Butagumi

Another day, another business trip taken to a city filled with excellent cuisine, another great meal arranged with co-workers in the midst of a very busy week, this time in Tokyo.   We were a group of 4, including a local, and including one person with dietary preferences nearly polar to mine.  Finding a place we were all excited about was a bit challenging, but, we narrowed in on one fairly quickly: Butamumi.

Butagumi is a tonkatsu restaurant, a very highly rated tonkatsu restaurant, that has been around ~forever.  It matched the dietary constraints of everyone in the group, even though tonkatsu isn't really that high on my list, I was interesting in trying a top version, and, it most certainly wasn't a tourist trap, which satisfied our local.  

So to Butagumi we went, with a reservation secured by my hotel concierge (necessary, as the place is tiny), to feast on tonkatsu, and basically, only tonkatsu.   To say they specialize is an understatement.

Setting

Butagumi is located in Shibuya, but not where you might expect it.  It is kinda hidden down a side street, in a residential area, and the restaurant is actually inside an old house.  Charming, rustic, humble, and so very authentic.

Entrance.

The restaurant was a bit hard to find, like, seemingly, many things in Tokyo, mostly because the address system is hard to get used to, and there was no visible sign.  But the adorable front entrance was a sign of what was to come.

No Perfume!

I had my hotel concierge secure the booking, and they were very insistent that we not wear perfume.  I thought it was odd, and then we showed up at the restaurant and ... large signs about not wearing perfume.

A few things to note:

1. There is no sign in Japanese saying this too, English only.  Are we the only offenders?
2. No mention of men's fragrance, just ladies.  Again, why just us?

I was very curious what the story is here, and, according to our local host, apparently it is not normal to have signs like this.

Kitchen.

This ... is the kitchen! I wouldn't call it "open concept" exactly, but, we could see through the pass fairly easily.  It was unlike any restaurant kitchen I've ever seen before.

Single chef, tiny, kinda grungy ....  It was like being in someone's home.  

Our Table.

There was some seating downstairs, maybe 3 tables, but we were lead upstairs.  Upstairs had 4 tables, each built into the floor like this.

And yes, we had to take our shoes off, and yes it is hard to climb in and out.   It felt like a more "real" authentic experience than anywhere else I went.

Cuisine

The menu at Butagumi is basically a reference book on cuts of pork, and little else.  The non-tonkatsu sections of the menu, including the drinks, were minimal, but, the pork list?  Zomg.

Starters & Desserts.

Luckily English menus were provided, although our host noted some differences between the English and Japanese ones (more options, and more detailed info, on the later).

Butagumi does technically have a few starters and desserts, but I've never seen anyone get them (on instagram, on review sites, etc).  We weren't tempted by any, although I'll admit I was very curious what "broccoli salad with carrot sauce" was ...

They didn't even ask if we wanted starters, nor dessert at the end of the meal.  This isn't what people come for, clearly.

Pork Options: Page 1 - Sirloin.

So, the restaurant sells tonkatsu.  Only tonkatsu.  Tonkatsu is super common around Tokyo, available on every street even, but most places serve only one breed of pig, and offer two cuts (loin or tenderoin).  Sometimes a place will have two sizes, but that is about it when it comes to your choice.

But this place actually carries something like 80 different breeds/cuts.  Of course, they don't have 80 at a time, but rather, the ones they have that day are the ones with the orange highlight stickers, as you can see here.

The japanese menu had TONS of details on each breed, paragraphs on each, but the English menu was more simple, and was just arranged from lean to fatty, to make it easy for us.

Pork Options: Page 2 - Tenderloin/Filet.

The next page was more options, tenderloins and filets, rather than the sirloins from the previous page.

How to eat.

The back of the menu teaches you how to eat it properly.

It explains the condiments on the table, and what you are supposed to do with them.  The ponzu, to drizzle over the cabbage.  Not for the tonkatsu!

The salt? that's for the pork, just put a little on it to amp it up.

And then, the tonkatsu sauce ... that goes into the white dish, and don't you dare put it on TOP of your tonkatsu.  You must dip into it!

I'll admit, I found this cute, and did appreciate the education.

Drink Menu.

The full list of drinks ...  kinda lacking.

They had sake, but don't tell you what kind, and there is just one kind, your choices of just hot or cold.  Same thing about wine: red or white.  Glass or carafe.  No more choices.

