Sanda

 Sanda Restaurant - Roponngi Hills, Tokyo

Sanda beef is another one of the world famous wagyu beef from Japan. They are one of the more famous beef brands/breeds that supply the great teppanyaki/gyuniku/sukiyaki restaurants of Tokyo. They are of the highest quality and also command a great price.

In Roppongi Hills in Tokyo, Japan there is a restaurant of the same namesake as the famous beef brand. Sanda Restuarant serves only Sanda beef breed. There's a catch though. This restaurant only serves beef innards and beef offals. Common high end cuts like prime rib, sirloin, tenderloin, rib eye and striploin are not served here. They only served beef offals or beef innards. Beef offals are is a culinary term used to refer to the entrails and internal organs of a butchered animal. The word does not refer to a particular list of organs, but includes most internal organs other than muscles or bones.

Beef offals and innards used to be disposed of and not sold in retail markets. They have particular properties and characteristics that can be very challenging to a chef. Offals and innards usually have a very strong aroma that can be seen as offensive and unappetizing. Innards like tripe, tendons, stomach and the intestines are usually  tough and it takes a long cooking period to cook properly.

Sanda has taken the challenge and have done the impossible. They have garnered a michelin star rating by serving innards as a main ingredient. They are also critically and commercially a success because they are booked weeks in advance.

I love innards and offals. Filipinos are known to be offal lovers. Our famous dishes like kare-kare (ox tail and ox tripe stew) , diniguan (blood stew with pig intestines), Chicharon bulaklak (deep fried cripy pork chiterlings) and papaitan (goat entrails cooked in bile) are all composed of innards and entrails.

To others this kind of Japanese cuisine may be daunting. But to me, I guess this restaurant lacked the "fear factor" aspect of it.This was normal and everyday fare for me in the Philippines. It was still very very good. Never has livers and tripe been so sophisticated.

They an assortment of grilled offals and pickled offals. They were all good. Served simple and straight to the point. You sensed that the chef wasn't really after the "dare to be different" or "to be different for differents sake". All the dishes made sense. It had logic.

Noteworthy courses were the: sweet breads! My first time. I only read about the sweetbreads in culinary books and classic french cookbooks. They were grilled and they were really good. Am looking forward in trying sweetbreads in the future.

FYI: Sweet bread are only available in veal or young cows. They disappear when they get older.

Sanda was way over what I expected. Better than your average meat restaurant,. Unique. Original. Unforgettable.