Although tonkatsu is a good hangover cure, I was unsure whether I could actually hold them down yesterday – I was suffering from the wicked aftereffects of Saturday’s excellent hanami. After returning to human form, I remembered Maisen’s 限定 circular sandwiches in the GranSta in the basement of Tokyo Station. These are nice and small, a perfect snack serving size:
There’s also a yolky egg stuffed inside:
Not a bad buy at 470 yen. My only complaint is that they bag them while they’re hot, so the steam condenses on the inside of the bag and makes the bread slightly moist.
I had a chance to revisit Maisen (see tonkatsu post) while my folks were in town. I can confirm that there is indeed karashi mustard provided in a jar and that the regular tonkatsu are just as tasty and significantly cheaper than the 黒豚 version (nearly half the price at around 1700 yen).
Also, there is a Maisen in both the Daimaru department store near the Yaesu North Exit of Tokyo Station and in GranSta, both of which I rave about in this post. Actually, at the GranSta store they sell a circular tonkatsu sandwich available only at the GranSta shop. Worth remembering if you’re hungry and happen to be catching a train at Tokyo Station.
I can pinpoint the exact moment I fell in love with tonkatsu: tired and probably slightly hungover, early afternoon on a clear, cold Saturday in February 2006, Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture. My friend said we should go to this restaurant near his apartment, but I was skeptical. I’m not sure if I’d ever had tonkatsu before that. I must’ve had katsu curry (rice and tonkatsu ladled with curry) at some point, but it didn’t leave much of an impression on me. We went, stood in line for an hour, and then sat around a table listening to oldies, eating the best food I’ve ever had.
From that day on, tonkatsu were a landmark on my Japanese culinary map. Growing up vegetarian (until I was 12 or so) and in a city with little other than sushi, there’s no reason I would’ve known about tonkatsu before coming to Japan. The yoshoku phenomenon (must read Norimitsu Onishi article on yosohoku) on the whole doesn’t really make it out of Japan. And I guess that’s not really a strange thing: why would an imported food concept be exported back to the area of origin? (I’m sure this happens all the time, to be honest, but…) It’d be like translating English into Japanese on Babelfish and then taking that translation and plugging it into the Japanese to English Babelfish translator. The result would only confuse the natives.
But what if it was an incredibly tasty confusion?
That’s exactly what tonkatsu is. To be more accurate, tonkatsu is pork cutlet battered in egg, covered with panko, and then deep fried. It’s served with white rice, red miso soup, cabbage salad, and some pickled vegetables. The cutlets are covered in sauce and dipped in karashi, a spicy horseradish mustard. The result is almost sinfully delicious. For anyone who thinks Japan is a tofu nation perfect for vegetarians, tonkatsu are one of many dishes that will prove that you are seriously misinformed – the Japanese are, in fact, carnivorous, deep-frying motherfuckers.
Rather than have you all risk clogging your veins with less than the absolute highest quality tonkatsu, I have sought it out for you:
とんき (Tonki) 目黒区下目黒1－1－2
大きな地図で見る Tonki is supposedly the most famous tonkatsu-ya in Tokyo. The main store is just a quick walk from Meguro Station. They open at 4pm everyday, and generally the seats are full by 4:15. I went on Sunday, January 4th for 初カツ, the first tonkatsu of the New Year, and was the second person in line. There was only one guy behind me, but somehow the place still filled up by 4:15.
The store is lit by an array of clean, white lights that hang from the ceiling. The staff all wear crisp white uniforms and keep a careful watch on all of the customers seated at the smooth, wooden counter – the only seating in the store. Tonki easily had the best service of these three restaurants; I was offered refills on rice and salad almost immediately after I finished eating them.
As in most tonkatsu-ya, there are really only two things to order – ロース or ヒレ. ロース comes from the word “roast,” and ヒレ from “fillet.” The former is a fatty cut, the latter a lean cut. Teishoku of either cut at Tonki cost 1800 yen.
Tonki batter their katsu pretty good and fry it up nice and crispy – the fried edge was falling off of the pork. Interestingly, they also serve their teishoku with 豚汁, a miso-based pork soup, rather than the standard red (dark) miso soup with clams.
Tonki is legendary for a good reason: the place is an experience. The katsu themselves might not have been my favorite, but this will probably be the first of these three that I revisit. The decor and service are amazing, presentation is exquisite, and all the little things are taken care of; the toothpicks are covered with a small, glass beer cup and they serve you a small dish of peanuts with beer – details like that.
まい泉 (Maisen) 渋谷区神宮前4-8-5
大きな地図で見る Maisen is the second most famous tonkatsu-ya, according to bento.com. The main restaurant is in Aoyama, not far from Omotesando Station. The building is huge; there’s a counter on the first floor and tables on the second floor.
The service is not quite as top notch as Tonki, but Maisen has a menu with more options, including a gluttonous cut of 黒豚 – black pork. For whatever reason, black pork is popular in Japan at the moment. It will run you nearly 3000 yen for a teishoku, but it’s a thick, juicy cut, and probably the one that impressed me the most. (Their normal teishoku are more fairly priced but don’t include the mikan-flavored ice cream you get at the end.) They also bring out a special sauce jar just for the black pork, which has, I think, grated daikon in it.
