FUKUOKA, TOKYO, Dec. 9 – Yay! We have wagyu Christmas cakeｓ this year! Prices of ingredients of regular Christmas cakes, such as strawberries and eggs, continue to rise, and so does Christmas cakes. So, many businesses are actively proposing to brighten up the dinner table with products featuring wagyu beef served in a cake-like style. Meat stores and yakiniku restaurants that regularly have business with wagyu beef producing areas are taking this strategy to boost demand for wagyu at the end of the year.
Meat Shop n Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture, regularly sells Kuroge wagyu beef produced in the Kyushu, the southernmost island of Japan. Today, it sells more than 10 kinds of wagyu cakes made from nationally renowned wagyu beef brands, including Kagoshima Kuroge Gyu and Miyazaki Gyu. One of the popular products in the series is “Bonheur” that has flowers of marbled red meat on top, sold for sukiyaki or shabu-shabu beef pot parties at home. The 750-gram wagyu cake is available also for delivery orders from all over Japan for 18,980 yen.
“There is a high demand for meat cakes from people looking for something gorgeous and satisfying,” according to the company. The products are already strong, with the number of reservations reaching 20% higher compared to last year as of the end of November.
Kintan is a restaurant chain based in Meguro Ward, Tokyo, that operates yakiniku restaurants mainly in the Kanto eastern Japan region. It sells “Yakiniku Cake Noel,” which uses thigh meat for the base and rump meat with high lean content on the top.
It started to sell Noel in September this year and has been receiving approximately 20 orders a month. Kintan cuts meat after it receives an order, as they have wagyu beef supplies on a daily basis. The 460-gram freshly-made wagyu cake is sold at 12,800 yen.
The end of the year is the peak demand season for wagyu. Wagyu cakes are likely to become a standard choice for enjoying excellent beef at home both visually and palatably.
“Bonheur” in the Wadatsu Meat Cake (application filed for trademark registration) series uses A5-grade wagyu beef from Kyushu. (Photo by Meat Shop Wadatsu)