keiko_passo
Visited in September 2014. It's been quite a while. Actually, I visited the restaurant after my last review (please see below), but the quality of the meat and service had dropped significantly, so I decided not to go for a while. I didn't mention it in the review below, but around 1995, during the big boom of the ○○ Walker magazine published by Kadokawa Shoten, the management company Hirata Kanko expanded its stores from Takatsuki, where the headquarters are located, to the Kyoto Shijo area, and then to the Osaka Minami area. At that time, all-you-can-eat was still quite rare, so I really went there a lot. There were restaurants like Dotonbori Gurukasu City in Osaka Minami and Queens Court near Mitsudera. It seems like those stores are gone now. There were also stores in the west exit of Ikebukuro, but now there is only one store here. At that time, if you showed a magazine, they offered a 1000 yen discount campaign. They also displayed that they provided very high-quality meat from a ranch in Hidaka, Hokkaido. In the beginning, I remember there was an all-you-can-eat menu that boasted Kobe beef sirloin. (However, when I went, it was almost always not available.) However, after the BSE problem around 2000, like other general yakiniku restaurants, Fukufutei was also affected, and with the changing environment surrounding food safety such as mislabeling of origin, Fukufutei gradually stopped promoting Hidaka beef and the quality of meat and service declined. When I visited in 2005, it was still good, but when I went later, the quality of meat and service had deteriorated even further, which was shocking, so I decided not to go for a while. After my last review, an official website was also launched, and I found that the site was renewed last year, so I went back after a long time, and the quality of meat and service has improved compared to before. But honestly, it still doesn't compare to its heyday in the late 90s. However, according to my partner, the yakiniku sauce at Fukufutei is fantastic. My partner is from Minami, and both parents are from the legendary Shokudoen and used to run a yakiniku restaurant behind Namba Grand Kagetsu, and the taste of the sauce is quite similar to the one served at that restaurant. My partner says that this sauce is great, and that national chains like Gyu-Kaku can't compare. My partner says it's a shame that the meat quality hasn't fully recovered yet, and I completely agree. Anyway, thank you for the meal. I sincerely hope for the revival of Fukufutei in its heyday. ========== All-you-can-eat yakiniku restaurant. I used this restaurant a lot when I lived in Osaka. The company is based in Takatsuki, but since there is no website, it's difficult to know where the stores are located or what kind of menu they have outside of Tokyo and Osaka, which is a drawback. In Osaka, there were discounts of 20% off with coupons, and the 1000 yen all-you-can-drink was half price, so I was hoping they would have it in Tokyo as well, but unfortunately it seems not to be the case... The main menu consists of two types of all-you-can-eat yakiniku, normal and premium, as well as all-you-can-drink, and you can also order a la carte dishes. The taste is on the better side among all-you-can-eat options.