Niigata Tonkatsu Taro とんかつ太郎

We came across this shop in the local brochure of the list of recommended foods in Niigata city. 

Tare Katsu don is a local specialty in Niigata, meaning the pieces of Tonkatsu are dipped in a special sauce before serving it on top of piping hot rice. 

Wanting to find some simple and easy to eat food, we decided on this restaurant, as it was also centrally located at the Furumachi street. 

A simple 2 storey restaurant, with counter seats on the 1st storey and tatami table seats on the 2nd. 

The menu is a simple selection of either teishouku (set with separate rice and miso soup) or don (ingredients are put on top of the rice). 

I ordered the katsu don (JPY970). 5 pieces of tonkatsu over the rice! The meat is not too fatty, but still preserving the juices. And the tare (sauce) makes the meat more flavourful. 

For the big eaters, you can order the tokusei (特製) katsu don with 7 pieces of tonkatsu at JPY1250, or a mini katsu don with 3 pieces of tonkatsu is also available at JPY750. 

L ordered the chicken katsu teishoku (JPY1000) and the chicken was also fried just perfect. Still juicy in the inside while crispy on the outside. 

It's no wonder why Tonkatsu Taro is recommended in the Niigata restaurants brochure. Simple and good value for money food is the best!

Tonkatsu Taro (とんかつ太郎)

新潟市中央区古町6番町973

6-973 Furumachi dori, Niigata shi

Opening hours : 1130 - 1500 hrs / 1700 - 2030hrs (Sat,Sun & PH ~2000hrs)

Closed every Thursday and 3rd Wednesday of the month

Niigata Pia Bandai

One of the major industry in Niigata Prefecture is agriculture. Niigata ranks 2nd after Hokkaido in rice output. 

Niigata is well known in producing a rice variety called "Koshihikari" or what we call 越光米, widely considered to be the highest quality rice produced in Japan. 

We went to a local produce place called Pia Bandai , which sells all types of food, from fresh seafood, to food souvenirs to alcohol. 

 The warehouse here sells koshihikari rice by the weight. Prices are cheap, considering 1kg of koshihikari rice only sells for below JPY500 or SGD7.

This is very common in Japan whereby they will put the farmer's photo and information up, so that you know who grows the produce which you are buying.

Some of the local popular products are the Kuruma fu (くるま麩), which is made of wheat gluten, most suitable for steamboat dishes. Rice crackers are also popular, and hey they are only selling at JPY100 per packet. Cheap! 

These are pears produced in Niigata. All of them look so perfect! should be very sweet too.

These are not ordinary eggs. They are meant to be eaten raw, on top of steaming hot rice. Add a bit of soya sauce (there are special soya sauce which goes with this, see the JPY300 soya sauce on the left), mix them up with the rice, and there you go. A delicious meal. 

Fresh cream rolls are for sale too! They range from a variety of flavours, from original to matcha, coffee, chocolate, blueberry and even caramel. It it wasn't so big, I would have bought one to try too.

These are canned saba (mackerel) in a variety of flavours. Shoyu, Miso or just plain. They are a convenient dish for the Japanese as it can be eaten out from the can. Something like our canned tuna. 

Which Japanese alcohol would you think of which is made from rice? Sake of course. Niigata being the major producer of rice will definitely carry lots of Sake. And the price is affordable too - with average of SGD20 per bottle. 

Hey you can even buy a power ranger Sake! but of course you need to be above 20 to purchase alcohol here in Japan. 

If you have some time to spare, do visit the Niigata Pia Bandai for a little souvenir shopping. Buy some koshihikara rice back too! 

Niigata Pia Bandai

2 Bandaijima, Chuo-ku, Niigata City
新潟市中央区万代島2
www.bandai-nigiwai.jp