They didn’t provide any karashi on the plate, although it might have been in a jar on the counter – I was so hungry that I didn’t notice. It was so delicious that it was almost unnecessary, but I love karashi, so I imagine it could have been even better. Oh well, I guess I’ll have to go back some time and find out.
勝烈庵 (Katsuretsu-an) 横浜市中区常盤町5-58-2
大きな地図で見る Katsuretsu-an (it almost looks Chinese if you write it Katsuretsuan) is, according to Japanese Wikipedia (which cites an interesting-sounding book on tonkatsu), one of the restaurants that is often associated with the invention of the term “tonkatsu.” There are two other restaurants that also seem to claim the term as their own, but Katsuretsu-an is the oldest – the Bashamichi location opened in 1924.
Compared to Maisen and Tonki, Kasturetsu-an was relatively quiet when I went on a Saturday for lunch. The place is very nice on both the outside and the inside; it is equipped with a similar wooden counter as in Tonki.
It also shares a relatively limited menu with Tonki. The special named after the restaurant is really a ヒレ cut, but ロース is also an option. The katsu were thinner than the ones at Tonki and Maisen. Karashi was serve yourself, which made me very happy. Overall, they were nice and light and didn’t sit heavy afterwards at all. Perhaps not katsu with much impact, but definitely worthy of a pilgrimage at some point.
The idea of doing a homestay during a study abroad program is appealing to me now that I’m past my college years. Back when I actually studied here, I was far more interested in running around Tokyo than sitting around talking with old people who probably would have lived really far from campus. I’m happy with the experience I had, but I was forced to discover a lot of things on my own. Host parents would have been the most effective way to improve my Japanese while also learning a lot about Japanese customs.
I lived in a dorm out in Edogawa-ku on the Tozai Line. The dorm provided breakfast and dinner, but I would occasionally get tired of Japanese style food every morning, so every now and then I’d buy yogurt, granola, and some fruit at the supermarket and eat in my tiny room. I remember eating bananas a lot and maybe some other fruit. I also have my first memories of mikan. I was hesitant to buy them at first, not really knowing what they were, and while I remember enjoying them, I never really understood their place in Japanese culture.
Mikan are often translated as “mandarin orange” or “tangerine,” but they’re actually the fruit called satsuma. They get that name because they were first exported to the US from Satsuma Province, which is the old name for part of Kagoshima Prefecture. Ehime, Wakayama, Nagasaki, and Shizuoka are all famous for mikan, which thrive in cold weather like other citrus fruit, but most areas in southern Japan are rife with the fruit between November and February. Along the southwestern coast of Kyushu there’s a private train line called the Hisatsu Orange Line, in part because you can see groves from the windows of the train.
They are sold in sizes ranging from SS, S, and M up through LL. I am of the opinion that mikan, when eaten, should be consumed in tremendous quantities, so I invariably buy S. The smaller ones also seem to be sweeter and tangier. For a bag of eight to ten, you should expect to pay between 200 to 600 yen depending on the quality. I err on the cheap side for the same reason I buy small. Recently I discovered that an anonymous, home-run convenience store near my apartment sells eight for 180 yen. If you’re really lucky, you can buy a 5kg box for 1000-1500 yen.
In terms of a cultural symbol, mikan are a winter comfort food and strongly associated with kotatsu, the short Japanese table equipped with a heater and a heavy quilt to keep the heat trapped underneath. In the winter, people sit on the floor with the lower half of their body tucked into the warm space under the kotatsu and snack on mikan and other winter foods like nabe, Japanese hotpot. I eat about four to five a day on average, sometimes more. I’m naturally nice and brown, but Japanese who eat too many take on a orange tint.
Mikan are Japan, but unfortunately they don’t penetrate the filter to foreign countries. (Not cute or cool enough?) They are highly underrated abroad and are therefore Volume 2 in the Underrated Japan video series. (You can see Vol. 1 here.) Enjoy:
As alluded to in this video, Krispy Kreme is not the best place to get foreign donuts in Japan. That honor goes to Doughnut Plant. One of their cream-filled gourmet doughnuts will carve nearly 500 yen out of your wallet, add several hundred calories to your waistline, and soak the inside of your arteries with fried sugary goodness.
Their current seasonal offering is 和ドーナツ, starring this 抹茶あんドーナツ:
It wasn’t as good as the Pumpkin Cream one I had last fall. I would go for the Vanilla and Green Tea Cream if I was going to order again. Fortunately there is a Doughnut Plant inside Shinagawa Station, which is dangerously close to where I live. These are only on sale until the 15th and can also be found at Dean and Deluca.
(I spent a few minutes wondering why どなつ only 変換s to 度夏. The moral of the story? Know your long vowel markings in katakana.)
A little good cheer through beer here at the end of the year – a pub crawl from Shinbashi to Tokyo. Hopefully places you all are already well familiar with.
