Gyukatsu is a pretty unique Japanese dish: a fried beef cutlet with the beef left rare inside. It is delicious. Let’s see my experiences in Tokyo beginning with a classic, Gyukatsu Motomura. As the name suggests, this shop specializes in this type of food entirely and has grown to become a nationwide powerhouse: they have branches across Tokyo and other prefectures.
The visit
I picked up the Akihabara branch during my October 2019 trip to Tokyo that is located in the basement of a building not far away from Akihabara Station.
The dining room is spacious enough and well it. I was seated at the counter.
Tea was included.
Ordering was pretty easy as they had an English menu (and even a young waitress speaking English) and basically you are given two choices: you can choose the size of the steak (130 or 260 grams) and the number of side dishes. There were four side dishes available: omelet, nanban miso (a chili-infused miso), warabimochi (a type of soft starch cake), and spicy cod roe (mentaiko). I opted for the 230 gram-steak and the mentaiko. The set also included rice, grated yam (called tororo in Japanese), miso soup with tofu strips, and some green pickles, shredded cabbage (with its own sauce available on the table), and a scoop of potato salad. There were two sauces: wasabi and soy sauce and another horseradish sauce.
As you can see, the meat beneath the crust is rare (on the company’s website they say medium-rare, but I beg to differ). This is actually one of the reasons I like gyukatsu.
On the table I was provided a small stove that I could use to complete the cooking of the meat to my discretion. This is particularly useful if you do not like rare meat.
I was advised to eat the grated yam with the rice. It was a very rich flavor. The side dish, the mentaiko, was excellent, but just a tiny bit.
The check
My set (260 gram-steak and one side dish) cost 2,300 yen (21 USD). The price is pretty standard.
It was a very pleasant experience, even if the meat was not as juicy as I was hoping and the crust not as crispy. Retrospectively, the gyukatsu I reviewed in Nagasaki was really good!
Where in Tokyo:
1-15-18 Sotokanda – Okuyama Bldg. B1F.
In Japanese: 東京都千代田区外神田1-15-18 奥山ビル地下一階.
Website (for more locations): https://www.gyukatsu-motomura.com/en/.