Wagyu can be tasted comparatively along three axes: by brand, by cut and by cooking method. Feeling those differences for yourself is how you reach the depth of wagyu culture, and it is very much the connoisseur’s way to eat.
Matsusaka beef (Mie): powerful umami and deep richness. Kobe beef (Hyogo): refined sweetness and a delicate feel on the tongue. Omi beef (Shiga): subtle lean meat and an elegant, clean-finishing fat. Yonezawa beef (Yamagata): fine-grained marbling and a graceful flavour. Each has a character entirely its own.
To compare by cut, the classic approach is to work through rare cuts in sequence: chateaubriand (delicacy at its absolute limit), misuji, zabuton (rich marbling), haneshita (deep savouriness) and harami (a texture and umami all its own)。
Tasting the same wagyu grilled with salt, grilled with tare, in sukiyaki, in shabu-shabu and as a steak brings home just how many faces it has. Tasting menus are frequently built to move through several cooking methods for exactly this reason.
For a serious comparison across cooking methods, look to restaurants built around beef itself: Nikukappo Jo (肉割烹 上) in Azabu-juban, Oniku Karyu (おにく花柳) in Ginza, and Tokyo Nikushabuya (東京肉しゃぶ家) in Ginza and Shinjuku. Menus that run through gyukatsu, fillet katsu sandwiches, shabu-shabu, sukiyaki, steak and raw beef sashimi let you see many faces of wagyu in a single evening, which is something only a dedicated beef restaurant can offer.
A serious comparative wagyu course runs 20,000-50,000 yen per person. Some restaurants offer the same kind of tasting at lunch for 10,000-20,000 yen.