🍜 Katsudon (Rice Topped with Pork Cutlet)
When ordering “katsudon” in Yamanashi prefecture, the rice dish is served with julienned cabbage and pork cutlet on top. A thick sauce is poured on top of the ingredients and when combined with the freshly cooked pork cutlet, the soup from the meat and the sauce are delicious together. The cabbage tones down the oil from the pork, and one can fully enjoy this dish until the end. In other prefectures of Japan, “katsudon” is made with egg but this dish is called “ni-katsudon” in Yamanashi. It is said that “katsudon” was first made in Yamanashi during the Meiji era, at a soba shop. It is said that the owner of “Okumura Honten,” a soba shop in Yamanashi with a 360-year history, visited Tokyo during the Meiji era and ate pork cutlet there. He loved the pork cutlet so much that he wanted to serve it at his soba shop as well. At the time, soba shops mainly delivered the noodles to peoples' houses so he created a new menu that could be served in one bowl, which is how “katsudon” is said to have been born in Yamanashi.