I've never had a really perfect meal at TONKICHI before. I think 梅林 especially its 'batter coating', is just a tad better than Tonkichi - but that doesn't automatically preclude it as being very good! I reckon even Tokyo's commercial 和幸 branches are better, not to mention the other famous places especially Maisen, etc.
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黑豚肉 KATSU SET #1 - I started eating from left to right, the meat around 1.5cm thick, so its thicker than its competitions !
At the beginning quite balanced with the Fat to Meat ratio - it was slightly moist on bites but dry on other bites. The 3rd piece was around 35% fat as in above phote and when it came to the 4th piece however, it was already becoming 60% fat. The 5th was 80% fat and the 6th piece became pure 100% unadulterated fat!
At this point I stopped.
黑豚肉 KATSU SET #2 - 梅林 staff were real friendly and very professional! They automatically offered to swap to a complete new set. Admirable!
This time however, despite the Katsus being fried by a Japanese imported headchef, this piece was over-cooked, tougher and much drier than the above. It took a fair bit of teeth effort tearing off meat before I could eat this. There also wasn't much Kurobuta's unique sweet taste in the meat, nor the desirable interlaced fat, in fact the kurobuta they use here carry chunks of fat strips instead. These made it a bit disappointing, as there just wasn't the melt-in-your-mouth sensation. The 6th piece of this tonkatsu piece was 90% fat as well. The Pork Tonjiru Soup however was excellent, so were the Rice and Cabbage Salad. The Salad dressing sauces however weren't that great, the Tonkatsu's sauce meanwhile was outright disappointing - watery thin & without much taste, also without sesame. The katsu sauce is really way better in Tonkichi, 近又 or 大戸屋.
PRAWN KATSU - Although the pork above was overall better than Tonkichi, the Prawn here is below that
standard. Here - its a bit thinner & too dry, you really aren't tasting the prawns and there's no roe either, I also caught sight of bits of uncleaned guts remaining inside! It reminds of frozen prawn, both taste and texture. The accompanying Tartare Sauce was eggy and home-made, but lacks the right balance from lack of pickles - Genki Ippai's one is much better!
OYSTER - This also isn't as good as Tonkichi's one or even Ootoya. It wasn't too dry but somehow, wasn't too impressive. Will it become better in due time?
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OVERALL - The quality isn't overly attractive enough for me to return in a hurry but the price is quite cheap here, its not really that impressive compared to its better shops in Tokyo or Kyoto, nor when you get a really good one in other local HK shops. Even the Salad dressing for the Cabbage Salad, isn't as good as the ones in Tonkichi or even 近又, nor in that matter the overly thin and non-fruity Tonkatsu sauce served in here. I personally think its Tonkatsu and batter is very slightly but not conclusively better than Tonkichi, though Tonkichi still wins on average. Let's see how it fares in the longer run and if there will be improvements! Keen to try their Katsu Sandwich too.
Sauces especially Katsu-Sauce not that Great!
Sauces especially Katsu-Sauce not that Great!
3rd Piece around 35% fat. Got worst from there..
3rd Piece around 35% fat. Got worst from there..
Nicely Eggy, but not really Tartare like enough..
Nicely Eggy, but not really Tartare like enough..
Replacement Piece Better - yet Over-cooked.
Replacement Piece Better - yet Over-cooked.
What's Hot
> Poor All product, too oil, & no return, because no any result to me why ! > To celebrate birthday , After sitting down and going through the menu, we couldn’t find those sushi or special meal in their menu, which I found from the Openrice 1 day ago . Finally, o >Food is poor but below the expectation . ( can say the standard is more or less the same & high price ) >Not very fresh >Service is Ok .. >Poor質...
, the miso soup was delicious, love the unlimited shredded cabbage with grapefruit dressing most refreshing. The tea could be hotter though...
The batter this time didn't really come off loosely, as what I heard from other Openrice contributors, but ultimately this was quite hard and rubbery. Let's just say, it was disappointing vs the hype. Not a bit of juiciness detectable, despite this being the usually softest fillet/tenderloin part! SCORE: 2.5/5
