Swine, pig, H1N1, it's all tonkatsu to me: Part I

So we finally made it to the place that probably tops the "Days to book ahead" restaurants list. We booked around two months ago for a weekday booking. If you're the spur of the moment type, fear not, you can still get in if you line up for like, an hour. They have a branch in Tsim Sha Tsui which isn't as bad booking-wise, but this is the one people rave about so here we were.

Grinding sesame... we'd waited 2 long months, so why not wait another 15 mins and patiently grind our sesame like quiet, reserved Japanese people? (Me? I was kinda thumping at it...)

My pork fillet with miso sauce

Close up of my pork fillet

As (I hope) you can see the flesh was little drier than I would have liked - even to the eye it was matte, but the crust was quite perfect - light (every 'layer' of breadcrumb/flour was crisp and dry), crunchy, with an even, golden hue. Everyone's pork was fried to the exact shade of gold - so exact you could probably make a Pantone chip out of it and compare each pork chop with it.

Would I come again? Sure, if I (or someone else) book, but I wouldn't wait an hour for it (i.e. come without a booking). Price-wise it's a little more expensive than Bugatumi, where I also went recently (see next post), about HK$200 per head as opposed to HK$160 at Bugatumi. The best tonkatsu I've ever had is in Tokyo, not at the lauded Maisen (see next post), but at a yoshoku (Japanese style "western" food) place called Rengatei - but unfortunately I can't remember where I saved those photos, that was way long ago...

Tonkichi
Shop 412 World Trade Centre
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
+852 2577 6617

lunch & dinner daily