"Please Eat Cow Tongue."

For a long time before coming to work here, I knew I wanted to visit the gem of the northern Tohoku region of Japan: Sendai. Home to a unique and old cultural tradition, as well as one of the most fascinating samurai in Medieval Japanese history (a story for another time, I think...!) , Sendai has been a place that has interested me for a while.

At last, during the first few days of spring break, I was able to go. I made the plans, booked my hotel, and bought my plane tickets. The day before I departed, I said my brief farewells before rushing back to my apartment to finish packing.

“I’m off to Sendai!” I said cheerfully to my co-workers, fully expecting a chorus of the standard, “Really? Take care!” responses I usually get as answers to statements like that one.

“Sensei,” my lead English teacher began. Instead of the “good luck,” or “have fun,” or “bring back delicious cakes as souvenirs” I thought was going to come out of her mouth, she said, with the most serious expression I'm sure she could muster, “Please eat cow tongue.”

That was the first time I’d heard about one of Sendai’s most famous foods: cow tongue.

Called 牛タン (gyuutan) in Japanese, this dish isn’t as intimidating as it sounds. Albeit, when I first heard about it from my co-worker, I had images of charred, prickly, curled tongue on a stick in my mind. I knew tongues were edible, but it definitely didn't sound appealing. Sure, I probably would have tried it anyway, but I was definitely apprehensive at first. My first questions were “How is it prepared?”, “Is it expensive?”, and (of course) “Are my co-workers messing with me?”

A quick Google search answered all of my questions: it’s prepared in many ways, it’s a real thing (and not an office prank on the foreign teacher), and it can be expensive, but you can also get good quality tongue for a reasonable price. With those questions answered, I confidently sat down to my first meal of cow tongue when I arrived in Sendai Station.

Grilled cow tongue lunch set

I was such a cow tongue novice- what was the best way to eat it? Did I go to a respectable cow tongue restaurant? Not knowing what to do, I asked the waitress for the most popular dish. She insisted I try the 牛タン焼き (gyuutanyaki), or grilled cow tongue.

I was shocked when she brought out the set, which included oxtail soup and rice. The tongue looked tender, almost like a thin steak filet. And it smelled delicious.

I wasn’t surprised at all when I finished my meal in under 10 minutes. It was so good! The texture wasn't nearly as strange as I thought it might be. It was definitely chewy, but not too chewy. And the flame-broiled taste really made it seem like I was just eating steak, and not tongue. Halfway through the meal, I honestly wondered why steakhouses back in America don’t have this.

The Final Judgement

Restaurant: 牛たん炭焼 利久 仙台駅店 (Gyuutan Rikyu in Sendai Station, 3F)

Price: For the whole set, it came out around 1,500 yen. A little pricey, I think, but it was really good, so what can I say?

Taste: Delicious! The only thing that might have made it even better would be some added flavor, like a rub or marinade. Now I'm having thoughts of a marinated cow tongue... Yum!

Would I eat it again? Happily! And I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone visiting Sendai!