One of the latest food craze in Japan currently is “gyukatsu” or deep fried beef cutlet. Gyukatsu Motomura is arguably the most popular restaurant in Tokyo for gyukatsu.
Due to its popularity, do expect to queue for about an hour during meal time, and maybe 20-30 minutes during off peak hours. We were here at around 11.30 am and we waited for about an hour for our turn. Most people turned up even before the shop is open at 11 am.
While queuing, a waitstaff gave us an English menu and took our order. KampungBoy went for the 260g order because he was famished while I opted for 200g.
Soon after we ordered, we were being ushered to our seats and before we knew it our food arrived!
How to enjoy gyukatsu. The visuals are self explanatory.
Our set came with cabbage, potato salad, rice, miso soup and various sauces.
The deep-fried beef cutlet is the being served to us super rare (10% doneness) and we can still see the beautiful marbling.
There are three ways to eat your gyukatsu: 1) with wasabi and soy sauce 2) with horseradish or 3) with rock salt. We tried all three ways and they were all fantastic. For the rice, you pour the tororo (grated yam) over it and it becomes this heavenly combination.
You can also use hot stone plate to grill the beef slices to your desired doneness.
I can totally understand the hype. The mouth-watering gyukatsu was tender and pink on the inside and rolled in the finest coating of crisp panko crumbs on the outside. Add some wasabi and ponzu sauce and you got yourself umami in a bite. 2100 yen for such a huge portion is quite a value for money too!
I recommend visiting the Shinjuku outlet with 20 seatings as compared to the two Shibuya’s outlets (8 seatings).
Gyukatsu Motomura Shinjuku
Address: 3-32-2 Shinjuku | B1F, Shinjuku 160-0022, Tokyo Prefecture
Hours: 11AM–10PM daily
Phone: +81 3-3354-0171
Getting Here: exit e9 shinjuku station
