Turning “I Wish a Place Like This Existed” Into Reality

Continued from my previous post.

 

Before opening my own restaurant, I had almost no way of truly understanding what made one Kobe Beef so different from another.

Today, there is much more information available online than there used to be. However, what can be shared publicly is still only a small part of the story. Even what I write here is only a glimpse into the world behind Kobe Beef.

Everything changed after I opened my own restaurant.

Through the trust and support of experienced meat wholesalers, I began visiting the market every week, purchasing cattle with my own money, and learning directly from people who had spent their lives in this industry.

Day by day, I studied each carcass seriously, trying to understand what made one truly exceptional.

Eventually, I reached the point where I could confidently say, “This is the one I want to buy.”

That journey became the foundation of what Baron is today.

At every restaurant where I had worked before, I never had the opportunity to choose cattle myself. That is why I remain deeply grateful for the environment and the people who made this possible.

For the past several years, one thought has stayed with me:

“The opportunity to experience truly exceptional beef shouldn’t belong only to a select few.”

I often asked myself:

“Could there be a place where people in Kobe could experience truly great beef more casually?”

Around that time, I remembered a small yakiniku restaurant I had once visited in the countryside of western Hyogo.

It was far from the city, surrounded by rice fields, yet I had heard that it supplied beef to one of the region’s finest steakhouses.

Instead of serving premium steak cuts, it carefully prepared the other parts of the animal as yakiniku.

I remember thinking,

“I wish there were a place like this closer to home.”

At Baron, after selecting the cuts for steak, the remaining parts of each animal inevitably enter the broader distribution system, eventually finding their way to department stores and other retailers.

Yet those cuts also possess wonderful character and flavor.

I kept asking myself,

“Could there be a better way to let people enjoy them?”

Then, last year, I received an unexpected phone call.

It was from a former colleague who had spent nearly ten years working at a yakiniku restaurant.

Although he had visited Baron fewer than ten times, he had introduced many friends and guests to us over the years.

He said,

“I want to work at Baron. I want to work with those cattle.”

He is the kind of person who doesn’t simply eat yakiniku.

He studies it.

He tastes the sauce on its own, examines every cut of meat, pays attention to thickness, knife work, grilling techniques, and even the condition of each cut of offal.

I thought to myself,

“Perhaps I can entrust this to him.”

Just as when I first opened Baron, another thought returned to me:

“I wish a place like this existed.”

This time, I realized that perhaps I could create it.

That is why I decided to open a yakiniku restaurant.

I don’t want it to become a copy of Baron.

I’ve filled it with many ideas and details that I myself would enjoy as a guest, but ultimately, how that vision evolves is up to him.

I hope it becomes a place that respects the philosophy Baron has built around Kobe Beef while allowing his own personality, experience, and creativity to flourish.

For now, we are mainly inviting guests who have already visited Baron.

With every service, we continue refining the restaurant by listening carefully to our guests’ feedback.

I also visit regularly myself, experiencing the restaurant from the customer’s perspective and working together with the team to improve every detail.

Construction delays and equipment issues meant that our reception period lasted much longer than expected, but we are finally approaching the restaurant we originally envisioned.

We have not yet been able to contact everyone, and in some cases phone numbers or contact information have changed.

If you have visited Baron before and are interested, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly.

I look forward to welcoming you and seeing you again soon.