Tonkatsu Aoki Ginza 8-chome branch — Restaurant in Tokyo

I love tonkatsu. For most of my life, pork has been my ultimate meat. But people change, and beef has been slowly but steadily creeping up the ladder to dethrone my love for pork, especially the Kobe kind. Aoki, however, firmly reminded the cud-chewing bovine to get back in line.

Yes, both beef and pork can be juicy and tender, but only the highest quality pork fat offers a sweetness like no other meat. This is where Aoki excels and in excess. If you’re in Yokohama, try Katsuretsu-an Bashamichi Honten. If you don’t mind a little extra fat in your tonkatsu, it’s a heavenly treat that’s hard to beat. Anyway, back to Aoki. They cook their pork to the juiciest shade of pink. This is possible because they source their pork from Hayashi SPF, a premium brand from Chiba Prefecture. Hayashi SPF stands for "Specific Pathogen Free," which basically guarantees that the meat is free from harmful microorganisms. So don’t be freaked out by the pink. It just means you’re being ushered into pork Nirvana.

Finally, it’s worth paying extra to try their half and half (#1 on the menu). This way, you get to sample two different cuts of meat: filet and loin cutlet.

Enough about the meat. Let’s talk Aoki etiquette. The restaurant is tucked away between an alleyway of a building and to make it even more Platform 9¾, it’s in the basement of that alley. If you don’t arrive on time, you’ll have to line up on the steps. Tired from shopping all the boutiques and flagship stores in Ginza and want to rest your feet by sitting on the steps? Too bad! That’s a no-go. Space is precious, and encroaching on others space is considered impolite.

Once you’re in, you’ll be greeted by a very small interior. Want to sit at the counter and Instagram Hayashi cutlets as they take a deep dive into boiling oil? Too bad! You sit where you’re told. LOL. This is true of most restaurants in Japan. Picking your own seat is considered rude. Hey, when in Rome… you know the rest. There are other tonkatsu places in Tokyo that deserves your consideration and visit. Aoki is...

Firstly, i would like to state that i respect japan's culture and how they operate.I do not force my opinion on others, the shops here can close whatever time they want and open whatever time they want. I have no qualms about it. What I DO NOT understand is the service that i faced on 8th Oct night.

I located the place via Google maps, saw that it was closed at 9pm. I reached the shop, and saw there was a snaking queue. It was 8.20pm. There was NO sign saying last order was what time nor there was no barriacade saying the queue has ended. So, i joined the queue naturally. Among the queue, the next 2 groups in front of me was 2 korean guys and a foreign couple. Now, when it was 845pm, and i was close to the entrance, a female staff came out, and came to me, and saying they were closed?!! So the 2 korean guys were the last in line. Well, like i said, if i was late, i have no complaints. But where was the notice saying last order was what time? Most restaurants in Ginza have a clear sign 'last order 730pm, last order 7pm, close at 8pm'. When i was in osaka eating the famous tendon, a staff will come out and place a barricade saying who and who was the last, so nobody else can join. When i was eating chicken ramen, also in Ginza, a staff will also come out occasionaly to check if anyone queued wrongly or to have a look at the queue outside.

This service is terrible. The female staff only came out at 845pm, wasted 25 minutes of my time queuing only to reject me. Either put a clear sign saying when is the last order, not you decide as and when, or put a barricade so people don't join the queue only to get rejected. Spare a thought for people who walked the whole day, with their legs aching, from standing for nothing.

To be clear, i am okay with queueing for even 60 minutes or longer, as long as i expected it. Not queue for nothing only to brush me off.

Your tonkatsu is not the best in the world, you just happen to close at 9pm compared to the other food stores please, don't act so arrogrant. Will never choose this...

I thought this was an above average tonkatsu place, but there was about an hour wait at 1800 on Thursday, so plan accordingly. Additionally, the google maps directions is a little tricky. You'll want to go into the entrance of the shopping area a bit, and then you'll likely see a line formed on the stairs heading down to B1, not 1 like it says on Google Maps.

They have English and Japanese menus, and had a few cuts of meat available, including some leaner cuts. There's a few additions you could get with your katsu, like an oyster, or I think a prawn, but it's pretty concise on it's offerings.

First the katsu. Crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside. The batter has decent coverage, and it's clear they double fry. It's a touch more oily than some others I have had, and didn't have that S+ cracks like glass crisp that some places do. Still though, very solid.

Cabbage: standard, although not a specific dressing to go with it. They had a soy/slight vinegar sauce in a bottle, but it's not the creamy vinegar one I like. Nothing really to write home about

Soup: A pork miso soup, using some trimmings from their pork, some onions and carrots. The broth was solid and they had a good amount of meat inside as well. Very nice.

Rice: Standard

Sauces / Flavors: They had a tonkatsu sauce that was pretty decent, but nothing mind boggling. If you care for salt, they had three types, and a hot mustard. No sesame seeds, which I see as a negative.

Price: 2900 yen for 300g of tonkatsu, refill of miso, and a large bottle of Asahi beer. A very good value!

If it weren't for the hour+ wait to sit I would have this be a 5 star due to the favorable price, and the above average katsu. But some minor hits to there not being a dressing for the cabbage, no sesame seeds, and slight oil / not as crisp leads this to a 4. A very solid place, especially if you can find a time when the line is short. Otherwise, if it's reaching the 1F level of the stairs in line length, this becomes not as...