Our obsession with breaded cutlets goes back about 900 years when a monk in the Basilica di Sant’Ambrogio in Milan presented lombolos cum panitio in a banquet for the Benedictines. In the times since that crumbed loin was set before the robed monastics, cooks have formulated such instant classics as veal Milanese, wiener schnitzel and chicken-fried steak. East African beef cutless happen to be a personal fave of mine, but I, like many others in Orlando, have grown particularly fond of katsu. Recent indulgences at Chidon Katsu Palace inside H Mart and Cowboy Curry inside Mills Market have firmly placed the deep-fried, panko-coated wonders on my frequently ordered list. I also make it at home — quite often, in fact — but it never really turns out restaurant quality.
So it’s a good thing we have a restaurant devoted solely to katsu. It’s called Yumee Katsu, according to the marquee; though it’s also called Yumikatsu, according to their website. No matter how you spell it, yummy it is as evidenced by the Korean chain’s 100-plus locations in the homeland, Australia, California, Arizona, Georgia and, now, Florida.
Naturally, it made sense to order the king don katsu ($19), the Korean variant of Japanese katsu, and one that bears similarity to traditional Viennese schnitzel. The pork is pounded really thin before being breaded and fried, resulting in a circumference as large as my face. Which is where it eventually ended up, though with great effort, seeing as the katsu is big enough for two and is served in the teishoku (or “set menu”) style with a demi-glace-ish dipping sauce, miso soup, cabbage, kimchi, pickled daikon, and rice sprinkled with sesame and salty seaweed. Most impressive, however, was how juicy this thin cutlet remained, and how copious the amount of fallen panko I managed to scatter all over myself…