For what could possibly be the first time in my entire life, I managed to actually wait for food. Like, actually more than 5 minutes from my stomach rumbling to giving in to the bag of crisps in the cupboard. Yup. I'm talking a whole one and a half hours of sheer and utter hangriness, waiting in line with the tantalising smell of freshly cooked gyuukatsu (beef cutlet) repeatedly wafting right in front of my face. Was it worth it? ...come on, just look at the food porn above. LOOK AT IT IN ALL IT'S BEAUTIFUL GLORY.
(...yes, yes it was worth it).
Gyuukatsu Motomura is possibly the most talked-about katsu joint on the food scene right now, and queues are round the block. With only a small, dimly lit counter table available, diners have to wait for as long as 2, sometimes 3 hours just to get a taste of the super restricted menu offering up only the infamous gyuukatsu, rice and salad.
Satoshi and I arrived at just past 11am, and the queue was already out the door. Located down a shabby little side street, the place isn't much to look at, but the impatient atmosphere and line of hungry stomachs creates an air of anticipation that really builds up the foodie excitement.
After watching string after string of satisfied customers leaving with smiles on their faces, it was finally our turn to be seated in the tiny little restaurant. We were both absolutely starving by this point, so each ordered the double size that comes with two katsu cutlets, which actually turned out to be the perfect amount and smaller than we'd expected.
There's not much I can say that can do justice to describe the sweet taste of juicy, tender meat cutlets after an excruciatingly long wait, but all I will say is that we both ate in silence, too moved by the experience to utter a word. And the thing is, I think that even if we hadn't had to wait for such a bloody long time, I truly believe that the cutlets would be just as incredibly delicious. The ultra-fresh pink meaty colour of the katsu, enhanced by the expert searing job by the small team of chefs is just a work of art, and the light coating of breadcrumbs was just enough to add that extra satisfying gritty texture to the melt-in-the-mouth meat.
Even the miso soup was the perfect compliment to the taste experience, using red instead of white miso paste, creating a more earthy flavour to bring out the beef tones. Ahh it was all just SO GOOD.
We both left feeling totally full and satisfied, pausing only to drop a cheeky smirk at the long line of unknowing hungry diners waiting outside.
Gyuukatsu Motomura is located at Shibuya 3-18-10 and is open daily from 11am-11pm. Get there early!
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