Ameyoko Market Staple · Fried Meat Patty
Menchi Katsu
Photo: Hajime NAKANO (jetalone) / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0
One popular story credits Ginza's Western-style restaurant Rengatei, opened in 1895, with the first menchi katsu, though its origin is disputed; it only became cheap street food once neighborhood butchers started frying their own patties.
Ground meat mixed with onion and breadcrumbs is shaped into a flat patty, breaded and deep-fried until deeply crisp, then handed over on its own or tucked into a bun as a hot, walk-and-eat snack.
Why it's made this way: Tokyo's Ameyoko market, born as a black-market strip by Ueno Station after WWII, is still lined with butcher stalls like Niku no Ohyama, open since 1932, where people queue for menchi katsu fried fresh in full view of the crowd.
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Part of World of Street Food — 3443 dishes from 118 countries.
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