gyukatsu motomura

we were just visiting osaka castle, so we thought why not eat nearby in that area, or head to umeda area. so we googled and turned out there was gyukatsu motomura in a mall at umeda. so we decided to head there. actually, i was hoping that we could go to umeda sky building as well and probably check the ferris wheel, but the rain has catching us. it was raining while we ate and it was still raining lightly, so i didn't get the chance to see the umeda sky and the ferris wheel.

gyukatsu motomura was at lucua osaka mall. there were two malls, lucua osaka and lucua 1100 and both of them were connected at some floors. but the dining hall was on top of both malls, the 10th floor. okay, we didn't take a look at the mall inventory, so we just went straight looking for gyukatsu motomura. however, after we finished our lunch, we decided to take a look around and found out that there were kushikatsu daruma, moritaya, higashiyama, tonkatsu maisen A, and a ramen shop that was very busy. there were other restaurants, but those were the ones that i recognized. you can check the whole food floor here.

the menu

anyway.. we arrived at lunch time, but we were lucky the people were already inside, and there was only a short line outside. the waiter gave us the menu book when we were near the door and there was an english menu but apparently they didn't have much variation. they only had a beef katsu in two variation, the 130 g and 260 g. and all the rice was barley rice. you can check the menu here. we both ordered the same thing and not long we were allowed to go inside.

side dishes
L-R: potato salad, grated yam, sweet potato

once we were inside, the waiter put a numerous side dishes and he told us that we could pick 3 side dishes each. the waiters could understand english but only speak limited english. anyway.. he didn't explain what kind of dish they were, so we were guessing. there was kimchi and probably other kimchi variations, judging by the look, but some were hard to guess. i decided to pick what i thought would be potato salad, steamed sweet potato (but it was already cold) and probably grated yam. husband picked steamed sweet potato, and the other two i totally didn't know. the sweet potato was okay, it was sweet and tender, but nothing special. the potato salad was very delicious. and it worked well with the beef later. the grated yam was the worst, i didn't like it. it felt sticky and slimy and not appealing at all. oh well.. considered i was lucky since i got it right 2 out of 3.

i put my side dishes on top, then the dipping sauce below. the gyukatsu on the right, barley rice and miso soup near me
they gave free hot ocha, but it had that coffee taste as well, so i didn't like it

the beef came not long after that. the waiter set the cooking area first. he would lit the candle under the hot stone and then he told us how to cook the beef. since the beef katsu was thinly sliced, he suggested to just cook it for one minute each. there were two dipping sauce, soy sauce and miso sauce. the miso sauce was a bit sweet and tangy. and there were three salad dressings at the table, but i could only catch the lemon dressing which was obviously a bit sour. i didn't like the cabbage salad and the miso soup. they didn't use seafood in the miso soup and just put tofu bits, and it tasted weird for me. the barley rice was warm and delicious and the barley didn't taste weird or hard. you could add another bowl of rice for free, but only one time (yep.. of course i had to add another bowl! husband didn't though..)

the beef had fried coating just like other katsu, but the meat inside was still rare. so we had to cook it ourselves. we decided to follow his instruction but we found out that a little bit longer was the way for us. the meat was very juicy and tender, and it was weird since the meat has been fried for a short time and then grilled. 130 g was half the usual steak size, but since we ate it with rice, the portion was enough for us. i suggested you grilled the slices individually and ate it as soon as it was ready, but you could also cook them all at once then enjoyed it. or did it half-half. anyway.. the place was not too small for a mall stall, but if you brought your kids, you had to make sure that they could sit quietly since there were so many stuff on the tables. i didn't see any kids dining there with us, so i wasn't sure whether or not kids are allowed. the tables was 2-4 chairs per table, but there was bigger table with sofa chair at one side, so probably it was a better seating option if you bring your kids along. anyway.. there were other gyukatsu motomura branches in osaka and other city as well, so make sure to check whether or not you have one near you. totally worth trying, totally worth the hype.