Katsukura (Shanghai Food Adventures!)

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Believe it or not, after the rain yesterday, Shanghai got rid of all the humidity and heat and the temperature dropped to 70 degrees Fahrenheit. I could not resist going out to explore the city since what I hate the most is gone. So here I am off to Gubei area (古北) in Changning (长宁).

A little background. Gubei is famous for being an expat community. It is close to Hongqiao Airport, one of Shanghai’s two major airports, and you can reach here conveniently by taking Metro lines 2, 3, 4, 10, and probably more (I’m no Shanghai public transit expert though).

The restaurant I visited today is called Katsukura, or 名藏 in Chinese/Japanese. As manifested by its name, it is a katsu (pork cutlet) specialty store. This one is actually a branch of the main store in Kyoto, Japan.

The restaurant is located in a shopping mall called Takashimaya, which is right above the station of Metro Line 10, on the 7th floor very convenient.

I got there at around 12:50 PM. I took a number and waited for around 5 minutes before I got called in.

They have a variety of choices for the katsu, besides other food options (but seriously, who wouldn’t want to try the katsu in a katsu specialty store?). For the katsu, they have two kinds available: one is Yantai pork, and the other being Anhui pork. The Yantai pork is believed to be more juicy because it contains more fat, and I decided to go with it. The set contains rice, katsu, as well as a miso soup. That in total costs me 98 RMB. Not bad.

Firstly you will be served with barley tea. It is alright. In fact, I can’t really tell the difference so I think it’s pretty good.

And then you will be served with the sesame seeds, and the customer will be responsible for grinding those. I did it pretty roughly, but still smells awesome.

After that, you will blend the grinded sesame seeds with the sauce, which you will dip the pork in. They have two options available, one is normal sauce and the other one is the heavy sauce, which is more sour. I liked the normal one, so I only put the normal one into the sesame seeds bowl.

And then, ta dah! You got your pork, rice, and sliced cabbage on the side. The katsu tastes amazing. Compared to the one I had in Ebisu, Tokyo (this place is devine, and I would love to introduce you guys to it some time in a future post), if I give the Tokyo one 5 stars, I would give Katsukura in Shanghai 4.7. The pork is juicy and has very rich flavors. For the rice, I initially thought it looked too soft, but later I found out its softness is in a good way because it simply tastes AMAZING. And the miso soup is also full of umami, so much better than those powders you get from a random grocery store.

So to sum up, it is an amazing experience because you get first-rate katsu, rice, and soup. The price is also reasonable.

Service: 9.5/10

Food: 9.8/10

Environment: 8.5/10 (a little too noisy for some)

Price level: ~120 RMB (~US$ 18) per person

FINAL NOTE: If you have any questions, please leave a comment below!



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