Ginza Katsukami, Tokyo - birthday din dins Tonkatsu style!!!!

Time for another solar return celebration and I am fully embracing this era! Before we leave Tokyo for Kyoto and Osaka, to usher in my birthday, we had dinner at Ginza Katsukami. Most of us would have had some kind of ‘katsu’ style meal, most popular being katsu curry. I have never been a massive fan of breaded anything, however, after this dining experience, I am a believer! Ginza Katsukami is the first Japanese restaurant to offer tonkatsu course meals. And yes, it is actually TONKATSU and not KATSU ha! Now let me be clear, the tonkatsu here is not chicken, it is cuts of Pork – tenderloin, rump, nakaniku, the rib, habaki et al. These cuts are never punctured or tenderised instead cut and cooked to retain the best flavour. Flavour is the guiding light here at Ginza Katsukami, the pigs are selected based on two principles – does the meat and fat have flavour? I mean after sampling the cuts here, the principles are bang on! Food here is

We sampled the ‘special’ course and this began with a tomato salad with Japanese soup stock jelly!

Like whaaaattttt? First off, can we appreciate just how pretty it looks and the vividness of the tomato? It reminded me the onion dish at Gaggan’s! – colours! This was accompanied with carrot, radish, onion dressing and lettuce.

I am not going to front, that lettuce has got to be the best lettuce I have ever had! It was crunchy, fresh and the dressing? spot on! I could eat that everyday and know it was nutritious! It was soooo yummy! We were ready for this pork so ready for the pork cuts! The first cut was tenderloin cutlet which we had to eat in not one, but THREE ways! First you are required to have a bite alone, and all I am saying is.. the taste ? EPIC! The reason why katsu was never a thing for me is because I always felt that there was more ‘bread’ than the meat / chicken 🤔 Well the tenderloin tonkatsu here? pheww!!!!, the ratio of braded crumbs to the tenderloin was just perfectly balanced, it felt like there was no layer? Apologies, I digress😀… now where was I? Ahh yes, the first bite was just all the goodness of a proper cut of pork tenderloin. The second bite? Where we had to add a sprinkle of salt? My goodness! The succulence and flavour just intensified on your palate. For the third bite you had a dip and it felt like all flavours were being brought together! Dang!

We sampled the lean meat cutlet of the day. We had to eat this with just salt and a dip. The third pork cut, a minced pork cutlet was layers of thinly cut pork think (Iberico ham) served with orange slices.

The idea was have the pork cuts with the orange in like a wrap / layer and eat. I can not begin to tell you what this tasted like? It was an explosion of flavour! The orange was not overly citrusy but complimented the fattiness of the mince cuts so you had a fatty/ citrusy sensation that literally melt in your mouth, LITERALLY!😋! Next up was Miyazaki ozaki beef cutlet with Madagascar black pepper and salt.. the aroma? Jeeeez… like come on now! Loin cutlet with wasabi, the first bite without the wasabi and the other with. honestly, the way chef had us tasting this cutlets had my palate singing HALLELUJAH! We also had some sea food option crab croquette, scallops and Japanese pickles. The rice dish with .. wait for it, MATCHA in duck stock? Boiiiiii!!!

Whilst, I was still reeling from what I had just experienced, then came pudding. Shaved ice mango and milk tea, aka milk sorbet. I didn’t know what to expect, the portion size? And the taste? It popped .. like rice kripsy popped 😱!