Hyperlocal Tokyo

This restaurant, newly opened in Harajuku, is said to be produced by a popular shop in Shinjuku. The floor is quite crowded with inbound tourists. It was cafe time, so the shop was sparsely populated. I ordered the pork cutlet, both loin (Yonezawa pork) and fillet (running pig). The rice comes in a charcoal-infused rice cooker and you serve yourself, which is delicious. The clam soup doesn't have clams, just the broth, but it's incredibly flavorful. The pork cutlet is of course delicious, and the pickles are also delicious. A very satisfying experience.

I visited on a Saturday night!! I made a reservation for 6 PM, the opening time! They seem to select the best cuts of meat for the day, so it's recommended to go early because the selection can run out. It's a bit pricey, but the quality justifies the cost. The rice had a strong aroma and a firm texture, the meat was tender and juicy, and the crispy breading didn't overpower the meat. It was truly delicious. The clam soup was also flavorful and very good! There was a very energetic staff member who provided some entertainment, which was a lot of fun. 😄 I definitely want to go back again 😊

PRETTY PORK FACTORY & KATSU Pripo Harakado, a potential contender for the Top 100 Tonkatsu Restaurants! Located a 2-minute walk from Meiji Jingumae Station, I visited "PRETTY PORK FACTORY & KATSU Pripo," a restaurant that could potentially become one of the Top 100 Tonkatsu Restaurants. Their Shinjuku branch is already on the list. It's located on the 5th floor of Harakado, which opened on April 17th. I made a reservation for Saturday at 11:30 AM. I ordered the Special Tonkatsu Omakase Set for ¥3,300. Today's pork was from Tokushima Prefecture, a Kintok豚. The set includes rice, cabbage, pickles, and a clam soup. It was served in about 15 minutes. The tonkatsu was cooked perfectly, with a nice aroma of oil. The pork was sweet and flavorful, with a rich taste. I enjoyed it with Shodoshima sea salt, tonkatsu sauce, and sesame seeds, but I prefer the sea salt. I enjoyed it all the way to the end.

I had lunch with colleagues from work on a weekday. It's located on the 5th floor of the building. The interior was unique with splashes of reddish-purple. We ordered the following course: "Shabu-shabu Short Course @ ¥5,500" The course included the following: - Shabu-shabu set (meat, vegetables, broth, condiments) - Pork belly stew - Somen noodles (you can also choose congee) - Dessert - Cold tea, hot tea Here are my thoughts: ◯ Pork belly stew → The flavor of the fat was strong and very delicious. It was like the really delicious char siu you sometimes find at ramen shops. ◯ Shabu-shabu → The following three types of pork were served: - Saddleback (Kagoshima) - Ai Kenkou Pork (Ehime Prefecture) - Marbled Herb Pork (Ibaraki Prefecture) They were beautifully sliced and arranged. The healthy pork and herb pork were light. They went well with the yuzu pepper, which the staff recommended. The Saddleback was redder than the other two, had a richer flavor of fat, and was my favorite. It went well with ponzu sauce. Overall, it was delicious pork shabu-shabu. Then we had somen noodles using the shabu-shabu broth. The original broth was made with kombu and was already delicious, but we added a powder made from bonito flakes. The staff said, "The bonito and seaweed meet and become delicious." It was truly delicious broth. We enjoyed the somen noodles in this luxurious broth that combined the bounty of the sea and the bounty of the land with pork and vegetables. The staff member who served us was very funny. He was a constant stream of puns, like we were at a hot pot restaurant in Osaka. The bill was ¥5,500 per person. We had a fun and delicious pork shabu-shabu. Thank you for the meal.

This was my first time visiting this location, not the main branch in Kabuki-cho. The restaurant was quite clean. They have a special value-for-money lunch set that you won't find at the main branch. It's called "Omakase" and costs either ¥3,300 or ¥3,600, though. I ordered the ¥3,300 "Omakase" (roast pork cutlet). My companion, who was trying this place for the first time, decided to go for something fancy and ordered the "Nankoku Sweet Hire" (three pieces for ¥5,400). We also shared an order of shrimp fry for ¥1,350. (Isn't that expensive? Is it really that big?) The food arrived shortly after. The colorful pickled vegetables, cabbage, clear soup, and the Milky Queen rice cooked in a pot were all the same as the main branch. The roast pork cutlet was the most unassuming I've ever seen (lol). Well, it was the cheapest option, so... The "Nankoku Sweet" was the same one I had at the main branch for the first time. It was exactly the same. When I actually tasted it... well, the flavor was the most unassuming I've ever had. In a way, it was refreshingly in line with the price. If I had tried this first, I wouldn't have been as impressed as I was when I first went to the main branch. I got to try one piece of the "Nankoku Sweet" and it was consistently good. The shrimp fry was expensive, but the edible part was small. Is the head edible? I don't know. It was surprisingly small. The staff said it's a popular menu item, though. All in all, for two people, it came out to less than ¥5,000 per person, which is pretty reasonable for a place like this. We finished with a dashi tea rice and even got ice cream. I was satisfied. Thank you for the meal.