Butagumi Dining -- Top End Tonkatsu in Roppongi

While I have found the best tonkatsu (for me, that is)  in Tokyo (that would be Akashi in Shimbashi where then Dentsu President Takashima san took me to lunch), my search for other memorable tonkatsu experiences continues.  

On this last trip,  I googled "best tonkatsu in Tokyo" and came up with quite a few recommendations.  

The one that I chose to visit was Butagumi Dining.  Butagumi's original store is in Nishi Azabu but it's not as convenient as this small branch in the basement of the North Tower of Roppongi Hills.
Butagumi Dining is easy to find and is even near the subway exit.

The place is not so big -- there is counter that seats 12  and a few booths in the back.
We chose to sit at the counter so we could see how the pork cutlets are made.

Tonkatsu lovers favor Butagumi because of its unique promise  -- they serve premium quality pork from all over Japan, and even Iberico pork from Spain.  If this were beef, you can say that Butagumi's pork is akin to wagyu Grade A5.

In the main store, you can choose your tonkatsu from numerous varieties from the best pork producing areas in the country.  

However, here at Butagumi Dining, they only have the "standard brand pork" (which is still of top quality) and one premium "brand" that is served only at dinnertime  -- to my mind, that's the "pig du jour".

Today's special is "Tokyo-X" and the card says that the pig came from Tokyo Prefecture.  

Was it raised somewhere in the backyards of Shinjuku?  Or maybe Shimbashi?  

Did it live in a pen or in an apartment?  I guess I'll  never know. 

The menu card also states that this pork is "SO GRATE!".   That settled it!

I ordered  the "pig du jour" ... Tokyo-X.    I was in hog heaven to see that only rosu or pork loin is offered.   This is my preferred cut for tonkatsu as it incorporates juicy, lovely, umami laden fat along with lean meat.   Oink, oink!

We had a ring side seat to the action in the open kitchen. The chef was so near me, I could have leaned over the counter and stolen a cutlet from his tray.
It was like being in the audience of a cooking show,  I watched as he took each cutlet --  floured it, dipped it in the egg wash then dredged it through the bread crumbs.  He did everything himself, including keeping an eye on the deep fryer and making sure that each cutlet came out a uniform golden brown --  perfectly cooked to the last second.
This man is a master chef in my book!

All the aroma of frying pork is enough to turn one to drink!  Yebisu Beer  in the house!

The chef fried up each order one by one, no crowding in the deep fryer so while waiting,  I read up on how to properly eat tonkatsu.  Aside from the usual sauce, Butagumi recommends the use of their special seasoned salt -- and yes, I tried it and it greatly enhanced the flavour of the pork.

This is Butagumi Dining's  hirekatsu or fillet tonkatsu.   It looks like a small golden log of pork goodness.   However,  I never order hire because I find the lean meat too ordinary -- not worth the cholesterol and calories at all!

And here at last is my "pig du jour".  Butagumi's Tokyo - X rosukatsu.
How did this "premium brand pork" taste -- could I actually tell the difference between this and a standard brand pig?
Well, it was certainly juicy and very tasty (and yes,  I ate all the fat)  but it also had just the slightest hint of "pig essence" which was not at all unpleasant.  This "essence" added to its distinctively rich taste.
I'm tempted to go to the original Butagumi to try how other premium pork varieties taste.

But that's for another day -- for tonight, Butagumi Dining was a great tonkatsu find.
Even in this small branch in the basement of Roppongi Hills,  the superior quality of their premium tonkatsu shone through.

Maisen -- Second Most Popular Tonkatsu in Tokyo Part 2 of Best of the Best

You don't usually remember who came in second but in the case of Maisen, dubbed as  "Tokyo's second most popular tonkatsu place" we will certainly remember the great meal we had there.

Maisen is truly a tonkatsu landmark -- it's even prominently shown on the street map that is right outside  the subway exit on the Aoyama itchome crossing.  

It's Sunday afternoon and the crowds are so thick along Omotesando.  I was worried that we would lose our way until I looked up and saw the directional sign pointing the way to Maisen.  

Thanks to more directional signs along the twists and turns of the back roads of Aoyama, we had no trouble reaching our destination.  Maisen has other branches in Tokyo but this is the main shop.

Pork, pork glorious pork!  I have an all time favourite tonkatsu place in Tokyo. 

Would Maisen beat my favourite?