First stop is under the tracks at Shinbashi. No, not yakitori as you might expect, but Dry-Dock, a cozy little bar with a nautical theme. First floor is standing only. There are a few tables on the second floor (really nice decor), but I believe they require a reservation and a table charge. They have a bunch of regular taps which usually have three Sumidagawa beers, Super Dry, Chimay, a kriek, as well as a rotating guest keg that is always something interesting – currently Old Rasputin, but in the past it has been Green Flash IPA, Hunter’s Point Porter, Old No. 38 Stout, and a variety of others. They also have tasty eats, the baskets of kara-age (with fries underneath) being the best value.
Exit on the Ginza side of the Karasumori Exit and head to the right. Cross the first road that goes under the tracks, and Dry-Dock is just around the bend on the right. Maybe a little hard to find the first time.
Dry-Dock definitely has the best blog of any bar I’ve ever seen. It’s easy to keep track of their events and kegs. I’ve even made an appearance! (Here and here.) Worth checking several times a week.
A quick walk through the Ginza brings you to Houblon, home to an enormous selection of Belgian beers. Upon seating, they’ll hand you an encyclopedia-sized menu listing the six beers on tap and hundred or so bottles they offer. They claim to have some super-rare beers (like the lower alcohol Trappist beers that I’ve read are only available at the abbeys) but are generally sold out, and some of their bottles are prohibitively expensive, but the taps and most of the normal sized bottles are reasonable. I can’t speak for the food, but it always has a lot of people, so it’s probably not crap (ha, now that’s what I call a sound recommendation). The best part of all is that on weekends it opens at noon – it might be the only place serving quality beer between 12pm and 5pm.
Bulldog is just a couple blocks from Houblon in the INZ building under the highway, a short jaunt from Yurakuchō Station. I was very impressed with their selection of import beers. I’ve only been once, but when I went they had a couple of Stone and Speakeasy beers on tap and even more in bottles. They have a large food menu and plenty of tables in addition to the bar and the counter along the windows that look out at the willow trees on the street – a very pleasant place to drink away several hours.
Possibly the smallest bar that serves great beer, Towers fits approximately six normal-sized individuals or four normal-sized individuals and one sumo-sized individual; I imagine it spills out onto the sidewalk during events. From Bulldog, it’s just a little further towards Tokyo Station. It’s probably easier to get to from Bulldog than Tokyo Station, to be honest, but if you’re coming from the station, you need the Yaesu South Exit. Awesome atmosphere: no sign, free snacks (although I was not bold enough to have any), 4-6 quality beers on tap (including a hand pump), and the satisfaction that you are cool enough to know of a bar like this.
Speaking of events, Towers is having a Christmas event today and tomorrow. I’ll be the drunk guy with a Santa hat. See you there.
North from Towers, just a block from the North Exit of Tokyo Station, is Bacchus, a basement bar with great atmosphere and a nice group of regular customers. They have regular rotating kegs in addition to Yona Yona brews – both the pale ale and Tokyo Black are mainstays on the hand pump. Also, a limited selection of quality bottled beers. Decent pub eats, too – I can personally recommend the sausage plate and cheese plate, which are both great to snack on. As far as I can tell, Bacchus is the closest bar to Tokyo Station with quality beer, making it a great place for a pre-departure drink.
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Once you’re finished with the crawl, there are multiple karaoke venues to choose from, all within a block from Bacchus. After five beers that are most likely 5-6% alcohol or higher, you’ll be in excellent condition to wail your favorite songs – just make sure you get to the karaoke room before you start singing.
サンマ are those tiny little fish you see in the supermarket. They look like this:
They’re pretty cheap and really small. The translation is “Pacific saury,” but I’m not even sure we eat them in the US. I saw my roommate cooking them one time, so I had him show me how to cook them. It’s actually pretty simple.
Step One – Bag it up!
Put it in a little plastic bag with tongs and take it to the checkout.
Step Two – Pour water in the fish drawer.
You can cook it in the little fish drawer that is attached to most Japanese stoves. Pouring some water in the bottom of the grill will make the cleaning process easier.
Step Three – Salt it!
Lightly sprinkle salt on both sides of the fish.
Step Four – Cook it!
Light up the fish drawer and throw the fish in head first. You can cook it on high heat, no problem.
Step Five – Flip it!
After about 10-15 minutes or so, flip it with chopsticks. The fish should be a little more burnt than in the above picture. Let it cook another 10 minutes until the other side is also nice and cooked. The skin will definitely burn a little, so don’t worry about that too much. With both sides it should take between 20-30 minutes.
Step Six – Eat it!
A lot of the oil drips out of the fish while it grills, so the meat itself doesn’t taste very fishy at all. It’s really tasty. You can garnish it with grated daikon + soy sauce and then sprinkle it with lemon/lime/sudachi or just eat it alone with rice and soup. Bonus points if you can handle the stinky beans. The one thing I can’t tell you how to do is eat it with chopsticks. That takes some serious practice.
サンマ is generally written in katakana, but it has cool kanji, too – 秋刀魚.
