びびちゃ
On a regular day off, I had some errands in Omori and my boyfriend happened to have the day off as well, so he accompanied me. Since we were going to Omori, I thought we could have lunch in my town, Kamata, before heading back. This place is "Tonkatsu Ogin Kamata Main Store," located a 4-minute walk from Kamata Station. It has been listed as one of the top 100 restaurants from 2017 to 2022. I used to hang out a lot in Kamata when I was younger, so I knew there were famous tonkatsu restaurants here, and I love tonkatsu, but for some reason, I had never been here before. It was still a hot day when we arrived, and I said we should leave if the line was too long, but surprisingly, it seemed okay! The waiting area was shaded and had a nice breeze, so waiting wasn't too bad. We started lining up around 11:45, and our order was taken midway. We were called in after about 20 minutes. We ordered the Mixed Fry Set and the Top Loin Cutlet Set. The white rice caught my eye immediately. It looked delicious. The grains were distinct and not clumped together. When I checked the official website later, I found out they use "Sado Island rice" from Sado Island. It had a strong sweetness and a firm texture, just as described. The pork in the miso soup was tender and very tasty. The soup itself had a perfect balance of flavors. The main dish, the Mixed Fry, consisted of a mix of top loin cutlet and fillet cutlet. I thought it was half and half, so I ordered it, but the top loin cutlet was a whole piece, which was a bit dangerous! I shared a piece of fillet cutlet with my boyfriend and traded for a piece of top loin cutlet. His was the top loin cutlet, so let's enjoy the difference. I thought it was a bit pretentious to eat tonkatsu with salt, but I secretly tried it with salt on a small plate. It seemed like the salt enhanced the sweetness of the meat. Next, I tried it with sauce. Yes, this was definitely the way to go. If it's for rice, I always go with sauce. I put sauce on the traded top loin cutlet and tried it, and the tenderness was completely different from my top loin cutlet! As I was enjoying my meal rhythmically, my hand stopped. There was more rice than I expected, and the tonkatsu was quite substantial. I glanced at my boyfriend, who seemed to be almost done with his rice but still had tonkatsu left. Me: "There's still meat left, do you want more rice?" I never say "eat more rice" because I have a high pride. He casually picked up my rice bowl. It seemed like he had planned all along to leave some meat. He struggled to finish the last two pieces, which were sweet and juicy but challenging at the end. The narrow restaurant had a chef silently frying tonkatsu right in front of us. However, the way they handled the dishes was very rough, making a lot of noise. The sound of closing the fridge during the tea refill also echoed. It's a shame that they serve such delicious food but lack a bit of finesse. We settled the bill at our table and left promptly.