A truly great meat experience – which takes its time: Restaurant Pound Steakhouse Honten (17. March 2020)

For the last evening in Kyoto I felt like a real piece of meat, so a ‘steakhouse’ sounded about right. The Pound has good reviews, so I was curious to see if they are actually as good as it’s said – and I can say one thing right away, I think one can say so. Given dinner time today was 5pm, as the only guests, we were a bit too early but they opened on time at 5pm and a friendly waitress welcomed us in.

I went for the “roasted aged beef salad (special basil dressing and garlic sauce adding a great accent to the well-aged roast beef and steak)” (1’480 Yen) which was good in terms of salad as well as in terms of roast beef but frankly it was cut a bit too thick for roastbeef – or at least for what I understand when I think about roast beef.

The “Kyoto’s seasonal vegetables pickles” (750 Yen) on the other hand are really nothing special as it is really just pickled vegetables in vinegar – and I’m not saying they’re bad but it is really just that, pickled vegetables without any special ‘taste’ or the like.

Preparing the meat takes quite a while (almost 45 minutes) and that includes heating up the oven initially (which is probably not always necessary) but frankly, it took a bit of my patience and I was almost getting angry with the chef as they had initially stated 30 minutes but it was well worth the wait. The “Tenderloin (1/2 pound)” (7’680 Yen) was actually incredibly tender and delicious in terms of flavor and consistency – I absolutely loved the meat!

And the same was true for the “Flank (1/2 pound)” (3’910 Yen) which was less lean but amazing in terms of consistency and flavor – it has slowly grown, over time, to one of my most favorite pieces of meat as it has that tasty structure and flavor at the same time making it a juicy and interesting piece of meat with character and flavor.

The “small garlic rice with aged beef” (580 Yen) which I had ordered as a side dish was enjoyable as it had an intense flavor which complemented the meat with meat! :-)

Lastly, the “Kyoto-style Monaka (Kyoto-style dessert waffle-like sandwich of vanilla and green tea ice-cream topped with rice flour dumplings, sweet bean paste and black sugar sauce)” (650 Yen) was great when it comes to the two icecreams – when it comes to these chewy dumplings, I didn’t like it so much.

The place is not that large and generally nice and appealing and quite comfortable. The waitress is friendly and really does her best to provide great service but given that we were the only guests and else it was a bit boring for her, assumingly, she spent quite a bit of time chatting with the chef which would, sometimes, have been well-invested to check on the guests.

All in all, the Pound is a restaurant I can recommend you to visit for steak as it offers great meat which needs its time to be prepared but provides you with a very enjoyable experience overall! Definitely a place you can visit if you’re into meat!

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Contact Details:

Restaurant Pound Steakhouse Honten

Tomoecho 85

Nakagyo Ward

〒604-0863 Kyoto (JP)

Tel.: +81 50 52 69 81 89

Homepage: http://ts-pound.com/honten

About the Author: Sven

I started the blog in October 2009, while living in Milan which I definitely consider to be one of the food capitals of the world. I was in touch with food since my early childhood (as my father is a former chef). Whenever I can, I travel the world to discover new places, to meet people but mostly to try local dishes and to find hidden gems! If you know a place worth going, please drop a line to: info@thediningexperience.org. Currently, I am a member of the following food-related associations: Chevalier @Chaîne des Rôtisseurs Zurich-Ville; Membre Gourmet Dégustateur @Ordre Mondial des Gourmets Dégustateurs [OMGD]; Gesellschafter @Goldener Fisch and Member @Slowfood Convivium Zurich City.