Unearthly Steak in Japan at Awaji Island’s “Beefland Prince”
desktop background image of Sirloin steak at Beefland Prince (Beefland Taiko; ビーフランド大公) on Awaji Island, Japan -- Literally melts in your mouth Sirloin at Beefland Prince, Awaji Island, Japan ビーフランド大公、淡路島 -- Beefland Taiko (ビーフランド大公) -- Awaji, Hyogo, Japan -- Copyright 2014 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http://regex.info/ when used online)
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1600 — map & image datanearby photos
Literally
melts in your mouth
Sirloin at Beefland Prince, Awaji Island, Japan
ビーフランド大公、淡路島
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With Anthony away on a school trip, Fumie and I made a day-trip date to Awaji Island two hours by car south from Kyoto, where our first stop was a late lunch in heaven, A.K.A Beefland Prince.

息子修学旅行中なので、妻と一緒淡路島日帰りデートをしました。まずは「ビーフランド大公」でめっちゃ美味いステーキを戴きました。

Sirloin Lunch -- Beefland Taiko (ビーフランド大公) -- Awaji, Hyogo, Japan -- Copyright 2014 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http://regex.info/ when used online)
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 28mm — 1/80 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image datanearby photos
Sirloin Lunch
Sizzling it's served on a slab of very hot stone, so it continues to sizzle for quite some time -- Beefland Taiko (ビーフランド大公) -- Awaji, Hyogo, Japan -- Copyright 2014 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http://regex.info/ when used online)
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 560 — map & image datanearby photos
Sizzling
it's served on a slab of very hot stone, so it continues to sizzle for quite some time

You can't begin to imagine how good this steak was. When I say the steak literally melts in your mouth, I'm literally using the word literally for its literal meaning... the fats in the meat just melt away. It's almost unearthly when compared to any other steak I've ever had in this life (including the fantastic teppanyaki steak I wrote about the other day; as good as it was, it's not in the same class as today's place).

Sadly, it's a two-hour drive away and is pretty pricey, so we can't enjoy it often. We last came four years ago.

Because I'm a camera geek, check out yet another example of the powerful impact a polarizing filter can have, in these two shots of the chopsticks' sleeve:

Beefland Taiko (ビーフランド大公) -- Awaji, Hyogo, Japan -- Copyright 2014 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http://regex.info/ when used online)
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 2200 — map & image datanearby photos
With Polarizer 偏光フィルタ有り   -   Without Polarizer 偏光フィルタ無し

mouseover a button to see that image

What a difference.

I used a polarizer on the steak shots above, but only partially because as I wrote about in my first writeup on using a polarizer filter six years ago, a certain amount of shine/glare is usually appealing with food. I've also presented other examples of the filter with: fall foliage moss · wet rocks · a temple garden · lotus flowers · a stream.

Anyway, this was our third time at this restaurant. I thought I'd posted about it in years past, but for the life of me I can't find any evidence. Here are some shots from our last visit four years ago...

次の写真は4年前写真です。

Sign at the Road -- Beefland Taiko (ビーフランド大公) -- Awaji, Hyogo, Japan -- Copyright 2010 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 58mm — 1/640 sec, f/8, ISO 250 — map & image datanearby photos
Sign at the Road
Outdated Look -- Beefland Taiko (ビーフランド大公) -- Awaji, Hyogo, Japan -- Copyright 2010 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 36mm — 1/1600 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Outdated Look
Entrance -- Beefland Taiko (ビーフランド大公) -- Awaji, Hyogo, Japan -- Copyright 2010 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 50mm — 1/640 sec, f/8, ISO 5600 — map & image datanearby photos
Entrance
Inside: Dated and Dirty -- Beefland Taiko (ビーフランド大公) -- Awaji, Hyogo, Japan -- Copyright 2010 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 52mm — 1/100 sec, f/2.8, ISO 6400 — map & image datanearby photos
Inside: Dated and Dirty

The impression of the place is not good... until you're served, then all else is forgotten.

For historical-archival purposes, my steak four years ago:

Beefland Taiko (ビーフランド大公) -- Awaji, Hyogo, Japan -- Copyright 2010 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — 1/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 2000 — map & image datanearby photos
Beefland Taiko (ビーフランド大公) -- Awaji, Hyogo, Japan -- Copyright 2010 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — 1/125 sec, f/3.5, ISO 1250 — map & image datanearby photos

Fumie had the filet mignon, which tasted just as exquisite but had quite a different look:

Beefland Taiko (ビーフランド大公) -- Awaji, Hyogo, Japan -- Copyright 2010 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — 1/125 sec, f/3.5, ISO 560 — map & image datanearby photos

All 4 comments so far, oldest first...

Very nice writeup Jeffrey. The images look great and overall it makes me want to visit the Beefland Prince on my next trip to Japan.

— comment by Mark Esguerra on June 16th, 2014 at 12:41am JST (9 years, 10 months ago) comment permalink

Your food posts and photography are always awesome to read!

Alvin from NYC

— comment by Alvin on June 16th, 2014 at 7:32am JST (9 years, 10 months ago) comment permalink

Looks delicious!

Are you sure the polarizer and non-polarizer shots were processed the same way? I know the filter can make a big difference, especially on reflective black surfaces, but the “without” shot really looks like it’s been desaturated.

Processing is identical. The desaturated look is because all the direct reflections that weren’t filtered out went on to wash out the sensor. —Jeffrey

— comment by Doug on June 19th, 2014 at 1:06am JST (9 years, 10 months ago) comment permalink

Thank you Jeffrey, very tasty post.
Put this place on my ‘must visit when next time in Japan’ list. 🙂

— comment by Sergey Kolychev on July 9th, 2014 at 1:38pm JST (9 years, 9 months ago) comment permalink
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