shouted out to the cooks by
the wait staff, who enthusi-
astically shout back before
getting to work on your meal
right in front of you. While we
waited, the servers brought us
a standard starter of tempura
shrimp (the best I had yet had
in Japan) and sushi, as well as
edamame and sashimi.
Our beautifully prepared
vegetables were soon sent
over on the paddle, followed
by the beef skewers. Amanda
and I agreed that, after eating
the A5 beef, it would be wise
for us to consider vegetarian-
ism, as all other beef will sure-
ly be a disappointment. A5 is
the highest possible ranking in
the Japanese beef scoring sys-
tem. Wagyu beef comes from
any of four Japanese breeds
of beef cattle, and 90 percent
of the fattened cattle in Japan