There is counter seating just as you enter the building.  Since it's almost 4 in the afternoon, the chairs are devoid of diners.

Through the noren, I peek at the cooks who are chatting and savouring the off peak hours.

We go through this hallway with more tables for diners.  I feel like I am being led to the Promised Land of Pork.

After passing through the empty areas in front, I certainly wasn't expecting the main dining room to be full.  Everyone was chomping down on full tonkatsu meals at 4 in the afternoon!  Just my kind of crowd!  This building used to be a public bath house way before World War 2 which somehow explains its spacious but utilitarian interiors.

There are the usual pots of different types of sauces -- for the tonkatsu, there is the regular and the spicy variety and there's the dressing for the shredded cabbage.  We were also given a small dish of grated radish with bonito flakes -- now what is this for? 

Time to check out the menu although Jay knows exactly what he came here for!  There are several types of tonkatsu but the specialty according to the waitress is the Kurobota set.  At 2,100 yen, it seems like a good deal.

All tonkatsu is fried and cooked to order  -- otherwise how would you enjoy that fresh crunch? 

We have a bit of a wait -- enough for me to check out how the Japanese diners use the grated radish.   

It is spooned on top of each bite, along with the tonkatsu sauce.  Japanese radish or daikon is milder than the usual kind so it enhanced and didn't compete with the tonkatsu sauce.

Surprise, surprise!  I decided against ordering tonkatsu and instead had this aptly called "Festive Meal" . Japanese cuisine always follows the fours seasons and my tray was overflowing with what were probably good choices for autumn eating.  A small plate with two slices of very fresh tuna sashimi served as the appetiser.  Three small donburi bowls look so colourful and appetising!

Aside from the tonkatsu, ginger stewed pork or shoga yaki is the next best specialty of Maisen.  People who grow a little weary of ordering tonkatsu all the time probably use this as a taste breaker.  My "Festive Meal" came with three small donburi bowls -- one of which was topped with Maisen's ginger pork.  Shoga yaki is a simple quick stir fry but the flavour is amazing -- just proves that the simpler the preparation, the better the taste!

After ooh-ing and aaah-ing over my shoga yaki -- and having Jay try a bite -- I moved on to the next small bowl.  This is shredded salmon and salmon roe on top of rice.  Salmon is not my favourite fish but I love salmon roe.  Each small globule of goodness was like an umami explosion in my mouth.

The third small donburi had deep fried small  pork bits and chopped scrambled egg, artfully and attractively arranged.  The bright yellow made a great contrast with dark brown and small sprig of green completed the pretty picture.  This was so good.  The pork was fried till it was almost crunchy and yet, it was perfectly seasoned and didn't taste dry at all.  At first I thought it was ground pork but it seemed that it had been hand chopped to small bits.

In addition to the three donburi bowls, a small plate of kushi katsu croquettes was also part of the "Festive Meal".  What  great value for just 1,600 yen!  

Thank goodness for a small dish of yuzu flavoured sherbet to cleanse the palate of all the rich, porky flavours!  

We finish dessert and head out to enjoy the cool autumn weather.
The trees lining Omotesando have started to show off their fall colours.
A leisurely walk along this beautiful avenue is just the thing to cap off a memorable meal at Maisen.

A Kansai Treasure ... Tonkatsu KYK (Kehwaikeh) in Osaka -

It pays to get friendly with the locals!  On this last trip to Osaka, we discovered a regional tonkatsu restaurant chain that ranks right up there in my all time best tonkatsu list.  Minako san of All Star Osaka Walk recommended Tonkatsu KYK and what a great find it was!

KYK (or Kehwaikeh as the website so helpfully puts it) has a number of restaurants in the Kansai area and more than a few in Osaka itself.  We went to the branch on the 28th floor of the Hankyu building in the Umeda/Osaka station area.  

Because we were at the restaurant a little before 6 p.m. there were more than enough tables to choose from.  The very friendly and kind waiter led us to a choice window table, the better to enjoy the view.

And what a view it was!  Twenty eight stories above the ground gave us a bird's eye view of Osaka as far as the hills and mountains that surround the city.  It was quite a breathtaking sight.

We were perched even higher than the giant red ferris wheel on top of the Hep Five building, a new entertainment and shopping centre in the Umeda station area.  This ferris wheel is definitely on my list of things to do, on my next trip to Osaka!

 I order the large bottle of Asahi super dry -- last beer for the road?  We're leaving tomorrow morning, after all.

