Adelaide's most expensive steak is wagyu that’s imported from Japan and sells for $450/kg
IT'S imported from Japan, is authenticated with a noseprint and sells at the butcher for $450/kg — but at one Adelaide restaurant you'll now be able to sample the emperor of steaks without breaking the bank.
National
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IT’S Adelaide’s most expensive piece of steak, a top-grade Japanese wagyu sirloin that will sell at a local butcher for $450/kg.
The meat is so precious that each consignment is exported with a “birth certificate” and “noseprint” identifying the beast from which it has come.
The wagyu, from the Kagoshima region, is A5 class, an indication that it has the highest quality of fat marbling through the meat. It looks unlike any other cut of beef, the red flesh in roughly equal proportions to the creamy-coloured fat.
The first delivery arrived in Adelaide this week and will be available at Feast Fine Foods in the Central Market from Thursday morning.
It will also be on the menu at Shobosho in Leigh St, where chef Adam Liston is grilling thin slices on yakitori-style skewers to serve with egg yolk and tare sauce.
Due to its fat content, a little bit goes a long way. Shobosho will be selling a pair of skewers for $65 that would be ideal for two people.
Liston said he had tasted similar quality wagyu when travelling in Japan where it is available in a variety of cuts, including offal.
“This is the benchmark of wagyu. We get wagyu in Australia, such as Mayura Station, which is really good, but the Japanese have hundreds of years of tradition,” he said.
“It has a lot more fat, a much better texture, but not as much beef flavour.
“I don’t expect to sell a huge amount each night but it’s a nice thing to have for people who want to eat premium beef.”
Grazier and owner of Feast Fine Foods Richard Gunner said Japanese wagyu farmers would normally have only 15 to 20 head in a herd and were known to pamper them with a special diet including beer and regular massages.
“It’s done on a completely different, hands-on scale than we do things,” he said.
Gunner said the noseprint was like a fingerprint and identified the cattle and its lineage.
“This product is different from conventional beef. It feels as if it is dissolving in your mouth and has a lot of flavour. You only need a small portion to be sated.”
So how does it taste?
The A5 grade wagyu from Japan will appeal to those people who think the best part of the steak is the strip of fat at the edge. A look at the raw beef, in which veins of red flesh seem to run through creamy fat rather than the other way around, give an indication of how it will taste.
Sliced into thin strips and grilled briefly over coals, as Adam Liston does at Shobosho, the wagyu has an unctuous flavour that coats the mouth and lingers long after the last piece is finished.
While “melt in the mouth” is perhaps the most over-used term in food writing, this time it is justified. Like many of life’s luxuries, it is best consumed in small amounts.
The best SA meals money can buy
Want more than the very best wagyu money can buy? Follow our outrageously expensive progressive dinner tour.
■ First stop is The mayflower at the Mayfair for its Scampi Caviar served with Toast Points, Crème Fraiche, a snip at $240. Add a bottle of Krug Clos du Mesnil Champagne for $2500.
■ Next, we head to Shobosho on Leigh St. Its famed Kagoshima wagyu beef features superior marbling and is yours for $65 for two skewers.
■ Of course, all that beef can leave you parched, so stroll to 2KW on King William St for a bottle of 2KW’s 2001 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti — a steal at $22,000. That’s a mere $3000 or so a glass.
■ Whistle wetted, it’s time for dessert and 50SIXONE’s Insta-Famous. It boasts Italian zeppole, a Kinder Surprise, Nutella ice cream and Nutella, all sprinkled with 24k gold pebbles. Add butterscotch schnapps and almond milk and it’s the sweetest $50 you’ll spend.
■ Finish the night at Hains and Co in Gilbert Place with Old Rip Van Winkle bourbon at $80 a glass — they’ll even throw in a free cigar.
Total cost for the night: $24,935
— Gordon Knight
Originally published as Adelaide's most expensive steak is wagyu that’s imported from Japan and sells for $450/kg