Gyukatsu Motomura Shinjuku Main Store

Restaurant Details

While tonkatsu — deep-fried, breaded pork cutlet — is one of the most popular Japanese foods, its cousin gyukatsu is a little bit lesser known, but no less delicious. Instead of pork, gyukatsu breads and deep-fries a thick cut of wagyu beef instead.

Gyukatsu is synonymous with one restaurant in Tokyo, and that is Gyukatsu Motomura. Featured in countless TikTok, Instagram and YouTube videos, any foodie will instantly recognize the dark red of a Gyukatsu Motomura cutlet sizzling on a hot stone, and either eaten with soy sauce, a smudge of wasabi, or a sprinkling of pink Himalayan salt.

What’s often also pictured is the extreme queue; often snaking up the stairs outside the entrance, a wait time of 45 minutes is considered short. Nonetheless, the wait is always worth it. There’s nothing quite like the scrumptious sizzle and accompanying aroma of the cutlet on a hot stone, where diners can grill the gyukatsu to their desired doneness, be it fresh or almost all the way through. (Well done is never an option.)

The reason for these queues is not just the wonderful marbling and rich umami of the beef, but also typically, it’s not possible to make a reservation at Gyukatsu Motomura. Only two outlets allow for table reservations, with the first being the outlet in Tachikawa, far west of central Tokyo. Naturally, the other reservable outlet — its main store in Shinjuku — is the much more popular choice, adjacent to Seibu-Shinjuku Station and next to the Kabukicho district, where the Godzilla Head statue is.