Katsugyu

Katsugyu focuses on allowing customers to enjoy the full umami of the beef. By serving it at a medium-rare cook, which is the temperature of 65°C, they can bring out the juiciness of the meat and the umami. Cook it at too low a temperature and you can’t extract the juiciness of the meat, cook it too hot, and you’ll overcook the meat. The meat is thus deep-fried at a temperature of 180 to 200°C for 60 to 120 seconds in order to achieve the crispy outside and the juicy inside.

For the external batter, the three ingredients of flour, tamago (卵, Egg), and panko (パン粉, Breadcrumbs) are specially prepared in-house. This allows them to achieve a balance of a light and healthy cutlet, despite it being deep-fried, and a crusting that holds in the juiciness of the meat without sticking to the beef.

Katsugyu is a Kyoto-based gyukatsu (牛カツ, Beef cutlet) chain that has expanded throughout Japan, but what sets it out from its other gyukatsu competitors is probably its menu. For some of the popular Tokyo-based chains like Gyukatsu Motomura, there's just a single item of Gyukatsu on the menu. Katsugyu lets you really pick and choose the cut of beef, the size, and everything in between.

Gyukatsu was a pretty popular viral Japanese food trend in the late 2010s, and if you've only been eating the very standard Japanese fare like ramen (ラーメン, Rāmen) and sushi (寿司) then you should definitely check this dish out to see what the modern food trends in Japanese cuisine are.

Our personal favourite is the winter special, where you can match gyukatsu with buri (ブリ, Young Yellowtail) katsu (カツ, Cutlet). Having a nice fatty white fish like buri, being put in a breading and deep-fried, results in this nice plump, juicy, and sweet meat. It's one of our absolutely favourites, and matching it up with some gyukatsu provides for some great variety in the meal. We've hardly seen buri katsu anywhere else, so every time we spot a Katsugyu in winter, we're sure to stop by to get some of this delicious seasonal special.