Tonkatsu Marugo — Restaurant in Tokyo

I had planned to visit another tonkatsu restaurant - Narikura - on this trip as many had claimed it has the best tonkatsu - until I found out that it moved further outside Tokyo just a few days back. Thus I decided to pay a visit to Tonkatsu Marugo instead. Incidentally, this is also on the Michelin Bib Gourmand list.

Queues already formed at 11ish (restaurant opens at 1130). Anyway, guests were quickly seated but I had to wait 10-15 min further as they were preparing to seat a party of 5 just in front of me (although when I went in, there were 3 empty counter seats). I guess they really respect the first come first served rule.

I ordered the special rosu katsu with rice set. I've always wondered about the hire vs rosu argument - I always like a bit of fat and love the rosu cut. The majority seems to think that hire is better? Thus, the special hire costs 2100 yen and special rosu costs 1850 yen. Rice set with soup and appetiser costs an additional 450.

When the food came, I thought it was a very good cut, it was nearly half lean meat and half slightly fatter cut. Together with the crunchy (but not hard) bread crumbs, the taste was certainly better than average tonkatsu. The tonkatsu sauce that you can help yourself to is good too and complements the meat really well (and I don't say this often as I feel that most of the sauces I've tasted are sourish and overpower the meat taste, which shouldn't be).

I realised, to have the opportunity to sit in a good well-run establishment where the chefs prepare your food in front of you - and this is top grade food that you don't get everyday - really it's a privilege. Plus, the price is reasonable - I actually don't consider this expensive if you compare it to other chain outlets like Wako etc where they are almost the same prices (p.s. the original place I wanted to go to would cost double: now that's expensive and hopefully the taste is heavenly to justify the price).

All in all, I would give this 4.5 stars... just does not hit the 5 for me. But it's a good place, worth the queue - come for the special hire or rosu, I hear even the prawns are good too (and huge, like...

Finally had a chance to visit this Michelin star restaurant and I can totally understand why it has the rating.

The raw cuts of meat are beautiful and consistent. For tonkatsu, you have a choice of Hirei or Rosu. The Hirei is a leaner cut while the Rosu has more fat. I had the Hirei, which is supposed to be a more juicy. But on hindsight, I should had gone for the Rosu, the cut of raw Rosu is really beautiful.

When the tonkatsu is served, there is still some hint of redness in the center, which then gets cooked through by its own remaining heat. The meat remains tender and juicy even at the end of the meal.

The Ebi Fry is really fresh and crunchy and the shrimps used are big. You get 4 pieces of this if you order Ebi Fry.

The batter used in their tonkatsu is different from what you would expect. It's actually somewhere between the regular tonkatsu and Tempura. So it's more fluffy than what you'd expect if you ever had katsu before.

The service is good and what you get is a well packaged experience. You order, then get served green tea. Only when your katsu is about ready, then they will serve you your rice, miso soup, and pickles. Once your katsu arrives, they will serve you your own bottle of salad dressing for the cut cabbages. When you finish, they finish the meal with a cup of roast tea.

Now on to the realistic side of things. The restaurant is very reasonably priced for what you get. But it is not cheap. It's about 2000yen for a set meal that comes with one piece of very good katsu. However, my other katsu haunt in Tokyo in Shibuya, a local hole in the wall, serves a set meal of 4 pieces of katsu and 1000 yen. While not up to the standards of Marugo in terms of quality and service, their katsu is tender and juicy as well, and you get OT try different katsu. Is Marugo double the price as good? I don't think so. Which makes Marugo hard to recommend as a must...

I’m a huge Tonkatsu snob and had tried most of the highest rated Tonkatsu restaurants in Tabelog. So that’s only to say that I’m particularly picky.

While I understand that the quality of the meat does influence the price and quality of the meal, I think that the taste and texture of the fried batter matters the most in a Tonkatsu. For example I don’t think anyone would accept soggy Tonkatsu no matter the quality of the meat. So I tend to weight the quality of the batter a lot more in my evaluation.

The highest ranked Tonkatsu in all of Japan, Narikura has an amazingly thick, fluffy and crispy batter that is simply unmatched. So is their 4.18 score on Tabelog.

While one of my personal favorite, Tonta has a ranking of 3.83, they still managed to serve a fluffy crust that leaves you wanting more.

Fast forward to my trip to Marugo. I found their crust to be fluffy, but very thin and get soggy very easily. By the time time I get to the last 2 pieces the overall experience had degraded significantly.

Considering that the fancy meat option cost as much as many of the higher class competition, I don’t think Marugo excels in either quality nor price. I’ll go back to Bairin if I want a cheap but good Tonkatsu, or line up for Tonta for a quality meal.

On a completely separate note, they served our order to someone else and we ended up waiting for 40 minutes until they realized their mistake. I hope that this type of mistakes are isolated, but I have to rate their service based on our experience.

Lastly, the atmosphere here is top notch, a far cry from standard affair on even the highest ranked Tonkatsu places. It’s a shame the food...