Tucked away along Tras Street, Ushidoki is a veritable temple to Japanese beef. The restaurant uses the famed Ozaki beef from Miyazaki Prefecture, produced by Muneharu Ozaki, the only farmer in Japan that has put his name to the cattle he raises. After studying the most advanced cattle production techniques in the USA, Ozaki returned to Japan to producebeef that people can enjoy eating every day. Instead of focusing on marbling, colour and fat, he turned his attention to producing the best flavour and ensuring the meat is easily digested so people can enjoy it without being overwhelmed by its richness.

As such, Ozaki beef is slaughtered at between 32 and 34 months, rather than the traditional 28 months. Ozaki believes that the cattle’s maturity endows its meat with better flavour.

At this restaurant, executive chef Hirohashi Nobuaki serves the various cuts of Ozaki beef in a kaiseki menu that showcases animpressive array of preparations and ingredients. Often, the beef is paired with seafood elements to deliver layers of delicious umami. Case in point: chawanmushi with minced beef, sea urchin and salmon roe. Another standout dish sees slivers of raw wagyu, lightly smoked and wrapped around fresh oysters. This is followed by a bowl of sukiyaki with a soft-boiled egg swimming in shoyu gravy. Blanketed with generous shavings of black truffle, it is served with a rice ball to soak up the gravy, which, like a prized sourdough starter, has been lovingly tended to and topped up every day since the restaurant opened. No wagyu degustation should be without a pure expression of the beef itself, and there is little to fault here. Morsels of tenderloin and chateaubriand are grilled to an impressively uniform sear that provides incredible flavour and textural contrast to the rich pink meat within.