There are plenty of eateries on the street commonly called Fighters Street in the Tetto district, not far from JR Sapporo City. I visited the popular Western-style restaurant "味かつ" for lunch for the first time in a while. Autumn Fest is a large food festival held every autumn in Sapporo's Odori Park. 味かつ has a stall there selling its hugely popular menchi katsu. I thought about getting the menchi katsu set, but ended up choosing the stamina set with strongly seasoned grilled pork. I realized afterward that I'd eaten exactly the same thing on my previous visit. A large plate with plenty of grilled meat and cabbage. The seasoning is close to ginger pork, but a little different. The thinly sliced meat is tender and well infused with flavor. Even a little meat makes the rice go down easily. The rice itself is glossy and delicious too. There's a ジューシー焼き set featuring grilled beef short ribs, so maybe I'll have that next time.

+3

Generous portions! A blissful lunch with 「佑ちゃんスペシャル」 that satisfies both heart and stomach I visited the long-established 「味かつ 本店」 on Fighters Street, not far from Sapporo Station. The interior is decorated with Fighters-related memorabilia, creating a warm atmosphere that's exciting even if you're not a fan. The extensive lunch menu made it hard to choose, but this time I ordered 「佑ちゃんスペシャル定食」, reputed to be generously portioned. The plate that arrived was truly a 「children's lunch for adults」! A large menchi katsu, plenty of pork, and an onsen egg sitting in the center. The rice was almost hidden beneath the toppings, which got me excited. The menchi katsu had a crisp coating, with meat juices oozing from inside. It paired beautifully with the sauce. The sweet and savory pork made the rice go down easily, and breaking the onsen egg over it added a mellow richness that kept me eating. 「A mischievous lunch」 was the perfect description: an excellent dish for when you want a hearty meal. I'd like to try the hamburger steak next time!

This place opens at 11:30. I wanted to visit for a weekday lunch, so I arrived at 11:15 and waited outside in pole position. They let me in about 5 minutes early. I ordered メンチカツスタミナ定食, 1,000円. They told me serving would take time, so I understood, but still,, 25 minutes to serve the very first customer⁉️ So slow. Other customers kept arriving after 11:40, so who knows when their food would come… The menchi katsu has a distinctive buttery flavor. The stamina part is ginger pork. The rice portion is generous, but not that great, I guess… On the other hand, they cleared the dishes within seconds of finishing… Hmm, warning that service takes time isn't a universal excuse. Access isn't good either, so I don't plan to return. Thanks for the meal

+2

This is 味かつ本店, a long-established Western-style restaurant in Higashi-ku, Sapporo. It gets crowded at lunchtime, so I lined up outside 10 minutes before opening and was the first to enter. As soon as I entered, I was asked, 「Do you smoke?」, so I chose the smoking section without hesitation. I was shown to my seat before I even had time to make the Japanese pun, 「Sorry. I do smoke.」 The lady is efficient. Wonderful. We had 「ハンバーグヒレカツ定食」 and 「ハンバーグ海老フライ定食」. Yes. Almost everything is homemade. The hamburger steak uses mixed ground meat, with a slightly higher proportion of beef and a fairly firm texture. The shape is a little uneven, but that lets you enjoy its meatiness. With little binder, it tasted closer to a patty. The nutmeg aroma was faint. The fried shrimp and pork fillet cutlets were homemade too. Any unpleasant odor was properly removed, and the thin coating keeps them from sitting heavily in your stomach as you eat. Lovely fried food for fans of finely ground breadcrumbs. But if I start talking about demi-glace sauce, it'll get ridiculously long, so I'll leave that alone. What matters is that they're delivering food at a level most people would find delicious for under 1,000円. That's wonderful. The building is also remarkable. There's old, and then there's this. It's definitely older than I am. First the exterior surprises you, then the smoking seats, and finally the food and prices. And throughout, it's relaxed and a bit haphazard. All in a good way, of course. Opinions on smoking may differ, but allowing different groups their own spaces matters in everything. Whether to accept something is each person's decision, but that doesn't make it acceptable to insult or exclude people you can't accept for that reason. These are precisely the places I want to keep going for many years. I'm thoroughly fed up with big companies opening trendy restaurant formats, then changing the sign when the trend fades. ……Well, never mind. Nothing I say will change the world. For me, places like 味かつ本店 are the ones I want to see last. I sincerely hope they do.

+3

【下町の洋食居酒屋 味かつ 本店】😃 I had a seminar in the afternoon, so I stopped here for lunch beforehand😃 ・Parking: None; use nearby paid parking. ・Seating: Counter seats, tables, and a raised tatami area. ・Payment: Order while seated, pay at the register. ・Hours: 11:30–13:30, 17:00–21:00 ・Closed: Sundays and public holidays ・Reservations: Accepted This time I ordered 『メンチカツ海老フライ定食(980円)』😆 I'd wanted to come here ever since seeing it on TV😆 Finally made it😭 Even though I arrived only about 10 minutes after opening, I barely got a counter seat😅 The tables and raised tatami seats at the back were almost full by around 12:00😅 Such a popular place😆 The set meal I'd been looking forward to had crispy fried shrimp😆 The menchi katsu too, of course😆 I chose Japanese-style sauce this time, but next time I'll try demi-glace too😆 A very satisfying lunch😆