Japanese Food - Katsu

Activity > Tokyo > Eating > Tokyo Station

This Travel Log is about my visit to a Japanese Restaurant (Japanese Katsu) in Suidoubashi, Tokyo:

Katsukichi Suidoubashi Shop (かつ吉 水道橋店)
〒113-0033 Tokyo-to, Bunkyo-ku, Hongo, 1 Chome−4−1, Suidoubashi Kaikan Building
〒113-0033　東京都文京区本郷1-4-1 全水道会館ビルB1F
Website: http://katsukichi.co.jp (Japanese Only)

I am Japanese and I can tell you, this is the BEST Katsu I have had in Tokyo!! You may be reading this and thinking, "what the heck is Katsu!?"  Katsu is a pork fillet dipped in bread flake batter and then deep fried.  The best Katsu has a tender, juicy and tasty pork fillet with crisp, crunchy and tasty fried batter outside.  In Japan we deep fry many things with bread flake batter but "Katsu" is one of our favorite.  The "Katsu" can actually come in a variety of types and levels of meat and this is reflected in the price.  Of course, more expensive cuts of pork will cost a bit more but I always order the better cut because it's usually just a couple hundred yen more and tastes so much better.

The Katsu Lunch I show in the picture is the "Jou Rosu Katsu Teishoku" (上ロースかつ定食) which means the "upper" grade level of the fillet and cost around 1,000 yen.  BUT, it is a "Teishoku" (which basically means "set") so also comes with Green Tea (緑茶), a salad, a bowl of rice (refills FREE), Red Miso (refills FREE) soup and "Tsukemono" (pickled vegies). Absolutely everything was delicious and the workers were very polite and the service was excellent.

One thing to note though... is that it may take them just a bit slightly longer than your usually restaurant waiting period.  Everything is painstaking cooked to perfection so expect about a 20 min. wait before your food comes out.  This place has also been on Japanese TV a couple times as it is popular for it's Hiyashi Katsu Don (冷やしかつ丼) which means "Cooled down Katsu"... which I haven't tried but may try it next time.  I also didn't see an English menu but everything has pictures and I'm sure the workers will politely help you out with your order.  If you confused, just try the "Teishoku" set I had and say, "Ue Rosu Katsu Teishoku Kudasai" and I'm sure you'll be pleased.