Katsukura Kyoto Station Building The Cube

Service was great and very patient. The décor was very calming and clean. The tonkatsu was delicious and probably best I’ve had on my travels. You get to mince your own sesame dipping mix and the waiter will even tell you the way to enjoy such a yummy meal if you would like to know (otherwise just dig in). The fried oysters were also delicious. Great pitstop for a rememberable meal before heading out of Kyoto.

My sensei recommended this when we stopped in Kyoto last summer for our school trip. I don’t usually eat tonkatsu, but seriously this is the best tonkatsu I have ever had… Whenever I make this, it doesn’t taste as good as this. Service was excellent, as well as the food. I will come back some day! For now, I’ll just dream about it.

Picked up an obento for the train ride here. Very tasty stuff, especially the veggie tonkatsu. Kind of hard to find. Go to the 11^th floor and head for The Cube food court. Don’t miss the ramen places one floor below.

If you absolutely love to eat tonkatsu and are in the Kyoto train station for dinner, you must make the trip up to the 11^th floor of the Cube section and get in line for this restaurant. Go early as there may be many tourists waiting in line in the hallway outside but it is well worth the wait.
Their tonkatsu batter is simply amazingly crispy, light, and plentiful without being heavy or oily. The cut of pork comes in 3 sizes and are all soft to eat, though not the softest I’ve had ever, the quality still shines through.
While you wait for your food, you are also given a chance to grind up your own sesame seeds in their wooden bowls and manual wood hand grinders. No one wants to do extra work but in this case it can be fun to prep part of your tonkatsu sauce ingredients prior to choosing and pouring their normal or supposedly spicy sauce into the mix.
Even the cabbage is crispy, fresh, and finely cut. High quality white rice comes in a bowl for everyone to grab the amount they prefer into their ricebowl. If you’re feeling extra hungry, you can add sides. I’d recommend the extra large prawn if you also like Japanese style deep fried ebi.

This place served the best tonkatsu (deep fried breaded pork cutlet) that we had on our recent trip to Japan. We also got the deep fried oysters which were also fantastic and probably the best we had on this trip. It was one of the best meals we had in Japan. It is a bit hard to find as it is in a building (called The Cube) next to the Kyoto station. The easiest way to get there is to go to the outside of the Kyoto station and go right (if you are facing the front of the Kyoto station). Once you go right, you have to take a series of escalators up to the 11^th floor (which is their food court area).
The tonkatsu has a thick panko crust and is deep fried to perfection without being oily at all. The pork is very moist. You make your own sauce by first grinding some sesame seeds in a mortar with a pestle and then adding the sauces. There is a non-​spicy one and a «spicy» sauce that you add to the ground up sesame seeds. Neither of the sauces are very spicy. The sauce is the typical Japanese worcestershire based sauce that is served everywhere with tonkatsu. Unlike the western worcestershire sauce, the Japanese version is more sweet and less tart. We prefer the Japanese version over the western version as it is more astringent in taste. The tonkatsu is served with thinly shredded cabbage which is great when you put the cabbage sauce on top. The staff are helpful and tell you how to make the tonkatsu sauce and which sauces go with the cabbage and which ones go with the tonkatsu. The meal is also served with rice and miso soup.
The fried oysters were fried in the same thick panko crust as the tonkatsu. The Japanese oysters are huge and the deep frying really brought out their flavor. Again, I’m not sure how they do it, but the deep frying is not oily at all. Imagine the best deep fried oysters you have had in a New Orleans po’ boy. These are even better. I didn’t need the tonkatsu sauce for the deep fried oysters. They had so much flavor that they were perfectly good by themselves.
If you are anywhere near the Kyoto station, it is worth your time to stop by for the tonkatsu and deep fried oysters. Next time, we would likely explore the other offerings of the food court here but only after hitting up the tonkatsu and deep fried oysters again.

The katsu here is really excellent. Best I’ve ever had and with outstanding service. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t recommend here; I’ve eaten here many many times over the years.

Katsukura serves yummy katsu, not too oily and not too overly battered. I love their sauces and also how they always have yuba maki katsu (tofu skin roll) as well as tofu croquette — totally unique to kyoto!
Also the cabbage, rice and soup are all you can eat!

Best tonkatsu! I’ve tried other places, but the texture here was the best, free rice/​soup/​salad refill!

