It’s been said that beef is best, but beef with unlimited alcohol is even better.

Yoshinoya is a great place for when you’re hungry, what with the chain’s decades of experience providing tasty beef bowls. Likewise, Yoshinoya is a great place for when you’re both hungry and short on cash, as its myriad meaty meals are all affordable as well.

But what if you’re short on cash and thirsty, and specifically thirsty for booze? Once again, Yoshinoya is the place to be.

A couple years back, Yoshinoya started offering what it calls the Yoshinomi (“Yoshinoya Drinking”) menu at select branches, with an expanded menu of alcoholic beverages and small pairing plates. Yoshinomi has been a popular addition, and now Yoshinoya is sweetening the deal by offering all-you-can-drink plans!

All-you-can-drink Yoshinoya is extremely easy on the wallet, costing just 1,080 yen (US$10) for a full hour of free-flowing booze. Obviously, this was something we had to experience for ourselves, and so we dispatched SoraNews24 reporter Ahiru Neko, partly because he’s the most enthusiastic alcohol fan on staff, and partly as a way to say “Hey, dude, no hard feelings about the time we dropped a hot crepe on your face, or the time we told you to go out and get crapped on by a pigeon, right?”

▼ We cool, Ahiru Neko?

▼ “Lemme have a few more of these, and I’ll let you know.”

Yoshinoya’s all-you-can-drink plan is limited to highballs, but they’re made with quality Suntory Whisky, and though Ahiru Neko was at first worried that they might be severely watered down in order to cut costs, that’s not the case at all, as each mug contains a generous amount of booze, giving it a proper kick.

▼ Highball #2

Yoshinoya also deserves to be commended for its speedy service. The waitress who was bringing Ahiru Neko his drinks didn’t drag her feet when he requested refills, and so he was able to avoid the loneliness of a table devoid of cocktails.

As a matter of fact, Ahiru Neko’s drinks soon had company, Included in the 1,080-yen all-you-can-drink plan is your choice of side dish, either a plate of simmered beef and onions (the same mixture used as a topping for Yoshinoya’s signature beef bowls) or some karaage (Japanese-style fried chicken).

Having opted for the simmered beef, Ahiru Neko was able to happily alternate between sips of highball and bites of beef, and before long he’d drained his third and fourth drinks.

▼ As if to prove the strength of the drinks, he completely forgot to photograph Round 4.

Like we mentioned above, the Yoshinomi-menu Yoshinoya branches offer a number of side dishes, and since he was only paying about 1,000 yen for his unlimited cocktails, Ahiru Neko figured he could afford to splurge a bit and ordered up a 180-yen dashimakazu, the most popular Yoshinomi dish.

▼ The dashimakazu is Yoshinoya’s take on the traditional sweet and savory Japanese omelet called dashimaki tamago.

With the help of his reinforcement munchies, Ahiru Neko breezed through highballs 5 and 6.

With his mind lucidly lubricated, he even managed to create a new side dish of his own by taking the leftover drippings and sauce from his plate of simmered beef…

…and dropping in some pickled ginger (which Yoshinoya leaves on its tables as a free condiment) and sprinkling on some spicy shichimi mixed pepper.

▼ The result was tasty, and really far better than the snacks any of the rest of us would have come up with after knocking back six cocktails in less than an hour.

Unfortunately, when Ahiru Neko glanced at his watch, he discovered that his hour on paradise was nearing its end, as 45 minutes had already passed.

But of course, that meant he still had 15 minutes left, and he was determined to enjoy each and every one of them.

▼ Round 7

▼ Round 8

He drained glass number 8 shortly before his time was up, and managed to get in one last order, allowing him to sip his ninth highball at a leisurely pace.

While a part of him would have liked to make it through an even 10 drinks, Ahiru Neko couldn’t deny that he got his money’s worth. When you factor in the plate of simmered beef that was part of the package, he ended up paying less than 100 yen (US$0.93) per drink, and walked away from the table quite comfortably buzzed for less than he would have paid for two of those new-fangled fermented Frappuccinos at Starbucks.

If you want to live the low-price highball life like Ahiru Neko, take note that Yoshinoya is offering itsall-you-can-drink plan on weekday nights between 5 and 10 p.m., and it’s only currently available at two Tokyo branches: Shinbashi Karasumoriguchi and JR Kanda Station. The chain is considering expanding the deal to other branches in the near future, though, but until then you can find Ahiru Neko at one of the two locations listed below.

Restaurant information
Yoshinoya (Shinbashi Karasumoriguchi branch / 吉野家（新橋烏森口店）
Address: Tokyo-to, Minato-ku, Shinbashi 3-16-3, Shinbashi Karasumori Building
東京都 港区 新橋３－１６－３ 新橋烏森ビル
Website

Yoshinoya (JR Kanda Station branch / 吉野家（JR神田駅店）
Address: Tokyo-to, Chiyoda-ku, Kajicho 2-13-26
東京都千代田区鍛冶町２－１３－２６
Website

Photos ©SoraNews24/
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
[ Read in Japanese ]

Follow Casey on Twitter, where he thinks Yoshinoya has the best-tasting curry of any beef bowl chain.