At least it made for easy decision making!

Red House Wine.

I got wine, red. 

It was actually really quite decent.  No idea what it was, and certainly not pricey, but, I liked it more than most red wine I've had lately, and was pleasantly surprised.

Condiments.

Condiments were on the table when we arrived.

Welcome Gifts.

I knew they'd bring us welcome gifts, but my dining companions were caught off guard by this.  The trio was ... a saltine with cream cheese and yuzu jelly, tomatoes, and chicken.

Now, I know this doesn't look exciting.  And I can't vouch for the chicken since I don't eat it, and didn't try it, but one diner loved the chicken.  Really loved it.

Another?  Loved the cream cheese.  Yup, the cream cheese.  He kept saying how good the cream cheese was (he was skipping the crackers).  I didn't try that either (nor did the local, he didn't have any of his gifts actually), so one person got 3 chickens and 2 cream cheeses, another got 2 cream cheeses, and they were thrilled.

But I too was thrilled.  With the tomato. The TOMATO. No, seriously. I had read reviews that praise the tomatoes and honestly thought nothing of it. and these just looked like cold, slightly charred, little tomatoes right? But I kid you not, this was likely the best tomato I've had in my life.

It was charred and had a smoky quality, but the tomato itself was clearly marinated in something, infusing it with just awesomeness, in addition to the very flavorful tomato.  It burst with flavor. I couldn't believe how delicious this was, and one other diner agreed.  The other doesn't eat tomatoes, and the other guy wasn't eating any of it, so we both got two, and I think we were about to go into a brawl for the 4th one (I already had 2, and definitely would have had the 3rd, but he was like "wait, no, i really want it and you had two already!")

It sounds crazy, but this little platter had the highlight of the meal.  And there was lots of other good stuff!  All of us that partook from this platter were very very pleased with how the meal was starting.

Miso Soup.

We were each then given little bowls of miso soup.  The miso soup was the style with little clams in it, so one diner immediately pushed it aside, as he doesn't do shellfish. 

It was salty, and fine, but, eh, miso soup.

Rice.

Next, we were each given a bowl of rice.

The rice was proper sticky rice, also unlimited refills, and we each had our own little bowls.  No one really had much though, who wants to fill up on rice?

Cabbage.

The tonkatsu is served with raw cabbage, to help cut the fat.  As instructed, you drizzle it with ponzu to add flavor. 

This also came with unlimited refills, but we didn't need any, since no one but me tried it.  It was bland and boring, on its own, but I see why they give it to compliment the rest of the meal.

Pickles.

Our tonkatsu also came with pickles.  Japanese pickles!  I adore pickles, and  literally got all of these, as no one else wanted to try (they were too busy filling themselves with pork ...). 

I liked them, but, I didn't opt for a refill when offered, as they weren't that great, they were just more interesting than rice, cabbage, or ... the tonkatsu, at least for me.

Fattiest One.

3 of us formed a union to get 3 kinds to split so we could compare. 

My manager picked, basically we went for one super fatty, one high fatty, and, at my insistence, one lean. Mostly sirloin, but one tenderloin.  I really wanted to compare different levels, although the others really wanted all high fat ones. 

The other diner just got his own lean cut.

Super Fatty: Closeup.

This was the highest fat one, only the little bit that is the darker color was meat, the rest, fat.  I do love pork belly, you'd think I'd like this but ... unrendered fat just doesn't do it for me.  My least favorite.

High Fatty.

The cuts were all very different, although they did all have the very crispy coating. 

I know it was freshly made, I know it was really crispy but ... it was just oily to me.  Really oily.  I wasn't that into it.

Sadly, I really preferred the beef katsu we had at my office the previous day.

High Fatty: FAT!

So yeah.  Here you can see the mid range fat one.  Yes, that entire side is fat! And this was one of the leaner pieces.

Now, I like fat.  I love pork belly, but this ... was just fat!  Fat covered in oily crust. 

I ... just really wasn't into it, at all.  The others loved it though.

Lean Tenderloin.

The lean tenderloin you can tell is radically different - more slices, thinner, etc.

Lean: Closeup.

The lean loin was my favorite, but the others hated it. 

They didn't want a second slice, and it went unfinished.  It was juicy, nicely cooked, and better than any other pork I've probably had, but ... its just pork.  And still just oily coating.