Asakusa Imahan Kokusai-dori Honten

Asakusa Imahan has been serving beef since 1895, in the early decades after Japan lifted its long-standing restrictions on eating meat, and its main restaurant on Kokusai-dori is a traditional setting in which to try sukiyaki. Thin slices of marbled Wagyu are cooked at the table in a shallow iron pan with a sweet soy-based sauce, together with tofu, leeks, mushrooms and other vegetables, then dipped in beaten raw egg before eating. Shabu-shabu, in which the beef is swished through a light stock, is also offered.

Kimono-clad staff cook the first pieces for you, which helps if you have not tried sukiyaki before, and they explain the order in which to add the ingredients. The menu starts with lunch sets and rises through dinner sets of increasingly premium marbled beef and brand-name Wagyu to Kobe beef and full kaiseki courses that add seasonal dishes before the sukiyaki. Rice and pickles finish the meal. The restaurant has private rooms on its upper floors as well as the main dining areas.

Prices are high, starting at 5,390 yen for a lunch set and 9,680 yen for a dinner set, and a 10 per cent service charge applies to orders of 5,500 yen or more per person. The restaurant is open every day from 11:30 to 21:30, with last orders at 20:30 and last entry at 19:00. Lunch is served from 11:30 to 14:30 and may finish early on busy days, and seating pauses from 14:30 to 16:00. Dinner reservations are taken by phone only, between 10:30 and 21:00, and lunch sets cannot be reserved, so arrive early. The second-floor private rooms and the third-floor hall are not open to children under junior high school age.

It suits couples, families with older children and anyone wanting a celebratory meal with a strong sense of tradition, and it is an excellent introduction to Japanese beef. Tell staff in advance if you would rather not eat raw egg; the beef can be eaten without it.

The restaurant is at 3-1-12 Nishi-Asakusa, on Kokusai-dori, a short walk from Tawaramachi Station on the Ginza Line and around ten minutes from Senso-ji. The kitchenware shops of Kappabashi are just to the west, making it a convenient lunch stop on a day in Asakusa.