Miyabi 5000

It has the aesthetic flair, it's robust enough to be accessible, and the hybrid handle should be good for both pinch and handle grip. Of course, there are more high-performance knives in this price bracket, but if you're committed to the aesthetic rather than a specific geometry, I see no issue with choosing the Miyabi.

I just turned 30 and my family wanted to gift me a proper chef knife that I could use for the rest of my life, if not for a very long time. They were very kind and generous to gift me the Miyabi 5000 MCD 67 Black which is a very expensive and beautiful knife, but not the knife for me. I am a vegan and **I cut an absurd amount of vegetables and fruit**, mostly onion, carrot, apple, etc. The finish on the Miyabi made food release very difficult and it made cutting horizontally through the onion almost impossible - something I do many times a day.

I had a Miyabi 5000 birchwood gyuto in mind and holding it in store made me fall in love with it until I saw the price which was a bit too high (50€ over my budget) even at a 50% discount. I really liked the way it fit in my hand and the lightness of the blade. I'd love to find something similar with a more forgiving steel and more or less the same functional characteristics (I do not really care about the damascus finishing even though it looked gorgeous).

Was so amazing and light and thin. I handled a few Shun's and they were great. Only thing is the Miyabi was $380.