epais

As we are staying at the Hilton Osaka we had the desire to enjoy some local tonkatsu. A few minutes of googling which place to go to I chose epais as it was the closest one to go to after my wife’s hemodialysis session on Wednesday. We didn’t know reservations were required but we arrived before 2:0...0pm and we’re warmly received. We’re lucky to be seated! My wife rides a collapsible electric mobility scooter and I was able to store it to the side upstairs. We chose the tonkatsu 100g and 140g and found each bite to be amazingly tender and juicy. The mushroom truffle croquette was very good too. I misunderstood thinking that the perilla mojito dressing on the side had horseradish so unfortunately I didn’t touch it. Then it was followed by vanilla ice cream and a flavored tea of your choice. The ice cream was so good I wanted to lick the plate! The ambiance was great and relaxing. The wife owner and staff were intrigued by the collapsible scooter so I demonstrated how it opened up and collapsed. They enjoyed my demonstration and the lady server bowed to us at the door as we left. We tried a second return a couple days later on Friday but we were delayed in dialysis. We noticed that the sandwich board on the street entrance was missing so we hoped that we weren’t too late. The wife owner and staff remembered us and were happy to see us again. The wife owner profusely apologized that we had just missed their cutoff time. No problem said the wife owner and to console our disappointment she immediately said she’ll pencil us in for Saturday morning at 11:00am. Gave us a little slip of paper with the date and time. Again she saw us off to the elevator. We had a light breakfast at the hotel and bided our time until our lunch date. We were first in line and again enthusiastically received. After placing our orders the restaurant started to fill up quickly. 10 seats out of 12 were filled. My wife had the same 100g but added the deep fried shrimp and the mushroom and truffle croquette while I went for the chateaubriand 170g set meal with mushroom truffle croquette. Again the quality of the pork, the taste and texture was there again and we were happy. This time we went crazy with the perilla mojito dressing on our shredded cabbage! I had the Suntory Premium Malt Beer and that went well with my dish. All in all we were so happy to enjoy this restaurant one more time before flying home. Our female server and the wife owner saw us off at the door and said come again but we had to tell them that we were flying home. This is a must-visit restaurant if you enjoy pork! Note: I did not know notice from the first time visit that there was a Michelin sticker on the door. Yes they deserve the recognition!

Visited September 2023

I was mistakenly led to believe it was by a web page link somewhere. Even so, the pork cutlet was good, especially the Yamagata cutlet. At almost twice the price of another cut, it was very, very tender. If you want tonkatsu, this restaurant is for you. However, the experience itself was less than g...ood: I asked my hotel's front desk to make a reservation for two at 7:30 but was told only 6:00 was available the restaurant and that it would be cancelled if we were 10 minutes late. When we arrived at 5:50, we got in an elevator with a young man who proceed to enter the restaurant ahead of us but shut the door on us when we tried to enter. Through the glass we could see him changing into waiter's uniform. Confused that we might have gone to the service entrance, we looked around but it was clear that was the restaurant's front entrance. He eventually let us in, without a word of apology. Later, as we were eating, I noticed that there were other tables that were empty for an hour or more. I asked the waiter why they didn't take my reservation for 7:30 when there were empty tables but he just didn't understand me. Also, when my wife tried to order some soft shell crab and 20 cm shrimp, the waiter immediately said they were sold out - this when we were their first customers and it showed the restaurant never had those food items despite listing them on the menu. Final thought: the tonkatsu they served was good (but not worth going to) but the service was the worst.

Visited November 2018

Inconspicious small place on 3rd floor of a building in an alley.To reach there GPS is a must even by taxi. But once inside, the place is like a family dining room. Minimal English is spoken here. So minimal that our reservation has to be made by our hotel staff. An English menu is available. There... are only two people serving you. The man behind the small bar who speak minimal English is also the cook. But to our surprise the pork cutlets they served is out of this world in tenderness, porky taste, thin crispy crumbs, cooked to perfection with pink meat in the centre . Three types of salt is provided: Peruvian, Himalayan, and porcini. Finely shredded cabbage and rice are free flowing. The only dessert provided is ice cream.What a cutlinery experience.

Visited September 2018

I am a tonkatsu lover and when I read about this restaurant on the michelin guide I had to try it. I was told from my hotel concierge that they do not take any more reservations through hotels because they were too many no-shows. I visited there on a weekday lunch and the 1000yen hire and rosu katsu... menus were already sold out. I was seated at 11am sharp and there were two elderly Japanese women who entered about 5 minutes after me. This is when I started to feel awkward. None of the waitresses spoke any English, and they didn't even try. They started serving the Japanese customers first with the appetizers (and also the following main and the dessert). They didn't bother to explain what the appetizers were and just left the dishes on my table. The food was good, though. I had the 2800yen rosu katsu(I think it was Spanish pork but I'm not sure of the name) and I honestly never thought pork meat could have such flavor and smell(in a good way). Tea offered as a dessert was steeped perfectly. It was a pity that the restaurant's service did not meet the price and the quality of the food.

Visited January 2018

Really good quality of Tonkatsu with only 1800 yen lunch. Pork are so delicious. I recommend this restaurant lunch as it is so reasonable.

Visited January 2017