Tonkichi (Hong Kong)

Name: Tonkichi Tonkatsu Seafood
Address: Basement 1, Toy House, 100 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon
Telephone no.: (+852) 2314 2998

Tonkichi, a Japanese restaurant specializes in Japanese-styled breaded deep fried food, with almost 95% of its menu dedicated to breaded deep fried items only. [e.g. Tonkatsu, Menchi katsu and Korokke, similar food in Korea would be Saengseonkkaseu (생선까스) Donkkaseu (돈까스)]. My theory have always been that, if restaurant is dedicated to a specific type of food or cooking, they always either end up being the leader and expert or they’d go bust in 8 months time. Since I’ve been visiting this restaurant for close to a decade now, I can only imagine that it is doing rather well. There are two branches, one located in Causeway Bay and another in Tsim Sha Tsui.

This is how they look like before cooked (Picture: Courtesy of www.justhungry.com)

So what differentiate Tonkichi from the usual western deep fried food? Well, the only thing I know is that a Panko breadcrumb is used (check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panko if you wish to find out more) but the French uses it too. Nonetheless, Tonkichi is different, the food from there is never or hardly ever excessively greasy and they are always hot and crispy with juicy meat / seafood inside. My dear mother tells me “it all depends on the frying temperature and timing!” – Right~ !

The few things that I’d order over and over from Tonkichi:

1) Fried Oyster
2) Fried Scallop
3) Fried Pork Fillet

Yes, and these are the only three thing that I’ve been ordering for the past 10 years (there’s nothing wrong in knowing what you want!) and occasionally I’d order prawns and end up regretting for not ordering Oysters instead!

For this visit, I’ve ordered the Fried Oyster Set while my friend ordered the Pork fillet and prawns combo.
The Menu Inside of the Menu

The fried oysters from Tonkichi have never failed to impressed! They are always so creamy and juicy that you can easily finish a set of five all on your own. There is a small dish of tatare sauce served with the set and a dash of mustard to go with it. The fresh cabbage salad and Japanese rice are refillable.
Crispy on the outside! Juicy and tender inside!

There are two types of salad dressing available, one is Seaweed and the other is grapefruit. Both equally refreshing and appetizing as each other.

A bowl of sesame is offered with any pork fillet / cutlet order. You’d need to crush it first, and then when the pork is served, put some special sauce for the pork fillet / cutlet on your plate, dip it with the pork and roll it in the sesame. I always have such fun crushing the sesame and eating this dish.

Pork fillet and prawn comboCloser look of the fillet!Watermelon slices that comes with every meal.

Sample of the lunch menu.

Notes:

Mr. Choi Lan (a infamous food critic in HK) have recently mentioned this restaurant on his TV show which aired a couple of months ago on a free channel. Hence, the popularity of Tonkichi have soared and reached its highest. In fact, as a devoted TV junky, I have noticed Tonkichi's name mentioned a couple or few times in the past but only on cable TV or paid channels. Now that the mass populartion of HK are introduced to this restaurant, so I'd suggest it is best (from my recent experience to) make your dinner booking at least a week in advance and lunch bookings 3 / 4 days in advance.