Zuicho

⚠️ Since January 2023 katsudon is JPY 1,500.

Zuicho (瑞兆)

⭐⭐⭐

Katsudon / 📍 Shibuya

📓 Visits: 2 (2021)

Zuicho is the highest-ranking restaurant in Japan that specializes in katsudon.  There are more highly-rated restaurants that serve both tonkatsu and katsudon but none higher for katsudon only.  The unique feature of the katsudon at Zuicho is that the egg is served more set and sits under the katsu, rather than the egg being poured over the top.  This stops the katsu from getting soggy and losing its crispiness.  Located in Shibuya and costing just 1,000 yen a bowl including tax, this restaurant has literally turned the katsudon world upside down.

There are only six seats and the restaurant opens for lunch at 11:30.  On my first visit I arrived at 11:05 on a weekday and by 11:10 two more people joined the queue.  By 11:13 there were 4 people and by 11:14 7.  I was served at 11:32 and was out by 11:42.

There's no real menu here and the waitress will simply ask you what size of rice you want.  There's a 'secret' option for double egg.  Drop 100 yen in the box as you sit down and ask for 'tamago dabaru' when your order is taken.  It's a relatively thin piece of katsu and fairly ordinary white, very lean pork.  Is it the best katsudon ever?  It's definitely a higher-quality product than the oily stuff you get at the chains and for 1,000 yen it's decent value for Shibuya.  But, for me, it wasn't the epiphany people seem to be making it out to be.  It's also a quite a small portion and, unless you don't eat very much, not enough for a complete meal.  Some people were staying on and ordering seconds but do that and now your lunch is 2,000 yen.

If you are a student in Shibuya and don't get home-cooked meals then this place is probably awesome but if that's not you then I don't think Zuicho is something worth queuing for nor crossing town for.  If you just want to see what the fuss is about the best way to eat here is for a very light meal at an off-peak time (weekday, say 15:00-16:30) when there should be no queue and indeed on my second visit at 16:25 on a weekday there were three seats free.

📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1303/A130301/13161530/

❓ My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ 3.4

📱 Booking: First come first served.  Long queues on weekends.

📍 Location:

1F Papier Bldg, 41-26 Udagawacho.  1F multi-tenant building.  The building has an entrance on both the streets it's connected to but the queue builds from the North-West side.  It's at least 10 mins walk from Shibuya station.  The nearest bus stop is Udagawacho which is the 3rd stop on the #66 bus from Shibuya station. 

Map data ©2021 Google

📅 Visit October 2021

💴 Damage: 1,100 (double egg)
⏱️ Time taken: 15m

📅 Visit March 2021

💴 Damage: 1,000
⏱️ Time taken: 40m (30m queuing, 10m eating)