Ginza Katsukami

This tonkatsu restaurant opened in early September 2018, located on the fifth floor of a building called Miyako, not far from Ginza subway station. Take a lift to the fifth floor and the entrance is just on your right. Seats are arranged around a central counter where the chefs work, the restaurant seating perhaps a dozen people. The head chef is Mr Hirata, and the restaurant is owned by Mr Abe, who also owns crab restaurant Kitafuku in a stable of half a dozen restaurants, including another tonkatsu place called Hinata. Two tonkatsu sauces were provided, one richer than the other, as well as mustard and a carrot dressing for the shredded cabbage that is traditional with tonkatsu. Pickles were particularly good, both carrot and radish.

We were served a sequence of different cuts, starting with pork tenderloin, the leanest cut, and then loin, followed by shoulder, which were slightly fattier cuts. The panko breadcrumb coating was crisp and the pork, from Guma prefecture, was carefully and quite lightly cooked compared to most tonkatsu, and had plenty of flavour. The restaurant also serves a pricier pork from Yamagata prefecture on Honshu called Yonezawa Ichiban, but only in the evenings. We also tried a large fried shrimp, which was very good, and finally a minced pork tonkatsu, which had excellent flavour.

This was very good tonkatsu indeed, and although it is pricier than most due to its Ginza location, the bill was still only ¥4,700 (£32) with beer to drink. I would happily come back here, and as a bonus you can actually make reservations, rather than queuing for a seat as at a lot of tonkatsu places.