Fine wagyu goes casual at Gyu San

WAGYU lovers looking to geek out on their favourite protein have plenty to chew on at the new Gyu San, which serves up fat ribeye sandos and a Japanese dictionary’s worth of meat cuts that prove there’s literally more than 55 ways to slice a cow. The unassuming butchery-eatery in Guoco Tower has a double mission as a casual diner serving Japanese sandwiches, and a full-on butchery focused not just on premium A5 sirloin but an extensive range of cuts to widen one’s beef repertoire beyond  zabuton and misuji. Think kainomi (flap meat), tomo bara (short plate), katarosu (chuck roll), tomo sankaku (tri-tip), seseri (neck) and dozens more - all sliced to your needs and ready to cook at home. 

Helmed by chef Tomoyuki Kiga and French-trained female butcher Linh Lam, Gyu San - literally “Mr Beef” or “beef sandwich”, whichever you prefer - sets out to democratise premium wagyu, serving the same fine dining quality meat in a casual cafe setting, while retailing a comprehensive range of cuts not usually seen outside a restaurant setting.  “That’s because we buy the entire carcass so we can show off the true ‘hero’ cuts which are the secondary parts,” says Kiga of the over 50 varieties on offer.

Gyu San also buys direct from the farms, and not middlemen suppliers. Currently, it offers 3 brands - Kamichiku Satsuma Gyu from Kagoshima; Kanzaki from Iwate; and the prized A5-only Hida Gyu. Kamichiku cattle are raised by just 12 award-winning farmers in Kagoshima and only the carcasses from the top 4 per cent are sent to Singapore. Kanzaki cows, in turn, are sustainably farmed, antibiotic-free and fed an organic diet, so the fat has a low melting point, with a good umami in the meat. And of course Hida gyu comes with its pedigree of a long history and quality as one of the top wagyu brands in Japan.