Ginza Bairin: Tokyo 2017

One of the dishes that you have to try in Japan is tonkatsu. No, I didn’t just misspell tonkotsu, which is a pork bone based broth most often associated with ramen. Rather, tonkotsu refers to deep fried pork cutlets which are covered in a crispy panko coating. Our first introduction to Ginza Bairin was actually on our trip to Hawaii where they have a restaurant called Tonkatsu Ginza Bairin Hawaii.

This particular shop is their main Ginza location and quite popular. As with most restaurants in Japan, it’s not very spacious… after a short wait, we were ushered to seats at the bar where we could watch the cooks prepare all of the meals.

The Shrimp Katsu Don (1150円) is a thing of beauty and balance with the savory egg, light shredded cabbage, and deep miso soup.

We also wound up ordering the Special Katsu Don (2000円) which had a soft-cooked egg resting on top of a pork cutlet. The pork cutlet, as expected, had a beautiful crispy panko exterior and retained a juicy centre. When mixed with the runny yolk…. mmmm!

If you happen to enjoy crispy, deep fried meats, you’ve got to stop by Ginza Bairin and try their tonkatsu.

Tōkyō-to, Chūō-ku, Ginza, 7 Chome-8-1

www.ginzabairin.com