Squicky Cow Parts Chowdown

Hey, are you ready to grill up some tasty fourth stomach of cow tonight? Or maybe you’d prefer first stomach? Let’s get one of each, to compare!

Then for chasers, how about a nice plate of diaphragm? And…let’s see…it’s always so hard to decide between large intestine and small, especially when there are three kinds of wiggly bits o’ colon to choose from––

Yakiniku (“Korean BBQ”) is usually explained as tasty bites of meat you grill yourself at your table, but I had no idea there would be so many types of, er, meats on offer. This restaurant near Meguro station has an especially magnificent selection, but in Japan it’s not unusual to encounter rather more challenging cuts of cow (and pig) than I’m used to. And they’re not cheap, either! A plate of sirloin looks like a bargain compared to center cut of tongue!

Carry this in your wallet, for handy reference!

As you can see, mixing up those cow stomachs could be disastrous…

Jonelle Patrick is the author of the Only In Tokyo mystery series, published by Penguin/Intermix. When you read her third book, Idolmaker, now you’ll recognize the menu at the restaurant where Detective Kenji Nakamura has a little sit-down with his favorite suspect! Thank you to All About Beef Innards for the diagram & photos.