A5 Japanese Black Wagyu Steak 150g.
Italian Style, in Kyoto

A steak carries a kind of weight that few other dishes do.

Somewhere near the end of an Italian meal — after the antipasto, after the pasta — there comes a moment when you want one more plate, something with real substance. For that moment, Bello Vero offers a 150g A5-grade Japanese black wagyu steak.

The meat comes from Ginkakuji Onishi, Kitashirakawa

The wagyu we serve is A5-grade Japanese black beef, sourced from Ginkakuji Onishi's Kitashirakawa main shop — a butcher just up Shirakawa-dori from Ginkakuji temple, long trusted by Kyoto's hotels and traditional restaurants for knowing wagyu.

Because the shop is only a few minutes' walk from us, the meat arrives the same day it's selected, in the best possible condition. "Today's wagyu is especially good in this cut," they'll tell us — and that's what we cook. Grade, origin, and the face of the person who chose it: all accounted for.

150 grams — the right size

When people picture a wagyu steak, they often think of a 300g or 400g slab — a single grand piece of meat. But at an Italian table, after antipasto and pasta, 150g is a better fit. It sits naturally in the rhythm of the meal.

Enough for one person to finish comfortably. Enough for two to share without feeling short-changed. It lands in that sweet spot between appetiser and main event.

Rosemary and black pepper — nothing more

Wagyu doesn't need an elaborate sauce. The sweetness of the fat, the aroma of the meat — these carry the dish on their own. At Bello Vero, we season with rock salt and black pepper, sear the steak, and finish it with a sprig of rosemary. That's all.

On the side: potatoes roasted in their skins — crisp outside, soft and floury within. The wagyu juices run down into the potatoes; you scoop them up together. A simple pleasure, and a hard one to stop eating.

A wine to go with it

Wagyu steak wants a red. A structured Tuscan or Piemontese red is the classic pairing, and the staff can suggest a bottle that suits the meal. We serve wine by the bottle only — good for sharing across a course that leads into a wagyu secondo.

Bello Vero opens at 1 PM and runs straight through the evening, so you can order the wagyu and a bottle of red even at a leisurely late lunch — a small luxury after a morning at Ginkakuji.

Walking from Ginkakuji

Leave Ginkakuji and head north — along the Philosopher's Path, or up Shirakawa-dori. In 10 to 15 minutes you're in the Kitashirakawa neighbourhood. By city bus, get off at "Kitashirakawa" stop; we're a two-minute walk away.

After sightseeing, you want wagyu — but not yakiniku, not sukiyaki, something more in the Western idiom. Wagyu at an Italian table is that option.