Just to get some satisfaction of having eaten really good Japanese food, I did a little research on the Trip Advisor to gather some recommendations for food hounds in Kyoto.
Katsukura restaurant was highly rated for its tonkatsu. And what also caught my attention was its free flow of rice, miso soup, raw cabbage and tea. Yang would certainly like that. We had a little trouble navigating around The Cube above the Kyoto Station where this restaurant was located initially. It was on the 11th floor of Isetan in The Cube. Thanks to a pretty salesgirl at Isetan who redirected us to the restaurant or otherwise we would have missed the opportunity to try one of the best tonkatsu in the world I dare say.
Yang ordered a thicker pork cutlet (160g) while I had a regular 120g pork cutlet. Our dish was served with barley rice (unique!), a mountain of crunchy shredded cabbage drizzled with a special sauce, delicious miso soup (that didn’t make us feel that we have drunk ajinomoto soup) and a sesame dip sauce. Wow, the pork cutlet batter was so divinely crispy and light and the meat so succulent! Yang remarked that after tasting this dish, a lesser tonkatsu would not do.
I had a second helping of the barley rice and miso soup while Yang went up to thirds. :) The waitress was very friendly and attended to our requests swiftly. The total bill came to 2,460円 or S$36++ for two persons – it was worth every penny.
I had a little faux pas though. I didn’t know that the wooden pestle was meant to grind the sesame seeds in a bowl before adding the sauce. I used the pestle to stir the sauce and sesame seeds together! Hee hee :P
Matt, I’m sure Katsukura would be very agreeable with you too. :)
Having read the above and having studied the pictures, I now stare at the cold, pathetic slice of cheap, two-in-the-morning pizza situated on my desk with utter disdain. Oh, how I love tonkatsu, and the above is probably twice as good as any I have ever tasted! Very nice!
Great tip on the pestle and sesame seeds; I bet I would have done the same thing you did. : )
The next time you visit us again, let’s hope that Katsukura would set up a branch in Singapore! :D