A note on the words: tonkatsu is a pork cutlet coated in panko crumbs and deep-fried, and katsu on its own is the short form of the same word. Rosu is the loin, hire the fillet, and rib rosu the rib end of the loin; on a Japanese menu jo marks the upper grade of a dish and toku the special one above it. A teishoku, translated here as a set meal, is a plate built around a single main dish. Karashi is Japanese mustard, hotter and sharper than the yellow kind.
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Tonkatsu Aoki, Akasaka on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hello, this is Hangover Meshi. Well now. So Suzuki, the stamina ramen place, is finally gone…… (that write-up is in Japanese)
I was looking around for newly opened shops when I saw that the famous Tonkatsu Aoki had opened an Akasaka branch. Right, let us go and see, I thought — and when I got there it was the very spot where Suzuki’s Akasaka branch used to be! Well I never. A shock to find it gone! Still, the shop that has taken the place over is also a tonkatsu shop, and a very famous one at that. Something to look forward to, so in I went.
Weekday-only rosu katsu set meal 1,200 yen
Weekday-only mix katsu set meal 1,600 yen
Jo rosu katsu set meal 1,600 yen
Toku-rosu katsu set meal 2,300 yen
Rib rosu katsu set meal 3,200 yen
A rosu katsu set for 1,200 yen at weekday lunch is cheap!
But I had never actually been to Tonkatsu Aoki at all, so first I asked for the toku-rosu katsu set, which was written up as Aoki’s number one. The place had genuinely only just opened, and they seemed to be running a limited 700-yen bento campaign, so it was fairly jammed with people ordering bento. ^^ We were in fact the only ones eating in, but they looked plenty busy.
On the table: sauce, three kinds of salt, and mustard.
After a while the toku-rosu katsu appeared! I had been waiting for this!
Ohhh! That looks good. A generous heap of rice too, a serious amount of food. Can I finish it……
This thick tonkatsu. Really meaty.
They say to start with salt, so I sprinkled on the Okinawan salt and took a bite.
Yes, good.
The crisp coating, the tender meat, the clean-running fat, all nice.
Though if anything I feel it wants either a little longer in the oil or a little more steaming.
It is not raw or anything, but I think the center of the meat would be better with a bit more heat through it.
And this is a cut with a fair amount of fat on it, so it does start to sit heavy as you go, ha ha.
Clean, good fat has its limits all the same. It may well be that the ordinary rosu is better eating than the toku. The salt was lovely at first, but for the second half I preferred dodging the fat with the sauce and the mustard.
That said, at 3,200 yen, with the volume factored in, it is decent value and would do nicely as an ordinary lunch.
This one is the mix katsu set. Another enormous portion.
Honestly, I think the weekday-only rosu katsu set and this mix katsu set are the real winners. You get to taste both rosu and hire, it is lighter on the fat than the toku-rosu, and it is a delicious tonkatsu that goes very well with rice!
So — I am very glad a famous tonkatsu shop has come to Akasaka, and I hope they keep at it for a long time. It might be worth coming back once the operation has settled in a little. I look forward to seeing how they get on.
Tonkatsu Aoki, Akasaka (Tonkatsu / Akasaka Station, Tameike-sanno Station, Akasaka-mitsuke Station)
Tabelog lunch rating ★★★☆☆ 3.4
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