I sometimes define myself as a vegetarian ... but only when I'm "at home".
When I'm out of the country and a significant, not-to-be-missed, iconic taste experience presents itself, who am I to be so rigid and inflexible?  It's like cutting off my nose to spite my face.
So instead of opting for the usual fried ebi that is also a staple in tonkatsu restaurants, I ordered my favourite rossu cut.

The rossu was very tender, the batter was crunchy and not at all oily.  The fat that naturally comes with this loin cut was thin and just enough to enhance the juicy and succulent mouth feel.
Tonkatsu KYK brought back memories of all the good and memorable tonkatsu meals I have enjoyed in Japan.

 I normally eat my meal at such a fast pace but this time, I deliberately slowed down -- the better to savour and enjoy each and every bite.  And of course, to continue to marvel at the gorgeous view right outside my window.  To see dusk fall and watch as Osaka turned on her lights  -- it was a lovely way for each of us to say good bye to each other  ... at least, for now.

Katsukura in Shiodome - Tonkatsu staple when in Tokyo

Jay and I love tonkatsu and we both believe that the best tonkatsu can only be found in Japan.  

Any other tonkatsu in any part of the world is just not up to par.

Our very favorite is this simple, 20 seater place on the 4th floor of the New Shinbashi Building, right behind the train station.  Since the signage is in Japanese, we don't even know the name!  But we do know how to get there.

The president of Dentsu, Takashima san,  brought me there for lunch a couple of years ago and between the two of us, we decreed that it was the best tonkatsu in the world.

For second best, Jay and I like Katsukura in City Center building in Shiodome.  

Katsukura originated in Kyoto and now has a chain of several stores around Japan.  

They source their pork from only the best pigs in the Kanezawa region. 

The tonkatsu there is always good and they have other items on the menu too.

The tables are closely set together and space is maximized since this is a favorite lunch place for many of the office workers in the area.  We arrive just as the place opens at 11 am so we get the only table for 2, in a quiet and secluded alcove. 

Tonkatsu goes best with beer -- even at lunch time!  The small dish of pretty green, white and pink tsukemono or pickles adds crunch and sour saltiness to my mug of draft beer.

 For non meat eaters, Katsukura offers fried ebi -- done in the same crisp and non oily batter used for the pork cutlets.  There are 5 large prawns per order and it comes with the same large pile of grated cabbage that is a staple with tonkatsu.

Katsukura offers three sizes of pork cutlet -- 80, 120 or 180 grams.
Like the French, the Japanese understand the principle of enjoying good food in moderation.
Tonkatsu comes in two cuts -- rossu or belly and thus fatty, oh so juicy and delicious or the leaner, healthier and more expensive hire.
Each set comes with miso soup, a small pot of rice, the aforementioned cabbage and a dish of sesame seeds that you personally grind with a small wooden pestle and mix with the tonkatsu sauce.
Jay always orders hire and during my pork eating days ... I always ordered the rossu.
Katsukura may be just our second best favorite tonkatsu restaurant,  but we're sure we'll always get a great meal.

Tonkatsu Tales in Tokyo

The Japanese love pork just as much as we Filipinos do.

Case in point, one of the most popular Japanese dishes is tonkatsu or breaded pork loin cutlets. Restaurants devoted to tonkatsu alone can be found all over Tokyo and they range from the merely wonderful to the inordinately sublime.

Tonkatsu can be ordered two ways -- the leaner and more expensive hire cut and the more economical but fattier (and therefore JUICIER AND MORE YUMMY) rossu cut.

Of course you can always have katsudon, which is tonkatsu cooked with beaten egg and placed on top of rice but that sort of defeats the purpose of enjoying the crisp and crunch of a really good cut of pork tenderloin.

Tonkatsu, whether hire or rossu will always come with a generous heap of julienned or shredded raw cabbage -- supposedly to remove some of the guilt of eating all that fatty goodness. Miso soup and steaming hot rice rounds out the meal.

Condiments on the table will include tonkatsu sauce which is dark brown and sweetish, and a bottle of yuzu infused salad dressing for dousing the shredded cabbage with.

I always try and squeeze in a tonkatsu lunch or dinner or sometimes both, every time I am in Tokyo. Wako and Katsukura have branches in different parts of the city and are good places to have tonkatsu.

For the tonkatsu restaurants that Japanese foodies flock to, meander around the Ueno area, near the JR train tracks where the best ones are.