Located in an attractively furnished Kagurazaka basement, walls decorated with colorful sake and shochu bottles, Agezuki feels more like an upscale izakaya than a tonkatsu shop. And indeed they offer a well-curated list of more than a dozen craft sakes, in either standard 1-go flasks or 65ml tasting sizes, along with sake-appropriate snacks. Several types of shochu, a few inexpensive wines and the usual beer round out the drinks options.
Tonkatsu is still the main draw, of course, and the cutlet here is first-rate, made from a hybrid breed of pork sourced from a small farm in Miyazaki, Kyushu. The pork is fried in a mixture of imported Dutch lard and vegetable oils, resulting in a light-colored, thin but flaky crust. Diners are encouraged to try their first bite of cutlet with salt alone, to savor the rich and pleasantly fatty flavor without sauce. Bowls of tasty pickles are supplied on each table.
Dinnertime main dishes include the usual rosu, hire and menchi cutlets, as well as ginger-pork, chicken, prawns and Hokkaido scallops. Mains can be ordered a la carte or as part of a teishoku set with soup, pickles, rice and a dab of potato salad.
Lunches are priced from Y1,100, with four options including pork rosu and chicken breast. In spite of the posted closing time of 2pm, they seem to often run out of ingredients at around 1pm, so it’s recommended that you show up early and wait on line. Likewise, reservations are probably a good idea in the evening.
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