Michelin Rated Tonkatsu
Ginza Katsukami in Tokyo is a Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant. If you don’t know, a restaurant receives the Bib Gourmand award when Michelin determines the restaurant is ” good quality, good value cooking restaurant”. If you’ve ever wondered where to eat Michelin recommended tonkatsu in Tokyo, you might want to check out this post.
Ginza Katsukami prides itself in being the first restaurant to serve tonkatsu course meals. You might have seen that we like eating at Tonkatsu Wako when we’re in Japan. However, we’ve never had fancy tonkatsu before so Ginza Katsukami in Tokyo seemed like the best option for us to try something special!
By the way, if you happen to be in Kobe and need a recommendation – be sure to check out Katsukura!
Reservation System
You can make reservations online. TableCheck will make you choose which course you want to eat and then you will need to provide a credit card in case you are a no-show. You will be given the option though to pay for the restaurant if you want.
I know it sucks having to make reservations while on vacation because what if travel plans change? There is a somewhat lax cancellation policy but you won’t be able to cancel right behind your reservation. However, you must make reservations if you want to eat here (at least for lunch).
During our time eating (about 1.5 hours), we saw 5+ different people/parties try to come to the restaurant and get a seating. They were all (politely) turned away!
Note this building is on the 5th floor, in case you’re having trouble finding it.
Our Recommended Course
For our lunch meal, we chose the Maeda pork & Brand Pork Course + Kitafuku King Crab Croquette Course. At the time of this post, it is 6500 yen per person. It is not the cheapest nor the most expensive one. We really wanted to try some quality pork so that’s why we chose this one. Our set meal included:
Brand Pork Cutlet 2 kinds
Maeda Pork Cutlet 2 kinds
Menchikatsu
Comes with Kitafuku’s crab croquette
Rice, Miso soup, pickles and cabbage
Ginza Katsukami in Tokyo – Review Time
We’re not being paid for this post so you can rest assured this is our honest opinion.
The restaurant itself is small – mostly counter seating with one table at the back that seats four. The restaurant can only eat about 14-16 people at a time. We were nervous because it was about 50% Japanese people and 50% foreigners. We really wanted an authentic Japanese experience and not a tourist trap meal.
Let us reassure you – this was one of the best meals we’ve had in Tokyo!
The service was discreet but very prompt to help if needed. The chef will go over all the porks and food items with you and let you know his recommended way of eating it. You will get salt and sauces and he will tell you the best pairing.
My goodness, we’ve never had meat quality this good. Perfectly crispy outer layer with juicy pork that seems to melt in your mouth. Even the miso soup and rice was very high quality.
We beg you to please make sure to get the Kitafuku King Crab croquette. There is nothing that can prepare you for the creamy inside of the croquette and that fresh king crab flavour. Wrapped in a perfectly deep fried ball – it’s just heavenly. One person during our seating didn’t order it and he looked very sad.
The waitress will come back around during one of the last courses with an a la carte menu and ask if you want to order anything before last call. If you didn’t opt for something earlier or you want another order, you can ask them to make it then.
Lastly, the shaved ice was a massive sleeper hit. After eating all the deep fried food and pork, the shaved us with your own choice of topping was incredible. It was the perfect palette cleanser. We tried the Strawberry Milk and Milk Tea flavours. To this day which still don’t know which was better – only that it was true perfection.
Conclusion
If you like eating tonkatsu, we hope you will check out Ginza Katsukami in Tokyo. It offered incredible value and the best tonkatsu we’ve had in Japan. We don’t know where else you can get get the same quality for the price.
Yes, you will have to make reservations in advance but it is well worth it! Please try it and let us know what you think. If you enjoy reading about our Japan travels, we have more Japan content on our Instagram!