La especialidad es carne rebozada con tempura acompañada de salsa con sésamo molido. Platos deliciosos y completísimos. Además te sirven sopa de miso y arroz con verduras. Por calidad/​precio es imprescindible. Está en la planta 11 de la estación de Kyoto. (The cube)

After a chill day at Omi Maiko Beach, we made our way back to Kyoto station trying to find a bite to eat. Tonkatsu was one of the top cravings. Seemingly, Tonkatsuya was the most popular restaurant in the entire station. I’m no mathematician, but that sounds like an equation for guaranteed satisfaction.
This was my first REAL Tonkatsu experience. The spread included deep fried pork lion (the star of the show), raw cabbage, rice, miso soup, potato mash and a «Make Your Own» sauce bar.
My wife made the comparison to the Hawaiian Mixed Plate (complete with mac salad, rice, spam, etc…) after seeing the spread — might there be a historic connection? Regardless of origin, it is clear that Tonkatsu is a culinary masterpiece worthy of your attention and Tonkatsuya is a traditional eatery worthy of your patronage.

We chose the Japanese tonkatsu, & the more expensive pork cut but it wasn’t that great. The crispy shell was nice but the pork inside seemed like it had been booked or something. Not moist, must’ve been a lean cut.

This modern katsu restaurant is located on the 11^th floor of the main Kyoto train station. We ate there once and it was so good we went back the next day.
There were several choices of pork katsu set meals. First we needed to decide if we wanted regular pork or the higher grade (and slightly more expensive) Sangen pork. Then we selected pork loin or pork tenderloin, and finally, we selected one of three portion sizes. The smallest portion, 80 grams, was enough for me, but many people ordered larger portions. I opted for the Sangen pork which was incredibly tender and delicious. For people who like a bit less fat I would recommend the regular pork. It also was tender and tasty, but less well-​marbled than the Sangen.
Each dinner came with sesame seeds in a bowl, with a wooden pestle to crush the seeds to personal preference. There were two sauces to mix with the sesame: one described as sweet and one described as spicy. There was no detectable spice heat to the latter, so we decided «spicy» in this case simply meant savory or less sweet than the other sauce. Anyway the savory sauce was my favorite.
We also got a pile of finely shredded cabbage with another sauce for dressing, white rice and barley, and miso soup. We were offered refills of cabbage and rice.
We also tried the prawn katsu – nice large tender prawns. The potato croquettes were OK. The yuba katsu was gooey, probably fine but not to our liking. The menu also had pork butt and chicken.
The restaurant has a combination of communal and smaller tables. English menus were available. The service was great.

totally delicious & scrumptious katsu!
just thinking about their katsu is making my mouth water. if only we had such options here in seattle, do i have to fly all the way to kyoto for another hit of this delicious, fried goodness?! oh okay, if i must! ;)
you can almost go anywhere in japan and get ahhhh-​mazing food (emphasis on the word almost). and almost everyone takes lots of care and attention to the details. katsukura is no different.
the food: so freakin’ good. from the barley rice, to the craftily fried katsu, to the ability to make your own katsu sauce (to your own liking!), this place is incredible and incredibly tasty. we opted for the prime tenderloin — definitely doesn’t hurt! and even tried shrimp katsu, yum!
the service: while we don’t speak english and our japanese is poor, the servers were more than attentive and friendly.
the cost: totally reasonable. and i would totally spend more for the quality and deliciousness of the food.
this place was SO good, i rushed up here to grab take out for our lunch on the train, which i was rushing back down to make in a short time! luckily we made it, and as evidence to how detailed the japanese are, our take out meal was JUST as good as the meal the night before. there even was packages for us to make our on katsu sauce. :)
bottom line: go, go now. take some pictures, make me jelly, and enjoy yourself! there’s probably better, but this place hit the spot and was a very good price!

Above the hustle and bustle of the Kyoto train station, there are a myriad of restaurants and shops. On the 11^th floor aka (11F) in The Cube you’ll find a number of eateries. We settled in at this tonkatsu restaurant. The prices were a little high considering the sizes of the portions, but I suppose that the price you pay for the convenience of being in the train station. :) Tasty tonkatsu with fresh cabbage on the side and a couple of sauces to choose from.
We were seated promptly when it opened, but soon after we sat down I noticed a line forming in the hallway. Service was great, the English menu was helpful and the food arrivesWorth the trip to 11 °F if you have the time.