At least one thing is for sure, chef actually cares and listens to his customers and I love the no excuses attitude even during tougher times in an already tough industry with low success rate.
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Kudos to chef!
My thinking is: Japanese cuisine is the hardest because it is so nuanced and detail-oriented. Hayato chef trained behind the scenes for how many years at a three-Michelin star restaurant in Tokyo? Shibumi chef is exploring lots of things. I think the food has improved over the years. I thought the rice I had last week was the best I’ve had there. Like I said, the beef is always very good. I enjoy going there. Drinks are great! I miss the cherry-bark-smoked sea trout — they really nailed that.
Bento Sets
All bento sets come with organic California koshihikari rice, potato salad with arabiki sausage, pickled carrot, and spinach ohitashi
wagyu katsu set $52.00
This set includes:
- Wagyu katsu
- Organic California koshihikari rice
- Potato salad with arabiki sausage. pickled carrot
- Spinach ohitashi
chicken katsu set $22.00
This set includes:
- Chicken katsu
- Organic California koshihikari rice
- Potato salad with arabiki sausage, pickled carrot
- Spinach ohitashi
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After-bento bento.
After having a mixed experience with my last shibumi takeout and knowing nothing can top my first bento at hayato, I had to temper my expectations for this chicken katsu bento set.
And I’m happy to report that I was pleasantly surprised how tasty and delicious this was @Chowseeker1999, @Hungrydrunk, @attran99. The chicken is fried fresh when you arrive so it’s piping hot (@TheCookie) and had everything you could ask for, it was tender, juicy, fatty, flavorful, and crispy. It came with, what tasted like, a miso based sauce that was a bit sweet, I liked it quite a bit. The koshihikari rice was also excellent and I really liked the arabiki sausage in the potato salad along with the texture contrast that the pickled carrots provided. The spinach was tasty too with the flavor of bonito and dashi.
I’ll be back to try the wagyu katsu.
The only quibble would be with the packaging, the box needed some kind of tie to keep it closed and the bag was too small for the box.
chicken katsu set - chicken katsu, organic california koshihikari rice, potato salad with arabiki sausage, pickled carrot, spinach ohitashi
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Very nice @PorkyBelly! 
Thanks for the report, and that’s so great to hear that they fry it fresh when you arrive. That makes a big difference.
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How was the rice? I’m curious about California koshihikari rice (Shibumi) vs. koshihikari from Uonuma (Hayato). I’ve been using the latter at home for some time now (with great results), ever since I noticed how disappointed I was with domestic rice after visiting Japan, but I don’t think I ever tried cooking California koshihikari rice.
it was excellent. i think i saw on their IG that they cook individual iron pots of rice for each bento.
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It’s like they’re reading our minds
https://www.instagram.com/p/CDhL_GbjCWD/
Sausage for the tasty potato salad
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I’ve never had a such a well marbled piece of meat used as katsu. Ive only had the premium cuts of pork at higher end tonkatsu shops.
Does a cut such as this translate well as katsu (is it too fatty)? Or is it more of a gimmick? It seems like the equivalent of making a country fried steak out of a 30 day aged ribeye or something.
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I am guessing Chef is trying to be different by not offering tonkatsu?
But, if they were running a tonkatsu bento for ~$30, I would definitely get that.
Not really interested in the chicken and the beef is too $$$$ for me.
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i thought it was tasty, nicely seasoned, crispy, juicy and tender.
but if i had to choose, i would pick the chicken, it’s just as good and less than half the price of the wagyu.
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From what I understand the chef likes to try to showcase certain Japanese dishes in their original historical forms (such as his teriyaki chicken which is like a soy marinated jerky).
While wagyu katsu seems like a recent phenomenon I believe beef is the original meat used for katsu historically .
Also to answer @hungryhungryhippos about if such a high quality cut of meat translates well to katsu, I think it does if the frying is done expertly so that it does not feel greasy/oily from the frying process itself, although one will definitely need some of that katsu sauce to cut the richness.
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I was pretty sure that katsu started with pork.
Reviewing the Japanese Wikipedia entries for katsu and gyu-katsu indicates that katsu started with pork katsu (tonkatsu) in Tokyo and gyu-katsu was a variation that became popular as Western-inspired katsu/fry cooking spread throughout the country to regions where beef was more popular–like Kobe.
Sidenote regarding fried foods: I had the pleasure of trying your pork chop bun two weeks ago. That is some excellent frying you and your team get on the pork. And THANK YOU for not overcooking the pork! It was so good I returned for another one last weekend. Keep up the good work! Looking forward to exploring your menu further!
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Funny the English wikipedia entry states beef was the oirignal meat used:
Tonkatsu originated in Japan in the 19th century. Early katsuretsu was usually beef; the pork version was invented in Japan in 1899 at a restaurant called Rengatei in Tokyo.[1][[2]]
(Tonkatsu - Wikipedia)[3] It was originally considered a type of yōshoku — Japanese versions of European cuisine invented in the late 19th and early 20th centuries—and was called katsuretsu or simply katsu.[4]
But I tend to believe the Japanese edit more, so I’ll defer to you until we can get a real culinary historian to confirm.
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Huh. A good example of why Wikipedia cannot always be trusted. I am not able to verify the [1] and [2] citations.
To get back to the topic at hand, Tonkatsu is definitely at least as “traditional” as gyu-katsu and definitely much more so than chicken katsu. I would love to try Chef Schlosser’s (or Chef @JLee’s!) tonkatsu.
More on tonkatsu:
Most people on this board are fans of Kagura, but my personal favorite is Komatsu. Their Hamburg Steak with demi glace is also 
.
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Never heard of komatsu will have to give that one a try!
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I must have past by there at least 50 times since I was a kid to adult. I think because Carson x Western/Cravens gets all the attention.
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