tonkatsu wako

today was actually our anniversary day. but we didn't plan anything special because this whole trip was special since we didn't our kids along, and we treated ourselves with good food so far, so everything was special. since we didn't have any plan for the night, we decided just stroll around kyoto station area and grabbed dinner at the station. at first we thought about giving moritaya a try. it was a pretty famous sukiyaki place and it was quite expensive, but it seemed popular and we found out there was one brand at kyoto station, so we thought we could try it. but the time we got there, even though it was not dinner time, the queue was quite long. the average time for eating sukiyaki were about 60 minutes, and there were about 5-6 names before us, so it would be quite some time before we could get inside and i've already starving so we decided to just go to tonkatsu wako which we knew was on the same floor because we've been there with the kids 2 years ago.

tonkatsu wako was on 11th floor of JR isetan at kyoto station. it's a little bit confusing finding the place, so when you got off the elevator, you should check the floor inventory and found it on the map, then you should walk to the right. walk straight and after passing several shops, you could see wako on your left. if you wanted to find moritaya, somewhere along the way the alley had branch and moritaya was on the right branch. inside, there were several tables with initially 2 chairs per table, but they gathered some table so it could fit 4 people per table. there were high chairs facing the counters, so if you had odd numbered group, they would probably put you on the counter seats. they did have high chair for kids, but basically it was a booster seat without any belt so if you're bringing baby, then it might not be safe. but it was okay for toddlers. anyway, i brought my own booster seat the first time and they were okay and let me use it.

ajisai set

i completely forgot which one we ordered the last time, so we ordered probably something new. there was english menu, so don't worry. i picked the ajisai set and husband picked the rosukatsu nabe gohan. they also had kids menu but it was only one choice. and they gave free toys along with the kids menu, so made sure you bought one for each kids. my ajisai set came with rice, miso soup and chawan mushi  (steamed egg) and a bit of salad. didn't like the salad, but everything else was delicious. the miso soup also had clamshells, but it was way smaller than the one i got in the sushi stall. but it was delicious as well. all the fried stuff was delicious too. the pork meat was tender and juicy, not too dry. even though they're fried, they were not oily at all. the portion was generous enough.

rosukatsu nabe gohan

now, even though the set came with a bowl of rice, what i didn't know was, you could ask for more rice or salad or miso soup for free. i didn't know that at first. when we were there the first time, i only ordered one kids menu because my second one only like chawan mushi so it seemed wasteful to order a full set that didn't have chawan mushi. so i gave her my chawan mushi at that time and shared the rice. but then the waiter saw us and gave me another bowl of rice, and when i paid, they didn't charge it. probably that's why... because they gave the second bowl for free.

i didn't try my husband's so i couldn't say much, but he said that it was delicious. but he didn't ask for more rice. in fact, it was me who asked for more rice, and it surprised the waiter. and i finished the second bowl as well. so probably that gave you sign that it really was delicious. moreover, it tasted better with warm rice. really.. their rice was different. anyway, price wise, it was a bit pricey, but it was worth it. and don't worry, if you're not in kyoto, you could find it elsewhere around japan. you just need to google it and made sure which one is the nearest from you.