Twenty of London’s most esteemed restaurants including Frog by Adam Handling, Bob Bob Ricard, The Kitchen Table, Junsei and Hide Mayfair will offer limited-time specials on their menus this month, all championing Japanese 'round cuts' of Wagyu.
In Japan, Wagyu has different applications depending on the different parts used. The leaner Wagyu round cut is commonly used in Japan but currently is rarely used in UK restaurants. Mr Ken Sakurai, Managing Director of Japan Livestock Products Promotion Council says, 'the volume of Wagyu beef exported from Japan to Europe is expected to exceed 450 tons in 2022. Looking at the breakdown, the most expensive part of Wagyu beef, the loin, accounts for 86% of the total. Through this campaign with restaurants across London, we hope to increase awareness for lesser-used cuts of Wagyu and in particular round cuts.'
Wagyu beef is produced in one of the world's most stringent quality control systems and only genuine Wagyu cattle born and bred in Japan can be called ‘Wagyu’. Cattle are fattened for a minimum of 600 days on a high-quality diet of rice straw and nutritious feed (corn, soya beans, wheat). Today, each Wagyu calf can even be checked through a smartphone. Purchasers can scan the QR code on their packaged beef to track the cattle’s date of birth, exact breed, grade, origin and more.
All participating restaurants, chefs and their developed menus can be found at https://uk.beef-japan.jp/wagyuweek2022/
To learn more about wagyu beef, visit http://jlec-pr.jp/en/beef/ and to find out where you can eat and buy wagyu beef in the UK, visit https://uk.beef-japan.jp/.