Marble Yakiniku – Glen Waverley, Melbourne, Australia – a fine dining Japanese BBQ where you can get the best grade wagyu, A5, and some really nice Japanese dishes

If you really want A5 wagyu (Japanese beef), you can give Marble Yakiniku a visit in Glen Waverley. It’s located in a quaint alley, the same one as The Boiling Crab. I had a great experience trying their A5 wagyu and their sukiyaki. The meat was incredibly melt-in-the-mouth good due to the quality of the marbling and seasoning on the meat.

With these types of establishments, you are able to cook the meat at your table with the grill in the middle. Since it is beef, you are not likely to cook it wrong since eating the meat when it is rare is absolutely fine. My one tip is to not leave the meat on the grill for too long. Any longer than 4 minutes on both sides is probably too long. I think one minute max on each side is enough. (I imagine that you probably don’t want to be eating leather.)

The interior at Marble Yakiniku is very traditional Japanese, but in a more luxurious sense. There are a lot of solid lines around the restaurant with lots of flourishes such as wood fittings and plants. It also feels spacious in a sense. Also, I am not sure how you can book these rooms, but there are private dining rooms with the sliding doors if you want to enjoy your meal away from prying eyes. (When I walked in, I thought the restaurant I had the air of fine dining.)

There are two menus to choose from which are colored black and white. The white menu contains a lot of a la carte options like sushi, hotpot, rice dons, ramen and other Japanese mains. For example, here are just some items of the 20+ dishes in this menu:

• Edamame for AUD$6.5
• Yaki Gyoza for $12
• Omakase Sashimi with tuna, kingfish, white fish, slamon, scallop, scampi and hokigai for $110
• Wagyu sushi with M9 wagyu with wasabi (2 pcs) for $24
• Sukiyaki for 2 people with 180g M9 wagyu, vegetables and cooked in sweet soy sauce for $85
• Ishiyaki Foie Gras Rice with 35g foie gras, kamameishi style rice for $42
• Wagyu Shabu Shabu Don with thinly sliced M9 wagyu and soft boiled egg for $35

The black menu is where the barbecue items can be found. Here, you can either order ala carte or a selection platter. Here are just some of the items in this menu:

• Australian M9 short rib wagyu (8 cuts) for $50
• Australian M9 karubi wagyu (8 cuts) for $38
• Japanese A5 harami wagyu (60g) for $40
• Japanese A5 short rib wagyu (60g) for $45
• Japanese A5 rib eye wagyu (60g) for $45
• Japanese A5 sirloin wagyu (60g) for $45
• Platter with M9 Australian Wagyu Platter with 80g of three M9 wagyu for $105
• Platter with 2 servings of 80g A5 Japanese Wagyu and 3 servings of 80g M9 Australian Wagyu for $135.00
• Platter with A5 Japanese Wagyu Platter with 80g of three A5 wagyu for $155
• Seafood Chargill Platter for 2 people with 2 pcs scampi, 2 pcs scallop, 2 pcs abalone and 4 pcs fish for $75

With the grill menu, you can pick your own selection of meats or go with the platter. In terms of working out value for money, it seems that the platter for the Japanese cuts is worth it because you get 80g for about ~$52 each as opposed to the individual 60 g for about $45 each. On the other hand, take note that with the Australian wagyu platter, you only get 6 cuts of the Australian wagyu as opposed to 8 cuts if you order separately. The problem with the platter is that you can’t choose which meat you get with the platter.

When picking between the two, either Australian or Japanese, you will taste a slight difference between the two. If you enjoy your food slowly and want to really taste your meat, then I recommend going with the Japanese cuts, but if you just swallow your food and don’t care as long as it is tasty, then go with the Australian cuts. To maximize the umami experience, the Japanese cuts need to be eaten in tinier portions. To give you some more knowledge, even if you were in Japan, the Japanese cuts are more expensive. Having been to a barbecue in Japan, they do advertise the cheaper option as the Australian option and it’s usually half the price of the Japanese cuts. So having access to Japanese A5 here in Australia is a real treat, since in Japanese it is not any cheaper.

For us, we opted for the Platter with 2 servings of 80g A5 Japanese Wagyu and 3 servings of 80g M9 Australian Wagyu for $135.00 and Sukiyaki for 2 people with 180g M9 wagyu, vegetables and cooked in sweet soy sauce for $85.

When you get the platter, you can tell which cut is the Japanese cuts and which ones are the Australian cuts. It’s all down to the marbling, and the Japanese cuts have a whole lot of marbling. The other fact to note is that this is A5 graded wagyu, which is the highest grade that can be awarded for wagyu in Japan. (A5 is serious business.)

Before our meal came, we were treated to some starters of kimchi and pickled cucumber. When our meat came, we were given a plate with three sauces to dip out meat into, soy sauce, roasted sesame sauce and sweet, spicy sauce. Our platter came with 3 Australian wagyu of 6 slices each and 2 Japanese wagyu with 4 slices each plus some enoki mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms and pumpkin slices.

It was very easy to cook the meat in their grill. They provide the tongs and help you out if you have any issues.

We also had Sukiyaki which came with a nice serving of M9 wagyu, clear potato noodles, carrots, onions, mushrooms, tofu, cabbage in a very sweet, soy sauce soup. We were given a bowl with a soft boiled egg, which we dipped the meat into for an extra flavor profile. The thin cut meat was really tender, melt in the mouth. I really enjoyed the meat in this pot. It’s very worth it.

To be able to enjoy A5 wagyu in Melbourne is a real treat. So, if you are in Glen Waverley and want really nice Japanese and don’t care about the cost, come give Marble Yakiniku a try. Also, I managed to practice some of my Japanese with the servers and hosts as well.

Marble Yakiniku is located near The Boiling Crab at 52-54 O’Sullivan Road, Glen Waverley VIC 3150:

Here are some of my recent articles: