“It was when I was seven or eight, I was the first in a race on a sport day,” says Haruka Katayanagi, chef and owner of Oniku Karyu in Tokyo. “My father grilled wagyu steak for the first time. I still remember it clearly.”

Chef Katayanagi took that memory and devotion to wagyu and brought it to Oniku Karyu. The restaurant features wagyu beef from all over Japan, but they are all of the kuroge variety, known to be the