Way back in the 80’s, before my girl came along, my missus and I went on a tour to the countries in the Far East – Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. One of the places we went to in Japan was Kobe and we were told that we must not miss eating their Kobe beef – they said it was so very nice, so very tender and came from cows fed with beer! It was not cheap, of course, but we tried, anyway, though I do not recall it sweeping us off our feet.
There also seems to be a lot of excitement around about angus beef too (often misspelt, it seems). They have that here…
*2014 photo*
…still, I think but I have never ordered that as it does not come cheap – this small piece of air-flown Australian beef sirloin with truffle pumpkin mash…
…that I had at another place, since-closed-down was a whooping RM42.90 and it wasn’t even angus! Thankfully, that was a special treat from a friend.
Then, wagyu came along and took the world by storm but I read somewhere that it is actually Kobe beef, nothing new! They were selling it at this since-closed-down supermarket…
…for RM60-RM80 a piece, palm size. Shudders!!! Of course, I did not buy any to try, no, thank you!
That was why I couldn’t believe my eyes that morning when I saw these…
…at the supermarket (that sells a whole lot of imported stuff) where I got my butter. A pack of two huge slabs selling for between RM20 and RM28.00, is unbelievably cheap! One slab is only RM10-RM14, around what you would have to pay at a coffee shop stall or one of those cheaper cafés and it is not even some very nice beef, dry and hard, as tough as leather and more often than not, drowned with bottled black pepper sauce, not something I would enjoy.
I shared the above photograph on Facebook and somebody commented that it did not look anything like wagyu. “Oh?” I responded, “No streaks of fat?” but he never replied after that. I went and goggled and got this…
The one on the extreme right with those streaks of fat is UK’s WagyuFortnum’s Japanese wagyu, the middle one is purebred wagyu from Earl Stonham, also in the UK and the one on the left is crossbred from Ifor Welsh’s wagyu. I guess the Australian ones are more like the latter.
Of course I was thrilled and I quickly grabbed a few packs and headed home. That was on Saturday, May 16th – Teachers’ Day and I told my girl we would have that for lunch the next day. She asked if we could invite my sister to join us and I said, “Of course!” She contacted her and when she asked what the occasion was, my girl told her that it was to celebrate Teachers’ Day. LOL!!!
My missus did most of the cooking (except the mashed potatoes – my girl did that) and she read somewhere that the meat must be defrosted in the vacuum pack and must not be taken out till it was time to cook it. Normally, we would defrost any meat and marinate for a while before cooking. Well, that was what she did, just simply rubbed salt and pepper and some herbs (rosemary), no marinating, and pan-grilled the slabs with cloves of garlic in butter…
No, we’re no beef connoisseurs and did not bother about all that rare, medium rare and well done hoo-ha. My missus would never touch meat that is still red, not fully cooked and we were fine with it being well done…
When I had my first bite, I was stunned. It was so very nice, tender enough and the taste was absolutely out of this world – not quite like beef like I’ve always known it to taste like. Never mind even if it was like what that guy said – it did not look anything like wagyu, it was so so so delicious!
We had this mushroom soup…
…that my missus cooked as well and I bought these garlic buns…
…from one of the bakeries in town.
My sister stopped by that same supermarket on the way to our house to buy this…
…which we had for dessert. It tastes like those fresh strawberry ice cream in New Zealand or Cameron Highlands, nothing like the regular supermarket strawberry ones…and this one is yogurt ice cream so it is on the sourish side. The ladies loved it!
After that most delightful lunch, I logged into Facebook to share a photograph of what we ate and I said it was so very nice that I would make my way back to the supermarket to grab some more of the beef! Unfortunately, a friend commented and said that after seeing my Facebook post, she went and bought the last two packs! Another said that when she saw it, she asked the hubby to go right away and grab a few packs. Another friend said he got two and another one as well…and I don’t know who else. Gee!!! No wonder it was all sold out so quickly!
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...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
Wow, that was indeed a nice lunch and celebration for Teacher’s Day. Is your sister also a teacher? If I remember correctly, somewhere I saw you wrote celebration for 2 retired teachers and a young one. So I guess your sister is a teacher too.
Yes, she was. Early retirement as it was so stressful having to work and at the same time, take care of my mum and later, my dad – both of them one go. They stayed together. I was at another part of town so I had to go over every day.
Wow! So cheap! There is nothing wrong with eating steak well done, if that is what one prefers. My parents won’t eat medium rare and my late grandfather had always advocated meat well cooked to avoid ingesting parasites. Looks like you should have kept quiet about the steak, buy the rest up first, then announce. LOL!
Yalor!!! Didn’t expect the overwhelming response. Dunno when the next shipment will come in. I guess old folks like us prefer meat well done but I am not fond of it overdone – I am quite o.k. with medium rare, not my missus…but rare is definitely not to my fancy.
Very very good deal. I am not a big fan of beef so not that thrilled but don’t mind steak once in a while. Wagyu or angus, I haven’t try both. Wagyu maybe, one day.
You people in Kuching can get fresh beef from SARABIF (Satok) – I like fresh beef. Our imported frozen ones are black in colour, so tough and dry when cooked and have a strong beef smell that puts me off. I wonder what beef they used for the ones you had. If it is these, I would not bother – somehow lamb is not so bad.
Wow… that is super cheap and being cheap, one has to be fast! I guess you have to wait for the next shipment… and perhaps then, you will keep quiet about it… hahahaa…
I sure would not tell anybody if I happen to see it again. LOL!!!
Haha that was the intention of your “friend” – for you to Google and discover for yourself what’s the authentic wagyu. Great you did. Enjoy! 😉👍🙏
…and who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, eh? Wink! Wink! LOL!!!
ooo, with a price like that, i’d snap up two packets too! next time you could snap up at least three packets to last you for a longer time, heheh 😀
I grabbed three and we had two for our lunch. The other pack, my missus took and cooked some Korean soup – nice but no, it did not get me all excited probably due to the lack of bones for prolonged simmering to get the taste out. Pan-grilling’s nicer.
Wow western for you on this day.. so many types of beef available, good that you bought it at such a cheap price and it turned out to be enjoyable and tasty. Same as mun, i like yogurt and sourish taste, so i would enjoy that strawberry yogurt ice cream.
Yes, at those prices they were charging at the since-closed-down supermarket, I thought I would never leave to enjoy it, cannot afford!
Wagyu will change your life! I had it a lot when we visited Japan and a 700G one only costs 1000 Yen. It is best served rare or at most medium rare, yummy, buttery, melt in your mouth, you dont even need your teeth to chew them
Yes, for once I loved the beef…a lot! Been eating the imported Australian/New Zealand beef, so disappointing that I’ve given up buying and eating altogether. Frozen too long, fossilised already. There’s the beef from India too – cheaper but worse!
I have not been to South Korea yet but it is on my list.
Don’t know when we can travel again…even within the country. One day, they say one thing – I’m so lost!