Is Tokyo Station’s startlingly expensive wagyu bento boxed lunch worth its high price?[Taste test]

The Yukifuri Wagyu Obanazawa Sirloin and Rib Loin Steak Rice Box has a long name, a high price, and our stomach’s interest.

With Tokyo Station being part of both the Tokaido and Tohoku Shinkansen lines, it’s the starting point for many journeys across Japan. But even before you step aboard the bullet train, your taste buds can take a virtual voyage of their own, as Tokyo Station has one of Japan’s best selections of ekiben, or station bento boxed lunches, featuring some mouthwatering regional ingredients.

And if you’re already feeling in travel mode and so in the mood to splurge a bit, ready to provide you with some pre-departure bento luxury is Niku Oroshi Kojima.

Located in the central passageway of Tokyo Station’s Gransta Tokyo shopping center (itself located inside the Tokyo Station ticket gates), Niku Oroshi Kojima is first and foremost a steak restaurant, but for those without time for a sit-down meal, they also offer wagyu beef bento using Yukifuri Wagyu Obanazawa, a brand of beef from Yamagata, one of Japan’s premium wagyu-producing prefectures.

But while the photo of the Yukifuri Wagyu Obanazawa Sirloin and Rib Loin Steak Rice Box looked mouthwatering…

…its price was eyepopping, as even the smallest bento, with just 100 grams (3.5 ounces) of steak, costs 3,650 yen (US$24), and the largest size, the 300-gram bento, is 10,050 yen!

With most store-bought bento being under 1,000 yen, this is definitely a lot to pay for a boxed lunch. Still, the photo on the menu did look good, and so we opened our wallet wide enough to get out the 3,650 yen for the 100-gram wagyu boxed lunch.

Rather than whip up a bunch of boxed lunches ahead of time and let them sit, Niku Oroshi Kojima cooks its bento steaks after they’ve been ordered, so you’ll need to wait about 5 to 10 minutes to get yours.

Removing the lid, we saw eight bite-sized slices of Yamagata wagyu waiting for us. The accompanying sides are petit portions of grilled vegetables and pickles, and further accompaniment comes from a dollop of wasabi and a container of steak sauce.

Those slices of steak were cooked to perfection, by Japanese standards, having retained a meaty pinkness at their center.

We drizzled a bit of sauce onto a slice, took a bite, and were immediately amazed at how tender the beef was! The meat itself was incredibly flavorful, and the marbled fat provided the sort of buttery sweetness that’s so prized in high-end wagyu.

That didn’t mean that the beef felt fatty or heavy, though. The “yukifuri” part of Yukifuri Wagyu Obanazawa means “snowfall,” and this bento’s beef has a texture that delicately melts in your mouth like freshly fallen snow.

When we first took the lid off the box, we couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed that we only had eight slices of beef. Now that we knew how delicious it was, though, having seven more slices left to enjoy had us feeling like we were in possession of a pile of culinary treasure, showing that really good food won’t just please your palate, but also put you in a more positive frame of mind.

The sauce, by the way, has a gently sweet flavor that makes for a great combination with the rice too.

So is this luxurious wagyu bento worth its startlingly high price tag? In terms of taste, we were definitely happy with our decision to splurge on it, as it’s delicious enough to justify selecting as a 3,650-yen meal. That said, we’re not always in a financial position to treat ourselves to a lunch of that price, and since bento are, by nature, to-go items, it’s not like you’re getting any elegant restaurant ambiance as part of the deal. But if you are in the mood to go upscale for a pure-food lunch, the Yukifuri Wagyu Obanazawa Sirloin and Rib Loin Steak Rice Box won’t disappoint your taste buds, and we can totally see why the Tokyo Station staff themselves say it’s one of their favorite bento.

Related: Niku Oroshi Kojima Tokoyo Gransta website
Photos © SoraNews24
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