Fujiwara Kanefusa FKM Gyuto 210mm

“7-8 inch knives are a good starting point especially for your first knife. Plenty of room to work with, but not super unwieldy to the average person. Zwilling is overpriced unless you find a good sale, so probably Mac or Global. Global is probably the nicer knife as far as raw performance, but not everyone likes the stainless handles with grip holes in them. Mac has a couple different 8 inch knives but the HB-85 is probably their best all-rounder. In fairness though, with that kind of money you can also look at some decent Japanese brands too. Tsunehisa, Harukaze, Tojiro, Sakai Takayuki, Fujiwara FKM, and some others come to mind. You can often find knives with slightly better steels, handles, or overall aesthetics in that general price category ($100 to say \~$130). Mac or Global would not be bad by any stretch, just know that there's plenty of good alternatives to also check out if you're interested.”