One Friday, I went out for dinner to celebrate my friend Leanne’s birthday at Gypsy & Pig. This Japanese restaurant specialises in fine cuts of Kurobuta pork, which is pure-bred Berkshire pork. I can attest that their pork dishes are exceptionally delicious! What I found that they do really well is traditional Tonkatsu, which is an original French recipe for crummed and fried pork fillets that are now commonly translated to popular Japanese dishes like Katsudon (crummed, fried pork with sauce on rice). Tonkatsu is thus become a legit traditional Japanese dish, and Gypsy & Pig should be the only place I’ve been in Melbourne to serve it like this.
They have a few awards under their belt, which includes Top of New Restaurants in Australia as voted on by Urban Spoon in 2012. You can find this place tucked away in Melbourne’s Little Lonsdale St in the city. I’ve realised that Little Lonsdale is now becoming a hub for trendy and great food places, and I haven’t had anything bad to eat there yet.
The interior of Gypsy & Pig is small-ish and dimly lit with the sushi kitchen taking up the center of the room. To emphasise their love of all things pig related, they have piggy-themed decor littered all about the place, which includes a flying pig hanging from the ceiling like a chandelier. Kind of a cosy place for small group gatherings I would say.
Everything we had to eat in the menu was good and worthwhile. My favourite of course would be the house specialty which is their Fried Pork Loin. Every table has this set of different sauces which you can add to your pork as per your personal preference. All the sauces were yummy! Other than the pork loin, we had a Miso Hot Pot Soup (which I couldn’t find on the menu on their website. Perhaps a special of the day?) and the Pork, Egg on Fried Rice. Quite a nicely balanced meal for 3 people, with enough room for dessert after. I highly recommend trying this place!
Note: if you’ve mistaken my friend Leanne for my friend Emily, it’s because they’re twins. They are indeed two different people! See my post on Emily’s birthday here.
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