Tonkatsu Kenshin

Tonkatsu Kenshin (とんかつ憲進)

⭐⭐⭐

🐷 Tonkatsu / 📍 Kagurazaka

📓 Visits: 1

Tonkatsu Narikura is the #1 rated tonkatsu restaurant in Tokyo and, at time of writing, outranks Tonkatsu Manger, which was #1 for the whole of Japan.  The owner/chef moved to Asagaya in 2019 and left the running of the original Takodanobaba premises to someone else.  The Takodanobaba 'Narikura' closed at the end of February 2023 with the chef going on to open his own tonkatsu restaurant in Kagurazaka last week.

The frying of the tonkatsu uses the same 'snow batter' technique.  A pale panko fried at low temperature and very soft.  There are currently two choices of pork.  The table below summarises your options.

	Hitachi no kagayaki (常陸の輝き)	Koshinoko kane buta (越乃黄金豚)
teishoku meals
rosu	¥3,000	¥2,500
rib rosu	¥4,500	¥3,800
hire 2x	¥2,400	¥2,000
hire 3x	¥3,000	¥2,500
single item
hire 1x	¥800	¥600

You can also have ebi fry teishoku (2 shrimp @ JPY 2,000 or 3 @ 2,500).  A side order of one shrimp will cost you 600 yen and a side menchi katsu 500.

At the Takodanobaba location the most expensive pork was the same Koshinoko but the rosu and hire were 400 yen more expensive and the rib rosu 200 yen cheaper.

The restaurant is in the premises of, what was, a yakitori restaurant with little or no refit.  I arrived at 10:47 on a wet Monday the week after the restaurant opened.  Two people were already queuing.  At 10:53 another three joined the queue.  Orders were taken at 10:55 and the 7-seat counter and one table for two was full when the restaurant opened at 11:00.  I was served at 11:22 along with two other diners.  The diner first in the queue had to wait till 11:26 to be served as he ordered rib rosu, which takes slightly longer.  I went for the Koshinoko hire with a side order of Hitachi hire.

The Hitachi is 3rd piece on the right and the Koshinoko the two on the left.  The first piece of Koshinoko had good flavour but was thin and tough.  The second piece of Koshinoko was much thicker and softer but had no flavour.  The Hitachi was soft, had the best flavour and no seasoning was required.  The two pieces of Koshinoko were so different it was like eating two kinds of pork.  But either way I enjoyed neither and can only recommend the Hitachi if you want the hire.  Refills of rice, tonjiru and cabbage are charged at a whopping 200 yen each.  A large serving of rice is free so I went for that rather than risk having to pay for a refill.  The rice was a little above average.  The cabbage was not a large portion but that didn't matter as it was limp and I didn't want any more.  The tonjiru was fragrant and was the best thing in the meal.  The tonkatsu still has that slightly soggy layer between meat and batter, though I felt it less thick than memory serves from my previous Narikura meals.

Overall this was a thorough disappointment.  Some might say "you're there for the batter" (and the panko is good) but I'm not just there for that, I'm there for the whole meal, and speaking of which, three 30g pieces of pork is not enough for a full lunch.  Perhaps the Hitachi rib rosu is the one to go for but JPY 4,500 is nearly twice the price of the rib rosu at Tonkatsu Aoki (and half the size at 200g?) and is 3-4 times more than I want to spend on a less than spectacular tonkatsu teishoku.  Despite the fact the minimum price here is JPY 2,000 that won't buy you a paper napkin.

I left at 11:36 so, including queuing, the meal took the best part of an hour but I think I got off lightly.  Three people were now waiting outside and a few people seated were yet to be served.  It's hard to predict how wait times will evolve here but if you go early you definitely want to be at least #4 in the queue or you could be in for a frustratingly long wait.  If you find yourself with too-long a wait but still have that crave for tonkatsu your plan B is Agezuki, which is just around the corner.

📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1309/A130905/13282484/

❓ My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ 3.3 (value: 2.5)

📱 Booking: No bookings.  No English menu, no English spoken.  Queue builds up the stairs, which are sheltered.

📍 Location: 

2F Ami Kagurazaka, 3-1-23 Kagurazaka.  2 mins from Iidabashi station Exit B4.  2F multi-tenant building, no lift.
Map data ©2023 Google

📅 Visit March 2023

Koshinoko kane buta hire 2x teishoku 2,000
Hitachi no kagayaki hire tanpin +800

💴 Damage: 2,800 (cards accepted)

⏱️ Time taken: 50m inc. 13 mins queuing