If you’ve been waiting for months to get a reservation at popular Tonkatsu Tamafuji, here’s some good news — a new tonkatsu spot in town just opened.
Tonkatsu Kuro soft opened Feb. 10 in Ward Village; it’s located across of Planted by La Tour Café. Head chef Taeyoung Kim emphasizes that the eatery opened very, very quietly, due to being short staffed. He says the biz specializes in high-quality tonkatsu, made from Kurobuta pork — which is how the eatery got its name.
“Kuro means ‘black’ in Japanese, because we are using the black pork, or Kurobuta,” he explains. “We are using high-quality Kurobuta and age it for 72 hours so it’s tender and juicy. We have tenderloin, loin and shrimp katsu for now, but we’re going to eventually do cheese katsu, too.”
The restaurant is only taking reservations via Open Table during its soft opening; no walk-ins are accepted. When you get to your table, place your order using the restaurant’s tablet system.
“We have a table order system because that is very normal in Korea,” Kim says.
For first-time customers, Kim recommends the combo sets ($25), which include one of the eatery’s sobas and a half katsu set. The half katsu set is like a mini sampler and features tenderloin and shrimp katsu. The latter is a jumbo-sized tiger shrimp, which can also be ordered a la carte.
“The soba is like a Korean cold noodle,” Kim says. “We make a house tsuyu (the soup base used often with soba noodles); we put more than 15 ingredients in it. It simmers for almost three hours, and our fresh soba comes from Sun Noodle.
“The combos have one soba, one piece of shrimp and one piece of tenderloin at an affordable price,” he adds. “I personally like the tenderloin more because it’s softer.”
Since tonkatsu is heavier, Kim encourages customers to pair it with the noodles, which have a lighter broth. Of course, regular katsu sets are also available and come with unlimited rice, miso soup and cabbage salad, according to Kim. The eatery gets its rice from Kakaʻako-based Rice Factory.
After you place your order, you’ll get a bowl of sesame seeds to grind. Each table has tonkatsu, ponzu and sesame sauce; the latter two are for the cabbage salad that comes with the sets. All sauces are made in house, according to Kim. When you grind the sesame seeds to your desired consistency, add the katsu sauce to it.
Orders are delivered either by human or robot servers. The roaming robot servers add to the ambiance of feeling like you’re at a restaurant in Japan.
While the soba noodles boast a nice, slightly chewy texture and the broth is refreshing, the tonkatsu steals the show. Each piece is gloriously crispy on the outside and tender inside. The shrimp katsu was my favorite, since it comes with a truffle tartar sauce. If you get the combo set, I recommend getting an a la carte shrimp katsu to share with your dining companion. After trying the piece that came in the combo set, you’ll probably want more.
If you like dishes with some heat, Kim recommends trying the bibim soba ($18).
“It’s a Korean spicy-style noodle and it’s one of my favorite ones,” he says. “I like it a little more spicy than normal soba.”
If you want to enhance your experience, order a side of curry sauce ($7) to add to your rice or katsu. It’s thick, savory and comforting, especially when poured over a steaming bowl of rice.
The business is currently BYOB (no corkage fee) while it waits for its liquor license.
CONTACT
Tonkatsu Kuro
1000 Auahi St. Ste. 134, Honolulu
Instagram: @tonkatsu.kuro.hi
Hours: Daily 5-10 p.m.
Reservations via Open Table required; no walk-ins
Kelli Shiroma Braiotta can be reached at kelli@alohastatedaily.com.
