Rating★★★★
Cuisine: Japanese / Tonkatsu
Price Range: Cheap Eats
Address: No. 63, Nanjing E Road, Sec 2 (one of five locations) Tel: (02) 2537-3767 Website: http://www.anzu.com.tw/
Tonkatsu might be originated from Japan but serves as comfort food to all Asians. That brown-crispy-juicy fried pork cutlet downs rice like there’s no tomorrow. Tonkatsu can be used to compliment udon, curry, donburi, sandwich or rice. Anzu Tonkatsu is a popular chain in Taiwan, but unlike most chains it’s quality is top-notch and has been pretty consistent.
restaurant seating
Anzu serves a wide variety of tonkatsu’s. Ranging from different cuts, different animals to different flavors; cheese tonkatsu, onion/daikon, and curry just to name a few. When you head out to eat tonkatsu you are obviously not going on a diet, so it makes no sense ordering the tenderloin (skinnier part) and I strongly suggest to order any cuts of the fillet (fattier). I opted for one of Anzu’s signature the ‘toro black pig tonkatsu’ the juiciest of them all. They call it ‘toro’ because like the toro sashimi it is the best and fattiest cut of a tuna, for which they represent the best cut for the pig. +60 NT gives you the whole set (drinks + dessert) which I do not recommend, to me it’s too much sugar for one meal.
The side dishes are pretty horrendous. . The standard キャベツ cabbage 2.5/5, mixed with a bit of salad greens and bombay onions was refillable but mediocre. Two dressings were available, the common和风酱 ponzu/yuzu juice, as well as 紫蘇優格酱.
cabbage
Seaweed Miso Soup 2/5 is pretty bad as well. It feels like isntant miso soup. exepcted more, a lot more.
The koshihikari rice 4.5/5 was surprisingly good. They deliberately made it softer and more watery which would suite the heavy flavored tonkatsu well. The rice is very Japanese style, soft.
My lunch date ordered the Cheese Tonkatsu (騎士豬排) 3.5/5, its like a Japanese version of cordon bleu without the ham. The cheese was silky and has a balanced taste with the tonkatsu. The taste is bold enough by youtself, you don’t need the katsu dipping sauce.
cheese tonkatsu
silky smooth
The famed Toro Tonkatsu (Toro里肌肉套餐) 4.5/5 fried to a crispy brown and not too overdone. Very juicy, tender, thick and a mouthful of flavor. Dip it in sesame that you grinded earlier, poured on some tonkatsu sauce and cover ithe whole thing with a chopstickfull of rice, yum.
Toro Tonkatsu Set
juicy toro tonkatsu
The dessert was really good too, black sugar tofu pudding with peanut sprinkles 4/5. Desserts can’t get anymore Asian than this.
black sugar pudding tofu with peanut seasoning
Last Note: Go early or avoid peak hours as the waiting line could get up to an hour. I don’t think the tonkatsu is worth an the long queue, but for a short detour I would certainly say so. Anzu ranks my number 1 tonkatsu in Taiwan and if you compare it to the ones in japan i would rate it above average. I have a major problem with Anzu’s service. The waiters looks tired, uninterested and at times pretend to be preoccupied so they can avoid you…
fattoro 