Katsu Zen Brings J-Style Solo Dining to Honolulu’s Tonkatsu Scene

Photo: Melissa Chang

Ilove eating with friends, but that’s not always feasible. Sometimes, I have a spontaneous break in my schedule to grab a bite. Or I might get a craving, but not everyone is in the mood for fried food. So impromptu solo dining for me usually means a bottle of water and a bag of kakimochi.

Enter Katsu Zen, Honolulu’s newest tonkatsu restaurant. It’s not a typical restaurant, though. If you’ve been to Japan, you may be familiar with the “flavor concentration booths” at Ichiran, where you have a completely private, solo ramen dining experience. You don’t have to talk to anyone, not even the staff.

Photo: Melissa Chang

Katsu Zen is a similar experience, only the entrée is katsu. Tonkatsu. Chicken katsu. Menchi katsu. Katsu don. It’s not a plate lunch—you get a full set on nice plates and bowls, so you can slow down and enjoy your meal instead of blowing through it.

You grab a seat at the partitioned counter, scan the QR code to order, and the kitchen magically knows which window to deliver the order to. If you need something, you ring the buzzer and hand the anonymous server a card that reads “more water please,” “more cabbage please,” “more rice please,” or “I’m getting up for a moment, I’ll be back in less than 10 minutes,” so they don’t take away your food. If you go with a friend, you can unlatch the partitions between seats.

SEE ALSO: Tonkatsu Tamafuji, One of Honolulu’s Hardest-to-Get Reservations, Plans to Expand

I wondered about the food since Katsu Zen is owned by the same people who brought us Fat Cheeks lobster rolls and Little G’s pizza and monster-size sandwiches (the space, in fact, was previously Little G’s). Then I found out that before these businesses, they trained in high-end Japanese dining. Wanting a no-frills katsu experience, they shut down Fat Cheeks and Little G’s and opened Katsu Zen.

Photo: Melissa Chang

At all katsu spots in town, my favorite is always the chicken katsu set ($19, soft opening price). Here, the panko is lightly crunchy, not greasy, and the chicken is moist. It’s even good on its own without any sauce. I ate all the cabbage with the house-made goma dressing and loved how the pickles cut the richness of the fried food. The set comes with miso soup, but it’s worth the $1.50 upgrade for the richer, heartier pork soup.

Most people will come for the tonkatsu set ($27 for 240 grams, $25 for 180 grams, both soft opening prices). This gets mixed reviews, but on my visits, the pork was moist, tender and fried perfectly. You can tell if the cutlet is fried at the wrong temperature if the meat falls out of the crust when you pick up a slice.

If you’re more into seafood, a tiger shrimp katsu set ($23 soft opening price) offers three large head-on shrimp, fried to a nice crunch so you can munch on the legs and miso if you want.

Photo: Melissa Chang

For something different, you could try the pork menchikatsu set ($18), which includes three ground pork cutlets.

Photo: Melissa Chang

You can get any of the proteins on a rice bowl as katsu donburi, which doesn’t come with cabbage. But the eggs scrambled with onions and dashi poured over the rice are so good, you will fill up on that anyway. Often, restaurants will mix the katsu in with the egg, but here, they place the katsu on top so it retains its crunchiness. I appreciated this because I was so full, I had to take half the katsu home, and it was good to have leftovers that didn’t go soggy. I tried the pork loin katsudon ($26 for 240 grams; $24 for 180 grams, both soft opening prices) and the tiger shrimp katsudon ($22 soft opening price), and both were really filling.

All meal sets come with dessert, so when you’re ready, you can ring the bell to ask for it. The first time I went, it was mochi ice cream; the second time, it was a mini fruit tart.

It was nice to eat a hot meal solo, on nice plates and bowls, without feeling awkward. And since you pay through the website, you just walk away when you’re done.

I’m told secret menu items will launch this week, which you can access with the right seat and a password. Non-traditional katsu sandos—think tonkatsu with shiso pesto and burrata—or roast beef sandwiches may also come out this week. And breakfast is planned for early September.

There’s more. If you’re missing Fat Cheeks and Little G’s, you’ll find their food in new spots around town. The owners plan to open a wine bar in September at 1236 Waimanu St. Also in the fall, they plan another spot in Stix Asia in Waikīkī Shopping Plaza, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. That venue will serve their pizzas, sandwiches and more.

Open Tuesday to Sunday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. (last order 7:30 p.m.), 808 Sheridan St., Ke‘eaumoku,  katsu-zen.com, @katsuzenhawaii

Melissa Chang is a longtime contributor to Frolic Hawai‘i. @melissa808