Pure Yakiniku, Kanda (焼肉 ぴゅあ)

Right across the street from Eiki sushi, this gets the same distinction – one of the most-walked-by places I’ve never visited. That all changed for the better today when Todd and Tucker were the guinea pigs for yet another expedition to Kanda and a new place. Not that we ate guinea pigs. It’s all meat there. Pure meat. Or maybe the pure means ‘pure Japanese’. They love that stuff. Either way, Y1k for a lunch plate here was a good deal.

There’s never much to say about the interior of a yakiniku place in the lower bracket. Family restaurant. The end.

But yeah, for lower-priced beef, this was some good stuff (actually my colleagues back in the office pronounced this place ‘not cheap’ when I showed them the dinner menu). We just got one of each at the top of the page of lunch specials – a kalbi, a halami, and a momo. Who knows which is which? I don’t. The thing was, it was well-marbled,

and it all fried up well. The grills though, are frankly crap. They shoot hot rod-style flames out from both sides, and will set up a steady flame and crisp the living hell out of your slice if you don’t watch ’em. I much prefer the circular grills where the flames aren’t as open and close to the meat. T&T were pleasantly surprised to see the staff changing the grill as we were leaving – they used to live in Shanghai, where I guess that sort of luxury service wouldn’t apply. I thought back to Sakaiya Food Hole, where they changed the grill twice during dinner despite the fact that we were eating guts (including that one really sweet mid-grilling change – no need to take the food off, they have a trick to change in mid-burn).

Y’know, I took a picture of the rice and soup and salad that comes with it, but who cares? I don’t, and I’m sure you don’t. This is good meat at reasonable prices, and you can order additional plates of pure meat at lunch time. This would be my recommended yakiniku lunch destination, partly because I can’t think of any other places except Yuboku in Shinmaru, which I liked a lot at the time.

Purely out of interest, here’s their site.
03-3294-4129