If you haven’t eaten a katsu sando yet, there’s a good chance you soon will. Every year we tackle an onslaught of food trends; we’ve seen the rise and fall of courgetti and the weary acceptance of smashed avocado; we’ve recoiled in horror at the abomination that is the unicorn latte and we continue to enjoy the blissful carb-heavy highs of the pasta renaissance.
As for 2019, it undoubtedly belongs to the katsu sando – a Japanese take on the sandwich which sees breaded pork, tangy sauce and shredded cabbage tucked into two slices of fluffy brioche. Since they hit our shores Instagram has been awash with crispy cutlet cross-sections, and long may it continue; not only does the pleasing geometry and perfect meaty cuisson make the sando a bonafide social media star, it also does the business in the flavour department too. We’re no strangers to the joys of breaded, deep-fried meat and the UK is famously fond of a sandwich, but the katsu sando takes this combo to new levels entirely.
Flick through #katsusando on Instagram and you’ll see hundreds of imposter sandos. Some are worthy pretenders to the throne; others are just regular sandwiches masquerading as the sandwich du jour. If you’re after the original sando – the one true sando that rules them all – you’ll need to visit Tōu, the bready brainchild of Tātā Eatery founders Zijun Meng and Ana Gonçalves.
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Tātā Eatery: land of the rising sando