Revered sushi masters and intricate multi-course Kaiseki dinners aside, for any meat lovers visiting Japan, it’s wagyu beef that’s the holy grail.
And while restaurants serving Japanese beef are abundant in Tokyo, we suggest heading to the Park Hyatt’s New York Grill, where a selection of the best cuts are on the menu and outstanding views of the city are thrown in to boot.
Perched on the 52nd floor of the Dr. Kenzo Tange-designed Shinjuku Park Tower, the New York Grill’s panoramic vistas certainly are the perfect backdrop to a slick restaurant adorned with vibrant paintings by Italian artist Valerio Adami and an impressive cellar with close to 2,000 bottles of wine.
An open kitchen is the perfect stage for Federico Heinzmann to strut his stuff. Hailing from Argentina, the chef is a well-versed in rustling up the perfect steak and is enthusiastically at hand to impart his knowledge on the complexities of wagyu beef.
Begin with an appetiser or two - such as the Hokkaido burrata cheese or the scallops - to get things started and for the main event, go straight to the top and tuck into a a perfectly tender and intricately marbled cut of kobe beef that won’t leave you disappointed.
A preprandial cocktail with some live jazz in the adjoining bar is another highlight- not least because it has been forever immortalised in the 2003 film, Lost in Translation.
