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~2.5ha 4–6 hour stop ashoreJust turn up#Eat牛たん通り 仙台駅

Gyutan in Sendai

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Gyutan in Sendai

Gyutan in SendaiPhoto: くろふね / CC BY 4.0

Round trip
2 hr 30 min
From the ship and back
Fits
a 4–6 hour stop ashore
Margin already counted
Getting there
Taxi + train ~30 min
¥260 a ride · day pass ¥630
Booking
Just turn up
Nothing to reserve
Why we send people here

Thick-cut beef tongue grilled over charcoal, with barley rice and oxtail soup: Sendai’s own dish since the late 1940s. Gyutan Street on the station’s third floor puts several of the best-known houses side by side.

The story

Why Gyutan in Sendai is famous

Gyutan is said to have started at a Sendai yakitori shop in 1948; the usual story is that the tongues came from beef the occupation forces' kitchens did not use. It is cut thick, salted, grilled over charcoal and served with barley rice and a clear oxtail soup.

Where to have it

Three places, three different answers

The one the queue agrees on, the one people who live here use instead, and the one nearest your ship. Opening days change; check before you build a day around one.

The famous oneAji no Gyutan Kisuke, Sendai Station

On Gyutan Street, 3F. 10:00–21:30, no fixed closing day.

Open in Google MapsWhere locals goGyutan Sumibiyaki Rikyu, Nishiguchi

Four minutes from the West Exit. 11:30–15:00 and 17:00–22:30, open daily.

Open in Google MapsClosest to the berthUmami Tasuke

An old Kokubuncho counter. 11:30–20:00; closed Mondays.

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Where it is

Gyutan in Sendai and your ship

Both pins on one map, so the distance is a fact rather than a feeling.

The arithmetic

Where the 2 hr 30 min goes

Counted from the moment you step off the gangway. The hour before all-aboard is not in this bar; it is already set aside.

Out30 minTaxi + train ~30 min
There1 hr 30 minWhat you came for
Back30 minTo the gangway

30 minutes each way is the honest figure for taxi + train ~30 min, not the optimistic one. If your ship is late, cut the 1 hr 30 min in the middle. Never cut the hour at the end.

The day this belongs to

Routes that already include it

Each one is a finished day we have walked and timed, with this stop in it. Read the route rather than assembling it yourself.

The rainy-day SendaiA wet day · ~4h door to doorWet weather — the station floors and the covered arcades
Pairs well with

What to put beside it

Each of these still lands you back aboard with the hour to spare.

Build your own day →
4 hr 30 min for both

Sendai Umino-Mori Aquarium

A large modern aquarium beside the port, built around the Sanriku coast’s own sea, with a dolphin and sea-lion show.

See the detail → 5 hr for both

Build a tuna bowl at Shiogama market

Buy rice at one stall and slices of tuna and whatever else looks good at the others.

See the detail →5 hr for both

Shiogama Shrine

The head shrine of the region, up 202 stone steps on a hill over the harbour, with a vermilion gate and a view of the bay.

See the detail →
The one rule: be back on board 60 minutes before all-aboard. Build the whole day on the Sendai–Shiogama plan page.