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At a time when we no longer want to wait 30 minutes to receive a delivery meal, in Japan there is an establishment that has a 43-year waiting list to be able to try their delicious Japanese croquettes. It sounds surreal, but that’s how it is. In fact, over the years the waiting time is increasing due to the success of this dish. The place is called Asahiya and it is a butcher shop located in the city of Takasago, in the western Japanese prefecture of Hyogo.
At the helm is currently Shigeru Nitta, the third generation of this business that was born almost a century ago. The butcher shop’s star product is its ‘Extreme Croquettes’, croquettes stuffed with potato and the most premium Kobe beef, which they sell frozen and to place an order, you currently have to wait 43 years. Although they also offer more croquettes with other types of Kobe beef, for which the wait is much shorter, such as the Premier Kobe Beef Croquettes (with a four-year wait).
A successful but unprofitable business
For a while they stopped producing them because it was not a profitable business. The price of the croquette was very affordable, considering that the Kobe beef used is one of the most expensive in the world. Asahiya has an online store for ordering – future – as in January there are more than 63,000 people in the queue to buy. A box of ‘Croquetas Extreme’, which includes five pieces, currently sells for around €18.
One of the reasons Shigeru Nitta continues to prepare these unprofitable croquettes is his motivation to bring this food to remote parts of the world, where they have never been able to taste the prized Kobe beef, Nitta told CNN.
There are also other alternatives if you want to try some of the delicacies of this butcher’s shop. In their physical premises they sell some snacks to take away, such as the “Tor Road” croquettes, of loin and bacon for 3 € per unit; and “Kitanozaka”, of lean meat and a price of 2’4 € per unit.