Nihonbashi Tonkatsu Hajime — Restaurant in Tokyo

I wanted to visit this place cause I wanted to get some good tonkatsu. With high expectations, I approached the establishment and was met with a decent line. A person came out and went around to ask how many people each party had. After that, he went around with a few menus so we could look and order ahead while we waited. An English menu was available as well. We got the "Hoei buta" tonkatsu set and the katsudon set.

The wait didn't feel too long, but I did see the line growing as we were waiting, so I would recommend going a bit earlier or be prepared to wait a bit.

There is a limited space with an L shaped bar surrounding the chefs as they cook. As much as I was on a mission for the tonkatsu, the seafood bowl next to me also looked very, very good. The shrimp tempura is composed of 3 shrimps put together. THREE! It was massive and looked so juicy.

I ordered a cold Asahi since I can't have a good tonkatsu or tempura with a nice cold, dry, and crisp Asahi.

The dishes came out, and they were glorious. One thing that surprised me the most was how oddly sweet and savory the fatty parts were. The fact that my mother, who always leaves out fatty parts of meats, says the fat is her favorite was more than enough proof for me that it wasn't just me.

Aside from the delicious tonkatsu, another part that was impressive was the rice. I had the katsudon, so it was difficult to taste the quality of the rice with it being soaked in the sauce and egg, which was also delicious. But mother had a separate bowl of rice, and we noticed it then. The rice was soft, fluffy, and had a subtle sweet taste to it. Despite sitting out for at least 15 minutes, since my mother was busy with the tonkatsu itself, it still maintained it's soft texture.

Overall, this was an excellent experience. We both left full and fulfilled. Although this may be more expensive than your average tonkatsu, it is definitely worth it, and I would definitely love to visit again...

This place changed my mind about tonkatsu and katsudon, as I have eaten dry, fatty and oily katsu in my past experiences. I have only been to this location as I believe there are two, but I’ve lucked out with going here around the evening time with no wait!

This place has about 12 counter seats with friendly chefs cooking your order right in front of you. They specialize is pork tonkatsu, seafood tempura, and katsu/seafood tempura dons which are over rice and eggs with a sweet soy glaze.

If I had to choose one dish, it would be the ribeye pork katsudon, which are thick cuts of juicy katsu over a bed of rice and soft scrambled eggs. They put a good amount of their sweet soy sauce, which makes you never have a dry or flavorless bite. By itself, the pork is full of flavor and not too oily despite have a nice piece of fat in every slice.

You have several condiments to change up each bite with different flavored salts and tonkatsu sauce. Their yuzu salad dressing to add to your sliced cabbage salad is refreshing.

If you decide to go the seafood route, expect conger eel, tiger shrimp, crab, and a piece of fish.

They take credit card, have an English menu, and...

Every part of the experience was amazing.

We wanted to dine here because we heard very good reviews and wanted to dine in an area that wasn’t packed with tourists. Because there is limited seating (around 10 seats), there obviously will be a wait. We went during the hottest time of summer in Japan (August), so waiting outside in the sun was terrible, but the staff made sure we were as comfortable as can be by offering ice water, iced tea, etc. before we were able to sit down inside.

The ordering experience was great too. While we were waiting on line outside, the staff made an effort to ensure in English that we understood the menu. We placed our order before we sat down so that the chefs can streamline the cooking.

The food was top tier, our favorite meal we had in Tokyo. The tonkatsu was super tender and fried perfectly. It was served over rice and a soft omelette. My girlfriend doesn’t eat much but made sure she could eat as much as possible because it was so delicious.

Definitely visit here if you are able to, very...