A few more images of the excellent Katsuzen in Ginza, home to some of the most refined tonkatsu and ebi-fry in the land. Starting with the inscrutable entrance, with its noren of coarse-woven cotton...
Sure you are there for the breaded/deep-fried pork cutlets or the wonderfully deluxe ebi-fry (as previewed yesterday). But as soon as you're seated you'll find there's plenty more besides.
Starting with the selection of delicate zensai appetizers...
And the vegetable dishes. There can't be any tonkatsu joint in town to rival Katsuzen in this department. In winter they will feature a variety of roots, tubers and squashes — there were a score of more different types in this dish...
Now the weather is warming up, there are lighter items on the menu — including three different preparations of eggplant — and other summer vegetables.
And some great salads, like this fruit tomato which was diced and put back together again on a bed of cucumber, radish and onion, then crowned with kuzukiri cellophane noodles with shredded shiso leaf.
The cooked side dishes are every bit as good. Don't miss the jumbo-sized deep-fried spring rolls stuffed full with crab meat.
Or the that ebi-fry, which comes with an excellent home-made tartar sauce.
But even with all this sideshow, really it's all about the tonkatsu. It's as good as it looks, cooked so well it barely needs any extra seasoning apart from the wedge of lemon.
As usual, you choose between rosu and hire (fatty or lean) meat. I've had both and they're both great. This one (below) is the rosu. Yes it's plenty rich: that's the name of the game with tonkatsu. But the flavour balances so well with the fat that it goes down really easily.
Try it on its own first; then with the lemon; and then with the sauce. There are two of them:the Worcestershire-style tonkatsu sauce, and the home-made miso-garlic sauce, they're so umami-savoury you're tempted to ladle them on regardless.
And here's the hire…
This is what the lean hire looks like… The meat is juicy and flavourful. The breadcrumbs are thin, crisp and hardly greasy at all. And the cabbage (organically grown when possible) is shredded finely, and garnished with a little red cabbage and carrot to give it some extra colour tones.
And what goes best with it in terms of drink, if you're settling in for the duration? There are several good junmai sake to choose from. There's wine, too. And cocktails.
But it's the shochu selection that really seems to suit this food best. The ceramic kame in the middle is really just for show: Although it's always nice to see if being ladled out, actually it's filled from the same isshobin magnums that adorn the counter.
Here are a couple I can vouchsafe:
That's the Hama-chidori in the tumbler at the back, and the Dabada in the ornate little cup at the front...
Kampai! And thank-you to Nagai-san and all the family.
The full story can be found on The Japan Times website here…
