We were around the Hell’s Kitchen area catching up on a Broadway musical called “MJ: The Musical” based on Michael Jackson. This area we have rarely explored much, considering early post-pandemic, this area was quite dangerous with the drug users and harassers. Nevertheless, this katsu restaurant has been on my list for years, and I’ve been meaning to check this out. We were able to walk in on a Sunday at around 5:30 PM without any issue.
Ambiance & Service
This restaurant’s exterior seems very no frills, and it was even somewhat hard to find. I only noticed it was this when I took the time to read the taped signs. The restaurant’s actual posted sign is covered by some overhang, so it’s difficult to see if you’re not intently looking for it upwards.
Inside, the restaurant is pretty mellow, and the service is quite speedy. We were desiring for the omakase, and we wanted to add on the pork cutlet donburi and curry. The waiter strongly suggested we shouldn’t because it was a lot of food. We were a bit baffled that he recommended against ordering more food, but we were glad that was suggested. The omakase does come with a lot of food, and it took us about 1.5 to 2 hours to eat most of it. My partner did bring some of their food home.
Food
As I mentioned above, we ordered the omakase which is $82 per person.
The Sapporo ($4 happy hour - left) was served in a nice cold glass.
The house white sangria ($5 happy hour - right) tasted a bit too sweet to me, but it was smooth and fruity.
Can’t really complain much for these prices.
The appetizer had a side of edamame and eggplant with some bonito flakes sprinkled over. I think that wad of yellow was ginger, but I cannot remember. These pretty much tasted as expected, but be warned that the eggplant was cold. I was definitely not expecting that.
The salad came with sous vide chicken. The chicken was super tender. They gave us the salad dressing in a bottle. It’s very similar to the sesame ginger dressings you get in other Japanese restaurants. Just be careful not to pour too much.
The bun came with a fatty piece of pork belly. The pork belly was extremely soft and delicious. They give you a smear of hot mustard if you want to use it. The hot mustard had some essences of wasabi in it, so be warned that too much can clear your sinuses rather quickly.
The sushi came with roast beef sushi (left) and duck loin sushi (right). I thought this was strange, but the sushi kind of tasted what I expected. Both meats were good albeit those would more salty tongues would desire more seasoning.
And onward to the main course …
These are the pork katsu seasonings. The yellow thing is hot mustard, the middle is some sort of glaze, and the right is typical katsu sauce. They also give you pink salt if you desire, though we didn’t use any of it. And like most katsu specialized places, they give you a mortar and pestle to grind fresh sesame seeds to dump into the katsu sauce. The far wooden column in the back just houses chili pepper that you would normally add to your ramen soups.
The Japanese pickles came with 3 different types. The yellow is pickled radish, the green is pickled cucumbers, and the minced pink I’m not sure. But everything tasted great and offered a nice contrast to the fat that is to come.
These are the wagyu seasonings. On the left is the most delightful wad of salty minced shiso (I think?). It’s similar to what high end sushi chefs sometimes put a little dab on top of a piece of sushi. I used all of this up. To the middle is simply wasabi, and to the right is a demi glaze sauce. The demi glaze was actually very complementary to the steak.
Here is the Berkshire Pork (left) and US Wagyu Beef (right). The berkshire pork was very good. It looks pink, but that’s ok since it was sous vide for several hours already. The star in my opinion was definitely the wagyu beef. It was very soft and tender, and I loved adding the seasonings to give it some more umami punch to it. The berkshire pork was good and somewhat comparable to what I had at Katsu Hama. The potato salad was surprisingly really good too.
It was also served with Butajiru which was basically miso soup with some pork shavings in it. It was pretty balanced in salt, and I was pleasantly surprised to find little pork meats in it.
The dessert was matcha green tea affogato. To the left is vanilla ice cream, and to the right is simply matcha green tea. You can calibrate how much tea you want to pour into the ice cream. I ended up putting about 2/3rd green tea into the vanilla ice cream bowl, and I thought it was a perfect balance of sweet to the green tea bitterness.
Final Verdict
The value of this restaurant is subjective if you order the omakase, but it definitely is a lot of food. The food itself is not the best Japanese food holistically, but it definitely has great katsu here which is one of my favorites. We would love to come back here again if we are in the neighborhood to try other items. Definitely check out this restaurant if you’re catching a show in the tip of the Theater District.
Yelp Jabs
By far the best katsu I have ever had, I’m not exaggerating. It’s like the steakhouse of katsus. They cook it soo well where the middle is almost a little rare but definitely not uncooked, and then the outside has the perfect crispiness to it where it still gives each bite texture.
If you’re in the opposite side of Midtown, check out Katsu Hama which is no slouch. I think it depends if you like a thick batter or thin batter for katsu. The katsu breading here was definitely very thin.
Further, the staff didn’t let us know how to eat this so we were very confused when our first few bites were 100% bland. The meat comes completely unseasoned, and they give you salt and other seasonings on the side for you to self-adjust. I appreciate the gesture but wish they would’ve explained and, for almost $100, I would’ve expected it to come ready to eat with very light adjustments needed. Once we figured out the right ratio for seasoning, the flavor was great.
Katsu is pretty accessible food. One would think if an Elitist saw the staff giving them condiments on the side, then perhaps the condiments would imply that there is an opportunity for seasoning adjustments. I would’ve expected an Elitist to put it together instead of complaining about it.
Revisions
- Apr 9, 2023 - Initial revision.