Wako JR Kyoto Isetan — Restaurant in Kyoto

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...

Honestly not much to write here because there isn't any one thing I could say wrong about the place, and it certainly meets expectations for what we were looking for that day: Good clean restaurant with attentive staff and delicious, crisp tonkatsu pork chop set lunches. There are minor differences between this place and other similar restaurants, for example Katsukura provides a mortar and pestle for grinding fragrant sesame seeds. But other than these minor differences, Wako is good for what it is...

Having lived in Japan 15 years ago, my most recent memories of tonkatsu are less-than-ideal attempts of this dish in new york japanese establishments. I was truly pleasantly surprised at the first bite of the rosu. The meat was soft and juicy and the coating adds a nice crunch without the greasiness. The only thing that I was disappointed about was that they didnt give us the grinder to ground our own sesame seeds. We found the pickles side and the complimentary green tea...