Katsuhei

Katsuhei (かつ平)

⭐⭐⭐

🐷 Tonkatsu / 📍 Tsukiji

📓 Visits: 4 (2020-2022)

First the negatives:

• The restaurant stinks (more on that in a moment)
• The rice isn't particularly good
• I guess with tonkatsu's heritage of yoshoku and the history of this restaurant (operating since 1963) the portion of cold, (tinned?) spaghetti in tomato sauce and slice of orange (lunch only?), served on the same plate as the tonkatsu, is part of it but I could really do without that spaghetti and if they could just serve the orange on a separate plate you wouldn't get cabbage/panko/sauce on it
• Unless you go for dinner, be prepared to wait.  On my first visit I got there at 11:25 on a weekday and was first in the queue.  By 11:40 the restaurant was full and by the time I left at 12 there were still tables that hadn't been served (the restaurant can hold 14 people but chef seems to fry the tonkatsu one table at a time).  So I was lucky - arriving 10 or 15 minutes later and I would have had a long wait.  On my second visit I arrived at 11:15 and there were already two people in the queue.  My order was taken at 11:25 and I was out by 12.  On my third visit on a wet Monday at the end of Obon and during the never-ending state of emergency I arrived at 11:20 and was first, my order was taken just before opening, 5 more people arrived at 11:30, I was served at 11:38 and out by 11:53.  On my most recent visit I went for dinner on a weekday.  I arrived at 5pm exactly and was the only diner during my visit.
  
• If you end up sitting near the door the restaurant is very cold in winter, especially as they have been leaving the shutter slightly open for ventilation.
  

There are 5 choices on the menu: hire katsu & ebi fry, rosu katsu, hire katsu, ebi fry or katsu curry.  No English is spoken but an English picture menu is available.  On my first visit I had the hire katsu.  I made a huge first-timer faux pas when I tried to pick up the first piece of pork: the panko exploded in my chopsticks and went everywhere.  While that was unfortunate it illustrates how light the panko is.  It's the lightest panko I've had after Tonta and very thick compared with other restaurants.  The pork is fried in lard.  That contributes to the lightness of the panko (higher frying temperature) and the smell in the restaurant but also means it's quite a rich-tasting tonkatsu.

You get about 5 large pieces in the hire and even not having eaten anything before on that day, it was enough.  The pork isn't particularly special compared with the expensive pork in other tonkatsu restaurants but it's fine and not dry.  On my second visit I had the hire katsu & ebi fry.  I felt the thick, lard-rich batter overpowered the delicate flavour of the prawn so I wouldn't have this again.  Miso soup is decent.

The best thing about Katsuhei is the price: including tax the hire is 1,200, the rosu is 1,300 and the hire & ebi 1,600.  Prices went up by 100 yen in April 2022 but this is still a bargain for a tonkatsu of this quality.  The menu and prices are the same at lunch and dinner.  Many tonkatsu restaurants in Tokyo are charging JPY 3,000+, and of course you're partly paying for better pork but IMHO they aren't 3 times as good.  Even with a basic pork you'd expect to pay 1,600+ in the average tonkatsu place and you'd just be getting a standard tonkatsu with standard batter fried in standard oil.  So Katsuhei really is outstanding.

📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1313/A131301/13007635/

❓ My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ 3.98 (value: 5.0)

📱 Booking: No bookings.

📍 Location:

6-12-10 Tsukiji.  Dedicated street-facing entrance.  5 mins walk from Tsukiji station Exit 1 or Exit 2.

📅 Visit October 2022

💴 Damage: 1,200
⏱️ Time taken: 30 mins

📅 Visit August 2021

💴 Damage: 1,100
⏱️ Time taken: 33 mins (inc. 10 mins queuing)

📅 Visit January 2021

💴 Damage: 1,500
⏱️ Time taken: 45 mins (inc. 15 mins queuing)

📅 Visit December 2020

💴 Damage: 1,100
⏱️ Time taken: 35 mins (inc. 5 mins queuing)