Gyukatsu Kyoto Katsugyu — Restaurant in Toronto

Very nice experience and great to sit and partake in authentic GYUKATSU (Japanese style deep-fried beef cutlet). The portion sizes may seem small but it's totally misleading how filling it is. Service, food quality and experience was great and would recommend!

It's very Japanese inspired in this restaurant. Lots of useful infographic and there is the service call button if you need help. When we arrived, we were introduced to the table and surroundings of the restaurant. The table had sauce (for the salad), sesame seeds and pepper as condiments. They are also pretty up-to-date on online QR code for the menu and even takes it a step further to order directly from their site. (They have internet for those that need it!). However, QR code directs your phone to create an account in order to complete the order. Our table decided to ask the waiter for the order traditionally via notepad as we thought the hassle was a bit too much and minimized on personal information to be shared. The service from the waiter was on-point, kept our cold tea filled and miso soups refills coming!

Food-wise, our table ordered the AAA Sirloin Gyukatsu Zen (6oz) and an add-on of Tongue. The order came with the beef cutlet (AAA Sirloin) which came with Barley Rice, Miso Soup, Onsen Egg, Fresh Cabbage Salad (which is amazing with the table's sauce that the waiter recommended). The order also comes with 5 different dipping flavours of dashi soy sauce, Kyoto Sansho Salt, GYUKATSU Worcester Sauce, Negi Miso Sauce and Fresh Wasabi as well. You can also customize the beef to be medium rare or well done and have more add-ons of sides/meat if you prefer. You can also add-on their Kyoto Style Curry as the 6th dipping flavour option as well. The order does come with unlimited refill of miso soup which we definitely asked for refills! Overall, everything was delicious and you need to take the time to appreciate all the dipping methods. We really liked the onsen egg dip along with the different sauce dippings they had. It was quite the experience!

Update: We've been back several times and have ordered their half sets like the Ribeye & Tongue and Chuck & Sirloin. However, the Ribeye is a group favourite that we keep ordering! Rating our options, the chuck was pretty good and worth the value, ribeye was delicious, and the sirloin was last. The tongue is also a good choice. Everything was medium rare by default. We also tried the Karaage which was small in portion size and is one of our top...

Came on Mon night at 7pm, made a reservation but doesn’t seem to be necessary as there was only 2-3 tables dining and more than half of the restaurant is empty.

Order via mobile which is COVID friendly.

We are not happy that wagyu is not available. We came all the way to downtown for this and it’s 7pm on a not busy Monday and wagyu was sold out?

At the end, we got sirloin, chuck flap and beef tongue. All in medium rare which is recommended. The sirloin has good fat and meat ratio. Very soft and tender with string beef flavors. The chuck flap was rather dry. It does have more beef flavor than the sirloin. The beef tongue is a hit or miss. Some bites are tender but some are chewy.

The set comes with different kinds of sauce, and there's a website explaining the traditional way/ suggested way to enjoy the food + sauce. I think the onsen egg is a perfect match with the rice. The rice is actually worth mentioning, as it's a mix of traditional rice and barley. I think the wasabi is freshly grated, and it compliments the beef pretty well.

However, the sirloin and chuck flap arrived the table cold. How can a fried item be cold/ Luke warm?! The beef tongue was hot but get cold pretty quick too.

Only 1 kind of alcohol drink is available, which is Sapporo beer. It was served in a plastic cup (not sure if it's due to COVID) but I'd personally prefer enjoy a beer in a glass.

Unlike other katsu places, rice and salad is not unlimited refillable.

There was no instructions on what kind of dressing should be added to the salad. The waiter did not explain or point out to us either. The cabbage salad came without dressings, and we were wondering how to enjoy the salad. In the middle of our meal, we notice there's some condiments on the side of the table. We then figured out it could be used as dressings for the salad. It was a vinegar base sauce, and some sesame in a grinder.

Service was not bad. But the chefs are wearing dirty kitchen uniforms and walking around at the dining area. Not very pleasant dining experience.

FYI flat rate parking for $9 after 5pm on weekdays if the street parking is full.

FYI needs to walk down by stairs to use the washroom in the basement. The bathroom is...

TLDR: Gyukatsu (beef katsu) place that offers that as its specialty, but also has specialty beers like matcha or strawberry flavored ones. They do not take reservations after 5:30PM apparently 📝

✏️ Keep in mind that they recommend their gyukatsu to be best enjoyed medium rare so that is how it will be served

-[RIBEYE/TONGUE GYUKATSU ZEN] $27 🥩 The half & half sets allow you try to multiple cuts of beef, and while both cuts here are flavorful, they could be more tender 🥩 Definitely a good introduction set into gyukatsu although the ribeye was definitely the cut that stood out due to how tender it was 🤤

-[GYUKASTU & SALMON ZEN] $28 🐟 I specifically wanted to try the salmon katsu so I lucked out into being able to order it! It was SO well cooked 🐟 The cut of meat served as the other half with the salmon was definitely not as tender as the ribeye but that's to be expected

-[KATSUGYU TAKOYAKI - 6 pcs] $7.50 🦑 I love takoyaki so much meaning I had to order this! 🦑 These were delicious, and I wish we ordered the 8 piece version so I could have had more 😶‍🌫️

-[SESAME SPINACH APPETIZER] $4.50 🌿 This was quite a refreshing dish to have in between bites of fried food 🌿 I loved how clean the spinach with the sesame sauce on it tasted

-[MATCHA/STRAWBERRY/MANGO GUAVA BEER] $10 EACH 🍵 This one was pretty good if you like matcha, which I do! 7/10 🍓 Definitely on the sweeter side, and interesting to try 6/10 🥭 Shockingly, this one worked the best out of all three flavors for me even though I'm not usually a fan of guava 9/10

-[KYOTO SIGNATURE KARAAGE] $12 🍗 We were still hungry after all of the above, so we ended the meal by getting this 🍗 As expected, it was well deep fried meaning it retained all of its flavor without being too oily ✨️

📝 Expect a wait if you come on days that are busier since this place is often busy! 📝 Staff are suuuper friendly, and are happy to answer any concerns/questions/suggestions you have about the menu 😄 📝 The number of sauces/dip they give is super varied but if you like specific ones, you can always pay...