Wako JR Kyoto Isetan — Restaurant in Kyoto

Located on the 11th floor of the Isetan, I highly recommend taking the escalators as you exit the JR via the ‘East’ (Northern side) exit. You can take a set of 5 express escalators right to the top and it gets you right into the middle of the food floor.

This Tonkatsu restaurant is what you’d expect from a nice location as this: digital wait line, English menu, highly patient waitstaff that speak enough English that you’ll be able to muddle your way through an order. The wait system has an online component so if it’s really long, you can go shopping for a bit and check over the mall’s free wifi if your turn is coming up. Just a warning: even with English, there’s a set of three options that are in Japanese. They ask if you want Table, Counter, or Either seating options. Tap the one on the far right if you want ‘Either’.

Queue wise - well we were here on a Thursday lunch, so it as about 5 minutes. There are about 10 chairs available outside, so I suspect the line frequently gets larger!

Food is great. It’s not the best of the best, but it’s fantastic Tonkatsu. There’s a lot of seasonal specials, including Shrimp, Crab, and you can pay extra for the Black Pig. There are also large variations on the basic Pork Fillet / Loin whcih are 1.5x larger. All set meals come with unlimited soup, salad and rice, so you don’t really need to upsize.

My only complaint is that while the mustard here is fantastic, they don’t provide any rock salt. I like tonkatsu with just salt and mustard. The yuzu vinegar dressing for the cabbage was phenomenal though.

I paid about 1400 each, which is “only” 400 more than some rando cash-only street tonkatsu. They take all the cards, IC etc etc. Given the location and convienence, that’s a very...

This is my most memorably delicious meal excluding sushi, since I got to Japan 2 weeks ago. I’d think about the Tonkatsu I had when I get home, and I’d get on a 14 hour flight to eat it again…and this is after I ate at the highly rated KatsuKura the night before.

Got here on a rainy Tuesday during peak lunch time, roughly half hour wait to be seated. Service is efficient and friendly. Most servers don’t speak English, so just point to the picture of what you want to order. Menu has English, Chinese, and Korean on it.

I ordered the ¥1980 Rib Rosukatsu Gohan set, which is a thicker cut with more fat. Added on seasonal special creamy croquette with Sakura shrimp and Chawanmushi steamed custard egg. Every bite of the katsu is so juicy, so tender and so satisfying, paired perfectly with the katsu sauce or seasoned salt, goes down so well with the rice. Croquette was perfectly creamy. Loved the custard egg that was packed with seafood. The miso soup was the perfect umami and right level of saltiness with each sip…then I discovered tiny little clams, prob the differentiating ingredient that made the miso soup so tasty! Total cost was less than ¥2700, less than $20! Cold roasted tea is free and served with a little pot of refill in case you are thirsty!

Restaurant is located on 11th floor at the same level as...

We had the deep fried katsu set and a toji, both came with rice, miso soup and refillable shredded cabbage.

We ordered the pork loin (~1500yen) which generally is known to be a little less tender.

Katsu sauce and salad dressing were provided as well - however, there was no crushed sesame as with other restaurants.

Water (or mizu) was free along with hot green tea (ocha).

Rosu Katsu: I’ve tried this dish at a number of restaurants prior and I must say that they’ve really done a good job on this dish (which is what the restaurant is known for). The pork was fried close to perfection. The breaded texture was not oily, but crispy and offered a nice crunch to every bite. Coupled with the sauce provided, it was an enjoyable mix of flavour and texture.

Katsu Toji: This dish came on a hot sizzling plate where the breaded chicken cutlet was drenched in a mix of sauce, oil and egg. The taste was pretty strong, albeit slightly salty.

The cutlet became slightly soggy as a result of the eggy soup it sat in. If the cutlet was prepared similar to the hire katsu, it’s a real pity that all the texture was lost because of the moisture.

A little too wet for my liking.

— Overall, portions were excellent, staff service was impeccable and I’d definitely recommend this place for authentic fried katsu dishes for any...