Aragawa

02What to order

• Tokusen Tajima sirloinThe house's selected Tajima, sold by weight for the table: 400 g for two at ¥66,000, 500 g for two or three at ¥82,500, 600 g for three at ¥99,000, plus 12 % service. Doneness comes in ten stages.
• Long-fattened sirloin, 50 months or moreThe longest-fed beef on the list: 400 g from ¥77,000, up to 600 g from ¥115,500.
• House hot-smoked salmonOn the menu since the opening: a 5 kg salmon prepared over a week and smoked whole in the oven; ¥5,500.
• The month's courseOctober 2026: lobster, amadai and crab, then 200 g of long-fattened sirloin, ¥60,500 a head; November's white-truffle course is ¥66,000. Two or more.

03The beef

The beef is purebred Tajima, only from heifers that have never calved, mikeisan-gyū, fattened for 40 months or more; the house notes that 28 to 32 months is usual on the market. Course beef comes from one designated producer, the Okazaki farm, which raises and finishes purebred Tajima heifers for 36 months or more for Aragawa alone, without going through auction. The sources give no carcass grade; what the house publishes is lineage and age.

04The fire

The house calls its style roka sumiyaki: steak grilled over charcoal in a rogama, a hearth oven. Each piece is seasoned with salt and pepper only, threaded on kanagushi, metal skewers, and cooked over Kishū binchōtan in an oven whose ash, the house says, has been kept since the opening, with new ash added.

05The story

Aragawa opened on 12 June 1967 in Shinbashi 3-chōme; the name is taken from a Balzac novel whose Japanese title is Aragawa. When that building was to be demolished, the house closed on 30 December 2008 and reopened on 13 January 2009 in Nishi-Shinbashi, restoring the original room: Nishijin-woven wall fabric, cherry-wood furniture, Swedish chandeliers. According to The Japan Set (2024), chef Kazuo Imayoshi has grilled Tajima beef there for more than 40 years. The group also runs ARAGAWA London, in Mayfair; it is the London house, at No. 41, that appears on World's 101 Best Steak Restaurants 2025, not the Shinbashi original.

06The practical

There are 22 seats, no smoking, and a private room for six. Hours are 12:00–22:30, last order 21:00; closed Sundays, public holidays and over the year end. Book through TableCheck or on 03-3438-1867 (14:00–17:00, phone only). Service is 12 %, and Tabelog asks guests to skip shorts and beach sandals. Onarimon station, exit A5 (Toei Mita line), is a minute away.

Address

Onarimon Odakyu Building 1F, 3-23-11 Nishi-Shinbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo

Phone

+81 3-3438-1867

Website

aragawa.jp

Directions

Google Maps ↗

07In Tokyo’s selections