Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Delicious pork sirloin tonkatsu at Tonki @ Meguro, Tokyo

Tonki is a famous restaurant serving tonkatsu located in Meguro area. This area is particularly famous for its sakura river view. Located around 3 minutes walk from the JR Meguro station, Tonki serve the popular cutlets of breaded, deep fried pork. The restaurant looks simple from outside but once you slide open the wooden doors, duck under the short noren curtain and step inside, you will realize that this restaurant will give you different experience of dining. You will be amazed kitchen area located in a large hall with only one horseshoe single long counter running three sides with no tables. The kitchen area are open and spacious. When you dine here, not only you have good pork sirloin tonkatsu but you also feel the environment of how the way people dined back in 1939 when Tonki was founded. The place is run like a factory production line. I know this place is going to get crowded so I arrived early at around 5.30pm. I get a seat as soon I entered the restaurant. By the time reached 6.00pm, people already start queuing at the back.

The choice in Tonki is simple. You choose either rohsu-katsu teishoku (fatty pork) or hire-katsu teishoku (lean pork) which is their most popular dishes. I choose the fatty pork version as I like the pork to be tender and moist. What makes the tonkatsu here different from other restaurant is they use whole piece of pork sirloin then double dipped in egg mixture before dipping in bread crumb coating and covered by another layer of egg mixture.

Taste:9/10(Delicious. The meat here were tender and moist. I am surprised of very little oiliness on the pork and on the bread crumb coating. The meat is whole piece of pork sirloin and firm with slight layer of fat. The original pork taste were maintained although the meat were fried. The soup provided is delicious as well. The Japanese are very well thought in their diet. Since having a whole piece of meat is considered a lot, the meal compliment with free refill of shredded cabbage to make up the lack of vegetable in the diet).
Price:5/10(Near expensive. The price of the tonkatsu here is actually higher compared to other normal restaurant in Tokyo which usually cost around 1200 Yen to 1400 Yen. Tonki set charge at 1900 Yen. The set includes free refill of shredded cabbage, rice and miso soup. However, the meat that they use are of better quality as they use the whole single piece of uniform meat sirloin for frying. You still can taste the real meat texture. Other restaurants are mostly from chopped meat).


Arrived at Tonki at around 5.30pm. The restaurant already almost full.

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

260 years of unagi tradition at Izuei Honten @ Ueno, Tokyo

I was checking for lunch on my first day arrival to Tokyo during my March 2015 trip. Izuei Honten also show up as serving among the best unagi meal in Tokyo during my online search. So I decided to try on how well their prepare meal as this establishment already exist for almost 260 years. This restaurant is different from other restaurant in Tokyo which usually have limited space and only have 10-20 seats. But Izuei Honten have 7 floors of dining space which can occupy 150 patrons. The staffs are all dressed in proper traditional kimono. This place is recommended for unagi lovers.

Taste:9/10(Delicious. The unagi were well prepared and the rice were seasoned. The unagi here was pure, fresh and without any adulteration or masking of flavours. They have sansho (Japanese pepper) to put on unagi which makes the taste pungent).
Price:5/10(Near expensive. The unagi meal set shown below priced at 2,700 Yen. If you come early and able to have their lunch set, the price is lower).


Nice decoration inside the shop.

Cute utensils. Extra unagi sauce, sansho pepper and soy sauce.

I ordered the unagi (grilled eel) set.

The unagi grilled to perfection. Slight crispy with less sweet sauce when compared to my home country version. The rice were flavoured very well with their special sauce. The meal was non oily at all.

The texture were soft and non oily.

The meal set comes with pickles and soup. The soup was quite clear unlike miso soup which is cloudy.


There are plenty of miniatures inside the shop.

As soon you enter the entrance, you will be greeted by the miniatures display.

This is how the shop look like. Its just around 5 minutes walk from Ueno station.

GPS/Coordinate: 35.709723, 139.772690
Address: 2-12-22 Ueno, Taito, Tokyo 110-0005, Japan
Phone: +81 3-3831-0954
Hours: 11:00 am – 9:30 pm
Public transport: Ueno station. You can reach this station via JR or Tokyo Metro. This is a main interchange point on east of Tokyo.

Amazing leather clothing at The Real McCoy's @ Tokyo, Japan

The Real McCoy's is an amazing company which produce many high quality great military fashion gears. The fun thing about Japan is they have many shops selling Real McCoy's product which consist of cool leather jackets and jeans. The items produced by The Real McCoys are of high quality but of course you need to pay for the price. Their leather jacket can easily priced at 180,000 Yen to 240,000 Yen. And the shop does not participate in Japan duty free programme. So at that price, you still need to top up another 8% for the tax. The Real McCoy's leather jacket is branded as Buco. The Buco jackets especially the J24 and J100 model are the dream of leather jacket lovers. The jacket made from horsehide, have harder texture and smooth appearance makes this product well sought after and it does produce a beautiful patina when wear for a long time. The leather product does age as more you are wearing it. Anyway, all the stuff here are very expensive and it is for the serious fashion freak only. Enjoy the photos below.


The dream of leather jacket lover. Buco J24. Amazing jacket but price of over 200,000 Yen.

Huge stock of A2 leather jackets. You can basically get any size on the spot.

Japanese are fascinated with Amekaji style (American guys fashion).

A2 jacket in a cage. Wild Children.


Like in a dream world. Army Air Forces A2 flight jacket.

This is old vintage A2 flight jacket on display.

Amekaji fashion on display.

Cool J24 Buco jacket.

The J24 Buco jacket at the centre. So nice.

Many high end boots. High quality and made from high quality leather. Be prepared to spend around 100,000 Yen for one pair of these shoes.

Amekaji fashion on display. Leather bag, jackets and pairing with khakis pants.

Belts, hats, boots and shoes. Mostly leather products.

Awesome vintage settings.

Amazing collection of J24 and J100 Buco jackets.

Vintage J100 Buco horsehide cafe racer jacket. You can see the aging effect of this jacket. Nice brown patina colour.

Beautiful dark brown horsehide A2 Real McCoy's jacket with red satin lining.

Flight gloves. Horse hide.

Don't forget to visit The Real McCoy's shop if you visit Tokyo.

The Real McCoy's. Its time to go now. Bye.

GPS/Coordinate: 35.666160, 139.703346
Address: 6-25-8 Jingumae Shibuya-ku Tokyo
Public transport: Meiji jingumae Station via Tokyo metro Chiyoda or Fukutoshin line.