Local Eats Japan

A total hidden gem tonkatsu place with the best breading I have seen/eaten I think to date. 

This place is super nostalgic to me, because I still remember it was one of the first days I was in Japan living alone for the first time, and started attending a Japanese Language School. 

I wasn’t confident in my Japanese, but I was still determined to go into as many local places as possible, and what kind of opened up these gates for me was Tonkatsu Yamaki. 

It is a bit of a walk from any major stations, but I think it is highly worth going over any other tourist-trap, influencer filled places you can find in places like Shibuya or Shinjuku. 

Because the shop is so local, it is also really easy to enter and the time I went (right at the peak of lunch time) only had 1 other person in there. 

It’s a husband and wife running the place, with the husband cooking and the wife serving. 

The menus are posted on the walls in various places and were quite overwhelming, so I vaguely remember pressure ordering with what I could read, which was you guessed it, tonkatsu and curry. This was also the first time I had a bin-beer by myself (500ml bottled beer) that you pour into a little glass yourself (because when in Rome right?) 

Besides this though, they also have shrimp fry, scallop fry, and other things. I am sure they are all great because they have the same crust on them, so you can order with confidence. 

Again, going back to the crust, it almost looks fake. It looks like small ice shards are coming out of it, and I want to know how they have perfected it to this extent. 

But underneath the beautiful breading was perfectly cooked pork, still juicy, and a perfect amount of tenderness. 

The curry was mild, as Japanese curry tends to be, and there is just something about a fried meat with Japanese curry and rice. It truly is a match made in heaven. 

If curry isn’t your thing, then they have basic teishoku (set meal) sets which consist of just the meat or fish of your choosing, cabbage, rice, miso soup, and a few Japanese pickled vegetables (sort of like a pallet cleanser). 

With the aforementioned tourist trap places, tonkatsu can get pricey, especially depending on the type you are getting. 

But with Yamaki (and other local shops) they keep the price low to cater to the hard working locals, and this is what allows them to maintain a strong customer base. 

It is the same here – right around a 1000 yen for most of their dishes, and for the quality it is hard to beat. 

An amazing tonkatsu shop in a bit of an inconspicuous location, but well worth the trip to get there.

Thanks for reading – if you’d like to support and follow along: 

More about me

Different types of ordering systems in Japan explained

Purchasing an onigiri to keep me fuelled throughout my journey 🍙