Tokyo’s premium butcher turns restaurant and gets a one star Michelin. I am not sure what to say, except, a good solid steak, value for money even though I was invited.

The appetizers look good and tasted good, a hearty over-sized green salad with endive (white and red), it was a great salad combination. The sides at Nakasei are nothing special, and the fries were very oily and lacked a good salting.

We ordered three meats: a piece of pork, and two hind cuts of beef, male cow castrated with nice marbling. The pork was mediocre and the beef was above average, but it all seemed a little lost.

The restaurant manager is excellent and works hard welcoming guest and serving them, so where does Nakasei go wrong? My feeling was it is neither here nor there, and it proves that there are limited options in Tokyo where a client can have a premium steak in a casual setting with good cost performance.

The biggest surprise were the slices of aromatic “ham”, slightly smoked it’s a popular item, and is similar to pastrami without the heavy peppering.

The grill at Nakasei is said to be bincotan, however it looked more conventional and the steak lacked any particular flair or detail.

My advice is: whenever you order a steak, always think in terms of thickness and forget grams otherwise you’ll get a steak that lacks the “bite”. In the end a non descriptive place with nondescript cuisine and certainly not one star by a long shot.

I wasn’t impressed but what I realized is, Tokyo doesn’t offer a good steak in a casual setting, and at Nakasei you’ll find it.