A note on the words: yoshoku is the Japanese take on Western cooking — a cuisine in its own right, served with rice and miso soup. Menchi katsu is minced meat, crumbed and deep-fried.
Shunkotei on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Drinkers, thank you for waiting. It is Hangover Meshi time.
This time: Shunkotei in Mejiro, a “new but nostalgic” yoshoku restaurant — Japanese-style Western cooking — which has been featured on television. I had an errand in Mejiro, so I shuffled things around to make room for lunch and dropped in. Three people were already queueing.
Tell the staff you would like to wait and they write your name down.
About fifteen minutes, I think, and I was in. I had been agonising over the menu the whole time I waited, so the moment I sat down I ordered the menchi katsu — a crumbed, deep-fried patty of minced meat. You want the dish that got them on television. And then I gave in to temptation and added one fried prawn.
Now then, first things first once you sit down.
A highball today.
With a drink in front of you, waiting for the kitchen becomes rather pleasant. And after a while…
You choose between rice and bread, and between miso soup and corn soup. I went rice plus miso soup.
Look at that menchi katsu.
Let us break it open.
The first surprise on breaking it open is the coarsely minced meat packed in behind the crust. It comes apart softly as the juices seep out, and the sweetness of the onion follows on as you chew. It very much feels like eating meat.
The crust is made with coarse breadcrumbs and shatters lightly. Fried crisp and dry, so despite the visual heft it does not sit heavily — a real virtue. The fragrance of the frying lifts the savour of the coarse mince.
At the core of the flavour is beef, and its meatiness. It fills you not with fat but with the savour of the meat itself and the depth of the onion. A menchi katsu you can eat lightly and cleanly, somehow.
As for how to eat it: first with nothing at all, to check the flavour of the meat. Then a little of the Taiyo Sauce on the table — a Worcestershire sauce from a company in Aichi, by the look of it, whose thin acidity and depth sharpen the outline of the coarse mince. Best not to drown it; enjoy the shift in flavour.
The prawn I added has the same coarse crust, which breaks with a satisfying snap, and the prawn inside is springy right to the tail. Coated in the rich tartare — egg and nothing else — it is a different satisfaction from the menchi. Two leading roles, meat and prawn, on one plate. Luxurious.
The prawn is excellent too.
White rice and miso soup with it is a welcome arrangement for a Western-style place. Bounce the menchi katsu off the rice once and then eat them together — that really is very good.
It went perfectly with the highball as well.
So — in Mejiro, hence Shunkotei, and the menchi katsu was as good as its reputation. It goes beautifully with rice, but I suspect the menchi katsu on its own with a beer or a highball, as a drinking snack, would also be very good. That combination of a light, crisp crust and properly substantial meat is hard to beat. Delicious.
May you meet something good to eat today too.
Shunkotei (yoshoku / Mejiro Station, Kishibojinmae Station, Zoshigaya Station (Tokyo Metro))
Tabelog lunch rating ★★★☆☆ 3.6
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.