Yakiniku-Style Pork Belly Rice Bowl with Negi-Shio

About Yakiniku

Yakiniku is a Japanese style of dining where guests grill bite-size cuts of beef, pork, chicken, and organ meats offal (horumon) themselves over a tabletop grate or iron plate, then dip them in either a soy sauce-based tare (often blended with fruit, garlic, and sesame) or simply salt and lemon. While the word can refer to “grilled meat” in general, it usually is used when talking about this DIY restaurant style. Classic sides include kimchi, namul, bibimbap, cold noodles, and rice soups.

After centuries of taboos against meat eating dating to the 7th century, the Meiji era and an interest in all things Western re-introduced the concept of eating meat.The postwar years saw Korean-Japanese vendors popularize charcoal-grilled organ meats in black markets—forerunners of the modern Yakiniku shop.Around 1946, pioneer restaurants such as Tokyo’s Meigetsukan and Osaka’s Shokudōen appeared, and the cuisine spread nationwide in the 1950s. Bottled “Yakiniku no tare (sauce)” became common in 1968, bringing the taste of Yakinuku straight to home kitchens. The electric “Smokeless Roaster” tabletop grill, which was invented in 1979, minimized the amount of smoke created while grilling and helped make the dish more accessible to women and families. Restrictions on beef imports were liberalized in 1991, resulting in a boom of affordable Yakiniku chain restaurants alongside high-end Wagyu specialty restaurants.

Today, Yakiniku is a popular social way to dine out. Guests can choose whether to dip the savory bites in salt to draw out the natural flavor of the meat, or in a rich tare sauce. Choosing from a wide variety of cuts of meat and grilling them together to your preferred doneness is the perfect way to spark up a conversation. Diners will savor the conversation as much as the meat!Born of postwar stalls and uniquely evolved in Japan,Yakiniku ranges from an everyday treat to a celebratory feast.

This recipe pans-sears pork belly until crisp and dresses it with a bright negi-shio (Japanese long onion and salt) sauce. For a refreshing “second act,” squeeze lemon juice over the bowl halfway through. I love ordering negi-shio at Yakiniku joints and piling it over hot rice with freshly grilled meat—here’s an easy way to recreate that at home.