A tale of four Matsuyas, and a whole lot of gourmet wagyu beef.

As one of the country’s big-three gyudon/beef bowl chains, Matsuya is among the top choices for those looking for a cheap but hearty meal in Japan. But maybe it doesn’t always need to be quite so cheap, and so Matsuya has made the decision to open a new, more expensive, and more gourmet, branch inside Matsuya.

Actually, we should back up a bit, because there are no fewer than four different Matsuyas we’re going to be talking about here. First is just plain old Matsuya, the beef bowl chain. Then there’s Matsuya Foods, the Matsuya restaurant chain’s parent company. Next there’s the Matsuya department store chain, whose branch in Ginza is going to be the site of the new Premium Matsuya gyudon shop.

The Matsuya department store chain is a totally separate company from Matsuya Foods. Founded 101 years ago, the Matsuya department store has an upscale image, offering not only fancy fashions but also high-end food items at its flagship store in Tokyo’s posh Ginza neighborhood. There’s some comic irony in a luxury department store and budget-friendly restaurant coincidentally sharing the same name, and the two companies decided to explore the idea of some sort of promotional collaboration, with the result being Premium Matsuya, which will be opening in Matsuya Ginza’s food section later this month serving special, upscale items you won’t see on a regular Matsuya restaurant menu.

For example, Matsuya’s signature dish is their standard beef bowl, which is priced at 460 yen (US$3). Premium Matsuya’s beef bowl, pictured below, will cost more than three times as much, 1,390 yen, but that’s because it’s made with Kobe beef!

Other delicacies offered by Premium Matsuya will include a hamburger steak bento boxed lunch with domestically raised kuroge wagyu (Japanese Black) beef (1,681 yen)…

…a tonteki (pork steak) bento (1,681 yen)…

…and beef curry rice sets, also with the options of sliced Kobe beef or a kuroge wagyu hamburger steak (1,050-1,681 yen).

While some Japanese department store food shops have seats for eat-in dining, preview images for Premium Matsuya suggest it’ll be a take-out only operation, though the staff will also have dapper uniforms unique to the upscale offshoot to help create an elegant atmosphere.

It should be noted that the menu and prices at regular Matsuya restaurants will remain unchanged, so this isn’t an example of Matsuya trying to reestablish its preexisting branches as higher-priced eateries, unlike the course recently taken by curry chain Coco Ichibanya. As for whether Matsuya Ginza’s clientele will be interested in gourmet Matsuya meals, Premium Matsuya’s opening as a permanent part of the food department comes after a similar limited-time pop-up at Matsuya Ginza last year was met with an overwhelmingly positive reaction from shoppers, so hopes are high for when Premium Matsuya opens on June 10.

Related: Matsuya Ginza
Source: Otakuma Keizai Shimbun via Livedoor News via Hachima Kiko, PR Times
Images: PR Times
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