It has been a while since I travel, and the thing I missed most about traveling is enjoying the different types of local specialties. And while we don’t enjoy getting stuck in the airports, Haneda has several specialties shops that would be a joy to go that airport specially for them. And one of them is Yakiniku Champion.

Yakiniku Champion is one of Tokyo’s best spots for yakiniku – literally ‘grilled meat’ and the Japanese term for Korean barbecue. The menu runs the gamut from sweetbreads to the choicest cuts of grade A5 wagyū; there’s a diagram of the cuts as well as descriptions (in English).

特選焼肉御膳

Special Yakiniku Set

The special set came with 4 cuts of meat, a little bit (too little) of kimchi and side dishes, and a generous bowl of rice. Also a small bowl of wakame seaweed soup.

The Ohmi A5 beef was excellent. The meat just melted in your mouth. If you are worried to smell like BBQ just before the flight, don’t worry as they offer a complimentary fabric freshener for you to spray on your clothes after the meal.

The meat has been marinated with a very strong tare so it it best with the steamed rice.

焼肉チャンピオンロール

Yakiniku Champion Roll

A generous amount of A5 wagyu beef lightly grilled with a proprietary tare sauce. Next, it’s wrapped up inside the leaves of fragrant sangchu (Korean lettuce), along with kimchi and spicy mayonnaise. Finally, it’s rolled up in white rice, coated with a generous helping of sesame seeds and sealed inside a crinkly brown bamboo sheath, ready to serve.

That’s the Yakiniku Champion Roll, and it’s worth going out of your way for. Of course, you can stop in for a full yakiniku meal, with soup, rice and pickles. But if time is not your friend, the combination of flavours in the roll makes it more than a second-best solution. Each take-out pack is pre-cut into eight slices, making it a perfect meal or snack (if you’re sharing) for the plane, or even once you get back home.

This is a must try restaurant – head to Haneda Airport’s International Terminal, to the cluster of eateries known as Edo Koji (Edo Alley) one floor above the departures lobby — before going through immigration.  Service was fast and a lot of customers are to be expected during lunch time.

Yakiniku Champion Haneda Airport 焼肉チャンピオン
Japan, 〒144-0041 Tokyo, Ota City, Hanedakuko, 2 Chome−6−５
第3 旅客ターミナルビル ４Ｆ 江戸小路
Tel : +81 3-5708-0529

Date Visited : Apr 2017