Is katsudon a dish best served cold? Trying out the new Hiyashi Dashi Katsudon in Tokyo

7 hours ago 4

Most people would say that there aren’t a lot of similarities between revenge and a pork cutlet bowl/katsudon. Among other key differences, revenge often leaves one feeling empty and consumed by sadness, while consuming katsudon is one of the quickest ways to achieve both fullness and joy.

But could it be that these two things, opposites in so many ways, are both dishes best served cold?

We’re willing to accept the old adage about the ideal temperature of revenge at its word, but testing the merits of cold katsudon is a little trickier. Unlike, say, soba noodles or edamame, which are commonly eaten both hot and cold in Japan, pretty much no restaurants serve cold katsudon. Nobody, that is, but katsudon chain Yoshibei.

Until very recently, if you wanted to go to Yoshibei you had to go to either Hyogo or Osaka Prefecture. Luckily for us, though, just this past June Yoshibei opened its very first east Japan branch, in downtown Tokyo’s Ikebukuro neighborhood, not too far from SoraNews24 HQ. This meant we were now within lunchtime striking distance of Yoshibei’s cold Hiyashi Dashi Katsudon, a special limited-time item it’s added to the menu for the summer.

The 980-yen Hiyashi Dashi Katsudon’s rhyming name is a result of it not only being served cold (hiyashi), but also with dashi, a mixture of bonito stock and soy sauce. After ordering the Hiyashi Dashi Katsudon, we waited for the server to bring us our katsudon…

Image: SoraNews24

…and its accompanying bottle of dashi, which had been thoroughly chilled and was very cold to the touch.

At this point, the katsudon is basically a variant on “sauce katsudon,” with a glaze brushed onto the top of the cutlet, but with the addition of some sliced negi (green onion), nori (dried seaweed) and sesame seeds. The final step to transform it into Hiyashi Dashi Katsudon is left to diners themselves to perform, by raising the bottle and pouring its contents into the bowl.

It was at this point that it dawned on us that the katsudon’s additional toppings of nori and sesame seeds are also common components of ochazuke, a bowl of rice with dashi and/or green tea poured over it. And sure enough, the Hiyashi Dashi Katsudon’s rice now tasted amazing, with the mixture of strong flavors and cold temperature refreshing and invigorating us on what had been another in the long string of super-hot days Japan has had this summer.

Turning to the cutlet, it too had absorbed the additional flavor of the dashi, and to our surprise, the breading on the pieces of pork had retained its light crispiness, with no unpleasant sogginess having been introduced to the texture.

However, things were about to get kicked up even one notch higher on the scale of deliciousness. If you’ve got sharp eyes, you might have noticed one ingredient in these photos that we haven’t mentioned yet, and that we didn’t expect to see either because it’s left out of the Hiyashi Dashi Katsudon’s name: yuzu kosho. This citrus chili paste is a zesty wasabi substitute, and mixing it into the dashi enhanced it with a quick kick of tart spice.

▼ The yuzu kosho sits atop the rice when the Hiyashi Dashi Katsudon is served, but Yoshibei has sort of buried the lede by leaving it out of the dish’s name, since it’s not a standard katsudon condiment.

Put it all together, and the Hiyashi Dashi Katsudon is unique without feeling discordant, hearty enough to satisfy a healthy appetite but cold enough to still feel refreshing. Add in the fact that, like with ochazuke, it’s OK to eat it with a spoon, and we polished ours off, happily, in lightning time.

So, as weird as the idea seemed to us at first, cold katsudon really is great, and while you can only take revenge once, we’re looking forward to repeating this meal a few more times before summer is over.

Related: Yoshibei location list