GAVRIFOOD Co., Ltd. (headquartered in Chuo-ku, Tokyo; CEO Yasuhiro Onuma / 大沼康宏) has opened its second location, Tokyo Tonkatsu Gavuu Harajuku, in Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo.
The company's first location, Tokyo Tonkatsu Gavuu Ueno-Okachimachi, opened on April 25, 2025, and was newly selected for the "Tabelog Tonkatsu Top 100 2026" list about ten months later — the fastest selection among the 26 restaurants newly selected for the list.
Building on that track record, the Harajuku location takes a new approach to tonkatsu with two distinct faces: a set-meal lunch and a fully reserved dinner course guaranteeing at least 15 dishes.
For dinner, the restaurant uses four or more brands of pork each day, chosen according to that day's sourcing, and serves cuts such as premium loin, premium fillet, upper loin, belly, and shikinbo in small portions. Because the tonkatsu is served one piece at a time, guests can compare the flavor of different cuts and brands of pork over the course of a single meal.
The course also weaves in dishes beyond tonkatsu, opening with the restaurant's own "Gavuu Special Tan Burger" (がぶう特製たんバーガー) and continuing through chawanmushi, fried scallop, a seasonal specialty dish, and prosciutto honey toast.
Toward the end, the course serves something unexpected for a tonkatsu specialty restaurant: a finishing bowl of ramen.
From "Tonkatsu as a Set Meal" to "Tonkatsu as a Course Experience"
Tonkatsu has long been enjoyed in Japan as a set-meal dish — a single cutlet served with rice, miso soup, and shredded cabbage.
In recent years, though, new styles have emerged, including specialty shops that highlight different pork brands and cuts, and multi-dish "tonkatsu course" formats.
With the Harajuku location, Gavuu wants to push this trend a step further by reconstructing tonkatsu as a course meal.
Rather than a single cutlet that stands alone, the course is built so guests experience each dish as part of a sequence — different pork brands, different cuts, different degrees of cooking, and different fat content and texture, paired with the dishes served in between.
The goal isn't simply to turn tonkatsu into a luxury dish. It's to let guests experience the flavor of pork and tonkatsu in ways a single cutlet can't fully convey. That's why, instead of serving one large cutlet, the restaurant serves several brands and cuts one piece at a time.
Why Does the Tonkatsu Course End With Ramen?
Toward the end of the course comes the finishing ramen.
Despite being a tonkatsu restaurant, the course ends not with rice but with a bowl of ramen.
In the first half and middle of the course, guests work through a variety of tonkatsu made from four or more daily-changing pork brands, along with seasonal specialty dishes, each served in small portions.
The ramen was built into the ending as the dish that carries that experience through to its conclusion.
Rather than "ramen after tonkatsu," the idea is a single tonkatsu course that includes ramen as part of its arc — a dish that represents the Harajuku location's take on the course experience, distinct from a traditional tonkatsu set meal.
Starting With a "Tan Burger," Ending With Ramen: A Course of at Least 15 Dishes
The Harajuku location offers a completely different dining experience depending on the time of day.
Lunch follows a set-meal style, letting guests enjoy a single brand of pork as one cutlet. Carefully selected pork is cut thick and cooked according to the characteristics of each cut, bringing out the texture of the breading alongside the umami of the meat.
Dinner, on the other hand, is a fully reserved, minimum-15-dish omakase course.
Rather than one large cutlet, the course uses four or more carefully selected pork brands each day, with tonkatsu served one piece at a time.
Loin, fillet, belly, shikinbo, and other cuts each carry their own sweetness of fat, umami, and texture, all of which guests can compare within a single course.
The pork brands used aren't fixed — they're chosen daily based on factors such as that day's sourcing, so guests may encounter different brands of tonkatsu depending on when they visit.
The course isn't built around tonkatsu alone, either. It opens with the "Gavuu Special Tan Burger," then weaves in specialty dishes such as cabbage with black truffle dressing, chawanmushi, fried scallop, and prosciutto honey toast between servings of tonkatsu, with the specialty dishes changing seasonally.
With the pork brands changing daily and the specialty dishes changing seasonally, guests can expect a different course depending on when they visit.
Toward the end, the course returns to premium loin and premium fillet, followed by the finishing ramen, before closing with panna cotta.
Sample Course for August 2026
- Gavuu Special Tan Burger
- Cabbage With Black Truffle Dressing
- Premium Loin
- Chawanmushi
- Premium Fillet
- Upper Loin
- Fried Scallop
- Sweet Vinegar-Pickled Tomato
- Pork Belly
- Prosciutto Honey Toast
- Shikinbo
- Chilled Corn Soup
- Premium Loin
- Premium Fillet
- Finishing Chilled Ramen
- Panna Cotta
The dishes above are a sample course as of August 2026. A minimum of 15 dishes is guaranteed. The pork brands used for the tonkatsu are changed daily based on sourcing, with four or more brands used each day, and the tonkatsu is served one piece at a time. The restaurant is unable to accommodate food allergies.
Price: ¥14,850 (tax included), including all-you-can-drink
Dining time: 1 hour 30 minutes (last order at 1 hour 15 minutes)
Removing the Worry of "How Much Will This Add Up To?"
