Since visiting Japan, I am always craving a good ramen or tonkatsu. Having developed a taste for Japanese variety of food I am always looking for a good and authentic experience away from the sushi conveyor belt restaurant chains. So walking pass Machiya a few months ago and seeing the queue of people, a lot of them being Japanese (always a good sign), I knew I had to try it!
I used the excuse of a girly-date with a friend to head there. Being aware of how long the queue could get, we got there for an early dinner and lucky us, we got the last table before the queue started to form itself.
The restaurant is compact and simple, very much like the small eateries you find in the streets of Tokyo. Machiya menu consists mainly of simple traditional dishes such as tonkatsu, noodles and donburi. Everything is also very reasonably priced so Machiya is a great place to eat out if you are on a budget!
I loved how they have on their menu the green tea which is served as a default drink (often instead of water) in most restaurants in Japan. It felt right, authentic and reminiscent of my days in Japan so I ordered it!
To start, my friend Ras and I decided to share the handmade gyoza filled with Australian wagyu beef. They were very tasty and fairly spicy. It was a little eye-watering for someone who doesn’t handle spice well, aka all French people me included, but I still enjoyed them very much. All those years in England eating and crying over spicy curries seem to finally have paid off!
Ras ordered the chicken katsu with shredded cabbage, served with tonkatsu sauce and mustard. The meat serving is generous so it is a good thing that it is served with cabbage. If you are a small eater you probably won’t need a side of rice.
I went for the tonkatsu, chicken and egg with sweet and savoury sauce and steamed rice. It was very good and the addition of the egg reminded me of a lot of dishes in Japan served with an egg on top. A nostalgic gourmet trip back in time…
The serving was very generous and I actually struggled to finish it!
We were so full that we actually had to skip dessert which is my biggest regret. They all looked amazing and I will definitely be back soon for a matcha roll cake!
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Claire Imaginarium 