturant advance reservation is recommended and there is 2 people minimum.

Limited Express ride to Matsusaka is 1 hr. and 7 min. from Kintetsu Nagoya. Urban Liner at Matsusaka station.




I decided to go to Matsusaka at the last minute, so I did not have any specific Matsusaka beef restaurant in my mind. There is a small tourist information center next to the station and there I ask for a recommendation for Matsusaka beef sukiyaki place with no reservation and will take one person. The tourist information suggested Taiya Ryokann (鯛屋旅館, website in Japanese only) which is a small ryokan which serves lunch and 5 min. walk from the station. This ryokan dates back to 220 years ago, it is not fancy at all compared with Ritz-Carlton but typical Japanese ryokan. Pretty much everything is in Japanese only, meals at tatami room (sitting down on a tatami floor with low rise table). This may not be for everyone, but was a very nice place and I had no problem.



I came all the way to Matsusaka so I decided to splurge and went tokujo (特上) sukiyaki lunch. Not like I will do this often. First, otooshi (お通し), a small dish appetizer.


Soon followed by Matsusaka beef sukiyaki.


A server will assist you in cooking sukiyaki at the table.




Having sukiyaki with raw eggs, the standard for sukiyaki.


Some who had sukiyaki in Japan may notice there is so little sauce (soy sauce + mirin + sugar) in a pan. This is Matsusaka style sukiyaki cooking. "Yaki" of sukiyaki is 焼き which means to grille but you may have seen sukiyaki with a lot more sauce in the cooking pan, where looks more like simmering in a sauce rather than grilling on a pan. The server who served me at this place told me that "simmering in a sauce" type sukiyaki cooking has become so popular in Japan that there was a period many sukiyaki restaurants in Matusaka have switched to "simmering in a sauce" type cooking. But lately, there is a move to go back to Matsusaka style sukiyaki cooking in Matsusaka where a minimal amount of sauce is used just for flavoring and actually grill meat on a pan.

This was very fine sukiyaki. Glad I made a trip to Matsusaka. Matsusaka is not a tourists place like Ise Shima region of Mie prefecture. Compare with Tokyo or Nagoya there will be minimal non-Japanese spoken and menus at restaurants will be likely in Japanese only. But it is nice to be at a place like Matsusaka, getting out of big city of Tokyo, Nagoya, or a tourist place like Kyoto. This side trip to Matsusaka was a nice way to get out from the city and same time have nice Matsusaka beef sukiyaki. It was time to head back to Nagoya. The next Kintetsu limited express train to Nagoya was by Ise-Shima Liner, lucky me! Went for Deluxe seat again (additional 320 yen). Ise-Shima Liner is a train made as a tourist train between Osaka/Nagoya and Ise Shima area. Beside Deluxe seat, there are group compartment type seating. Small snack stand and smoking room.






Back to Nagoya, this is JR Central Towers at Nagoya station where headquarter of JR Tokai is located. One of the towers from 15 fl. up is occupied by Marriott Hotel. Lower floor is Takashimaya department store. Can go up to 15-18 fl. area and have a view but there are high rises around Nagoya station where the view may be blocked by high rise nearby.




This was a nice side trip I had from Nagoya. People are starting to move again, ANA and JAL are increasing domestic flight frequencies although not back to the pre-pandemic level yet. Cannot let the guard down yet but hope we are slowly moving back toward what used to be.