The Harajuku location's dinner course pairs at least 15 dishes — roughly 700g in total, excluding the ramen broth — with all-you-can-drink alcohol and soft drinks, all for ¥14,850 (tax included). The service charge is included as well, so there are no additional costs.
The idea behind this pricing is to let guests enjoy the course fully, without worrying about portion size or extra charges.
With course meals, the final bill can grow if a guest needs to order additional items, or if the total rises each time a drink is added to pair with a dish. The Harajuku location aims to remove that concern as much as possible.
The tonkatsu is served in small portions across many dishes, but the course as a whole is designed to add up to roughly 700g in total.
The all-you-can-drink lineup isn't limited to drinks set aside just for that purpose, either — it includes the same drinks served at lunch. For example, the craft beer COEDO, priced at ¥935 (tax included) per bottle at lunch, and sake priced between ¥1,100 and ¥2,200 (tax included) per glass, are both included in the dinner course at no extra charge.
The goal is to let guests focus on the food and drink itself, from the first dish to the last, without wondering how much the bill will add up to by the end of the meal.
Why Harajuku
The Harajuku and Jingumae area has long been a birthplace of new culture in fashion, music, and art. Tonkatsu, meanwhile, has been enjoyed as an everyday part of Japanese food culture for more than a century.
By bringing together this "birthplace of culture" and this "everyday food," Gavuu aims to introduce new possibilities for tonkatsu. At the Harajuku location, lunch represents tonkatsu as an everyday meal, while dinner represents tonkatsu as an experience — two takes on tonkatsu food culture under one roof.
Opening Campaign: 1,000 Bottles of "Gavuu Special Black Truffle Dressing," Worth a Total of ¥1.08 Million
To mark the opening of the Harajuku location, starting August 17, 2026, guests visiting the Ueno-Okachimachi location will receive a voucher card for the "Gavuu Special Black Truffle Dressing."
The campaign gives away 1,000 bottles of the dressing, normally priced at ¥1,080 (tax included) each, for a total value of ¥1.08 million.
The dressing being given away is the same one served in the Harajuku location's dinner course, as the "Cabbage With Black Truffle Dressing." Guests can take home a taste of what's served in the restaurant.
Campaign Overview
- Distribution starts: August 17, 2026
- Distribution location: Tokyo Tonkatsu Gavuu Ueno-Okachimachi
- Eligibility: Guests who visit the Ueno-Okachimachi location during the campaign period
- Gift: Gavuu Special Black Truffle Dressing
- Regular price: ¥1,080 (tax included)
- Quantity: 1,000 bottles
- Redemption location: Tokyo Tonkatsu Gavuu Harajuku
- Redemption condition: One or more teishoku set meal orders per person at the Harajuku location (see the back of the shop card for details)
- Redemption deadline: November 30, 2026
The campaign ends once the planned quantity of dressing has been given out.
A Message From GAVRIFOOD
GAVRIFOOD CEO Yasuhiro Onuma commented on the new location:
"Having the Ueno-Okachimachi location selected for the Top 100 list was a major milestone for us. But rather than simply repeat that success, we felt we should create the next form of tonkatsu.
"Tonkatsu is a dish that's complete in a single cutlet. That's exactly why we believe that by breaking apart the differences within that one cutlet — the brand, the cut, the way it's cooked — and reconstructing them as a course served one piece at a time, we can deliver flavors that a single cutlet can't fully convey.
"At the Harajuku location, we choose four or more pork brands each day, offering not just loin and fillet but cuts like belly and shikinbo as well. We also change the specialty dishes with the seasons, aiming for a course where guests can find something new depending on when they visit.
"Seasonal specialty dishes and fried items appear along the way, and the course finishes with ramen. We wanted to create a place where the many flavors of tonkatsu come together as a single story, and to send out a new way of enjoying tonkatsu from the town of Harajuku."
Store Information
Tokyo Tonkatsu Gavuu Harajuku
| Address | 6F, Shibuhara XROSS (渋原XROSS), 6-29-4 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo |
| Access | 1-minute walk from Meiji-Jingumae (Harajuku) Station, Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Line; 1-minute walk from Meiji-Jingumae (Harajuku) Station, Tokyo Metro Chiyoda Line; 6-minute walk from Harajuku Station, JR Yamanote Line; 10-minute walk from Omotesando Station, Tokyo Metro Ginza Line and Hanzomon Line |
| Hours | Lunch (no reservations): 11:30 AM to 3:00 PM (last order 2:00 PM). Dinner (fully reserved): first seating 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM, second seating 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM. Dinner reservations are available only through Tabelog; check Tabelog for regular closing days. |
| Tabelog | https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1306/A130601/13324273/ |
| https://www.instagram.com/gavuu_harajuku/ |
Tokyo Tonkatsu Gavuu Ueno-Okachimachi
| Address | B1F, OGS II, 4-6-4 Ueno, Taito-ku, Tokyo |
| Hours | Lunch (no reservations): 11:30 AM to 3:00 PM (last order 2:00 PM). Dinner (reservations available): 5:30 PM to 9:00 PM (last order 8:00 PM). Dinner reservations are available only through Tabelog; check Instagram for closing days. |
| Tabelog | https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1311/A131101/13308066/ |
| https://www.instagram.com/tokyo.tonkatsu.gavuu/ |
