A yoshoku/tonkatsu place located next to Tokyo dome and kourakuen amusement park. Very spacious with forest-ish wooden decor(in a theme park sort of way).
Pickles. A massive bowl of salad. Other than the yuzu and soy sauce dressing on the table, there are three types of salad dressing(menu) you can request for free: sesame seed and miso, grated vegetables, sour plum shiso and mayonnaise. I like sesame seed one the most.
黒毛和牛ハンバーグ定食、￥２１００。
“Black-haired” wagyu hamburger steak set, 2100yen. Also came with beansprout. The waiter rolled out the huge hotplate on a wagon, poured the demi-glace sauce and cut the hamburger in front of you. Rice is mixed with green shiso(aojiso). Salad, rice and miso soup are all refillable.
３種盛り定食、￥１５００。
Wagyu hamburger, crab cream croquette and fried prawn.
特製カツカレー、￥１５００。牛ステーキ定食、￥１６００。
Special katsu(cutlet) curry. Curry sauce is a bit salty but the pork loin katsu is nice.
Beef steak is soft and tender, very good!
てごねかつ定食、￥１２６０。替わりかつ丼、￥１５００。
Minced pork katsu is delicious!
Donburi with pork katsu, tororo(grated yam), pickled veggy. All the ingredients are seasoned so the salt content sort of adds up and overall a bit salty.
海老カツ丼、￥１２００。豚ハンバーグ定食、￥１３００。
Donburi with prawn katsu, veggy and half-cooked egg. The prawn katsu is very good.
Pork hambuger(with grated radish topping) actually tastes better than the more expensive beef hamburger.
石鍋焼きかつ丼（ロース）、￥１５００。盛り合わせフライ定食（串かつ、カニコロッケ）、￥１５００。
Donburi with pork katsu in a hot stone pot. The staff pours the soup to the katsu(also udon at the bottom) and you add the raw egg and seaweed yourself. Choose it only if you like katsu soaked in soup…
Assorted fry: Kushi-katsu(kushi means skewer) with pumpkin, shishitou pepper, onion and pork. Crab cream croquette.
Overall the food is good. Service very friendly. Opens on Sunday and holidays. Only thing is there is no non-smoking seats. The sister restaurant Katsu Kichi next door is non-smoking at lunch time and the menu is similar.
菩提樹 (Bodaiju)
Add: 1-14-3, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku
Tel: 03-3818-1020
穴子フライ、￥３６７５。カツレツ、￥２６２５。
Took a friend to try this super expensive but also super delicious tonkatsu place. Had the standard “Katsu-retsu”. Also tried the “Anago Fry” for the first time - 3675yen is crazy(rice and miso soup not included) but they give you two big pieces and damn they just taste so good that you don’t regret paying(though I didn’t have to pay at the end hohoho).
(20 Sep 2007)
Yoshoku restaurant established since 1905. I was a bit dazed when I saw the menu…a salad is 1050yen, deep-fried seafood is 3000~4000yen, cow tongue stew is 4200yen…good thing my target was katsu-retsu(i.e. tonkatsu) which is an affordable(relatively speaking) 2625yen. Rice and soup and pickles are an additional 525yen. Seriously, it never cease to amaze me how yoshoku sometimes can be so expensive and yet many people are so willing to pay. I mean you can have a full course French lunch with that amount of money. Anyway, the cutlet turned out to be quite delicious. ^^;;; Coating is thick but crispy. Apparently thick and floury coating is the traditional style for deep-fried things in Japan. I guess people in the past didn’t worry so much about calories. The pork is fried twice, first very slowly in low heat oil, and then a quick finish in very hot oil. It did take a long time for it to come. The pork is a thick huge piece, has very little fat, soft and tender, feels a bit sandy in the mouth and not the juicy kind but I like it a lot. Didn’t feel ill afterwards but apparently it is fried in lard….There is only a bottle of sauce on the table which I reckon is for the cutlet but I prefer eating it just with salt and mustard. Oh, I sat in the counter(only 4 seats) on the first floor and there was only a salaryman eating alone. He was drinking wine and eating a plate of something, and I overheard his bill was over 13,000yen…^^;; I found an English review here.
Couldn’t resist and went back to try “Ebi korokke”, i.e. Prawn croquette. With rice and miso soup, it is 3150yen also. Very expensive…but it is so delicious! Inside the perfectly-fried crust are corn cream and big chunks of prawns. Only two croquettes but they are quite big. Though I think the pork cutlet is of better value. I want to try other things in the menu….but the price is just too high!!
Menu(J) 1, 2.
ぽん多本家 (Ponta Honke)
Add: 3-23-3 Ueno, Taito-ku
Tel: 03-3831-2351
Dinner at a Szechuan restaurant. Check out my friend’s site for Japanese review.
“String” tofu salad. Boiled gyoza.
Mapo tofu. Clear soup with meatballs.
Steamed chicken. Stir-fried vegetables.
Bang bang ji - Szechuan spicy chicken Salad. Fried prawn.
Stir-fried potato. Stir-fried Konjac.
The staff offered to add boiled beansprout to the leftover bang bang ji to make a salad.
Pork cooked in spicy sauce. The sauce is delicious, especially eaten with rice. Though there is not that much pork inside.
Grilled pork.
Tan Tan noodles, with sauce or without sauce. I had the one without soup at the original restaurant before(see tag), so I tried the one with soup. I like the one with soup better. The portion of the noodles is smaller for each person as we shared, so I could finish and enjoy it before getting tired of the taste.
Almond pudding. Black sesame dumplings.
The food is spicy but is actually okay. Other than the non-spicy dishes, every dish is seasoned with Szechuan pepper. I like mapo tofu, steamed chicken, fried prawn and pork in spicy sauce(you can choose beef or chicken too). I think the food is not bad, and the price is reasonable for Tokyo. But I can’t help feeling that Chinese food ought to be more generous with ingredients and cheaper…
Menu(J): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
栄児家庭料理 本郷店 (Ron-a-ru)
Add: 3-15-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku
Tel: 03-5800-5111
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