Katsuretsu Co

Tucked into the Mid City Centre off Bourke Street, this is a single-minded tonkatsu counter run by a husband-and-wife team who moved from Kuala Lumpur, built around a dish they returned to again and again in their courting days. The focus rarely wavers from the cutlet: loin pork brined overnight in salt and garlic, crumbed in Japanese nama panko and fried to a pale gold crust with a clean, audible crunch. It comes the traditional way, with shredded cabbage, rice and house-made sauces that range from a straightforward tartare to a darker Nagoya-style miso. Beyond the pork there are prawn and oyster katsu, plus marinated wild mushrooms and a squid salad to cut the richness. The room is small and deliberately plain, with dark walls, sturdy little tables and no bookings, a neighbourhood katsu shop transposed to the city, letting the frying do the talking. Portions are honest and the pace is quick, which suits a lunchtime queue as much as an early dinner. It has drawn comparison to the specialist katsu spots of Japan for its attention to crumb and cut, and it holds that line without straying into novelty or spectacle.