Gyukatsu Kyoto Katsugyu vs Motomura: what differs

Gyukatsu Kyoto Katsugyu has several cuts and sauces. A sirloin set is 2,409 yen at the Pontocho Shijo Ohashi shop; Motomura's 130g set is 2,110 yen in Shibuya. Both fry the beef medium rare. Katsugyu, founded in Kyoto in 2014, is the one to pick if you want to choose a cut and change the flavour as you eat. Motomura is the simpler ritual: one style of cutlet, finished on a hot stone at your seat.

How they differ

Katsugyu started in Kyoto, and its head shop is still Pontocho Honten. The official menu lets you choose a cut: chuck tail flap (the original "red" cut, called haneshita, served since the first shop), sirloin (the classic "white" cut), tenderloin, beef tongue, and Japanese black wagyu or domestic black beef at a higher price. Half-and-half sets, mixing two cuts, are offered at many shops. The first bite is meant to be taken with plenty of fresh wasabi and dashi soy sauce; later bites can use sansho pepper salt, gyukatsu sauce with ground sesame, Kyoto-style curry, citrus ponzu with grated daikon, or a dashi onsen egg. The official policy is a thin panko crust, fried at 180 to 200 degrees Celsius for 60 to 120 seconds, so the centre stays pink.

Motomura fries a lean beef cutlet medium rare, then you sear each slice on a small hot stone on your tray, to your own taste, and dip it in wasabi soy sauce or rock salt. The official advice is to try the first slice as it is, then with salt, then with mountain wasabi, and to finish with dashi over rice if you want. You choose a weight, not a cut: 130g, 195g or 260g (also listed as 1, 1.5 or 2 pieces). One rice refill is free; cabbage and miso soup refills are 100 yen. Extra cutlet can be added if you ordered a set, and older guests and children can ask for the meat cooked through.

So the choice is really this. Katsugyu is a longer, sauce-led set with a choice of cuts. Motomura is a shorter, stone-led set with one cut in three sizes.

What to order

At Gyukatsu Kyoto Katsugyu. If you want the balance of lean meat and fat, start with the sirloin gyukatsu zen. If you want a leaner, more purely beef flavour, the chuck tail flap is the original house cut. Tenderloin is the lighter, low-fat option, and tongue is cut thick for a firmer bite. Menus vary by shop, so read the board. For two people, a half-and-half set is a straightforward way to compare cuts, where the shop offers it.

At Gyukatsu Motomura. Start with the 130g gyukatsu set with three side dishes, which is enough for most appetites. Step up to 195g or 260g if you are very hungry. Lay each slice on the stone for a few seconds, then eat it while it still sizzles. The ago dashi chazuke, medium rare cutlet in a flying fish broth, is the other dish worth a look. For the fuller Motomura order, queue and Tokyo branch list, see the Gyukatsu Motomura page.

What it costs

Prices vary by shop, and Katsugyu's official menu page does not list yen figures. These are official shop prices, tax included, as of November 2026:

At Katsugyu's Pontocho Shijo Ohashi shop, the sirloin set is 2,409 yen for the regular size and 2,959 yen for the large. The chuck tail flap (haneshita) set is 2,959 yen or 3,729 yen. Tenderloin is 3,839 yen, thick-cut tongue is 3,289 yen, and Japanese black wagyu sirloin is 5,489 yen. Rice refills at this shop are charged: 385 yen for a regular bowl and 440 yen for a large one; a second miso soup is 308 yen and more cabbage is 275 yen.

At Motomura in Shibuya, from the booking page, the 130g set with three side dishes is 2,110 yen, the 195g set is 2,810 yen, and the 260g set is 3,290 yen. The same three prices appear on Motomura's November 2026 notice for its new Osaka shop, so they are a useful guide, but the official menu still says prices can differ by location.

A regular set at either chain typically costs a little over 2,000 yen. The gap widens if you step up to wagyu at Katsugyu, or to Motomura's larger weights.

The queue, booking and when to go

Motomura's official reservation page says the shops get busy at peak hours and recommends booking ahead. Advance bookings, where a shop offers them, are made on TableCheck. Kyoto Shinkyogoku is one Motomura shop that does not take reservations. For same-day waiting, CatchTable's web waiting list has been available since 21 September 2026 at almost all Motomura shops in Japan, except Tachikawa Grand Duo, Sunshine Ikebukuro and Naha Kokusai Dori. You can also take a ticket on the machine in the shop. Arrive at the 11:00 opening, or between lunch and dinner, if you have not booked.

Katsugyu does not publish a single booking rule for every shop. Some locations take online reservations (the Pontocho Shijo Ohashi shop accepts them 24 hours a day). Others are walk-in. Check the store page for the shop you will actually visit. Hours also vary: Pontocho Honten is open 11:00 to 22:30, last order 22:00; Kyoto Ekimae, by Kyoto Station, opens earlier, at 10:30, and closes at 22:30, last order 22:00; Shibuya Dogenzaka is open 10:30 to 22:00, last order 21:30, with a weekday lunch menu until 15:00.

Lunch and dinner in the busiest tourist streets are the crush at both chains. There is no official wait in minutes.

Where to find them

Both chains have many shops in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, so you rarely need to cross the city for one or the other.

Kyoto, for Katsugyu. The head shop, Pontocho Honten, is at 188 Zaimokucho, a 2 minute walk from Keihan Sanjo and subway Sanjo Keihan, and is open 11:00 to 22:30. Other useful shops include Kyoto Ekimae, a 3 minute walk from Kyoto Station; Kyoto Yodobashi; Gion Yasaka; Kiyomizu Gojozaka; Fushimi Inari; Teramachi Kyogoku; Shijo Kawaramachi; Sanjo Kawaramachi; Arashiyama; and newer 2026 shops at SUINA Muromachi, Kyoto Station Hachijo Exit Miyakomichi, Pontocho Shijo Ohashi, and Fushimi Inari Taisha Mae. The official store list has the full set.

Kyoto, for Motomura. There are three shops: Kyoto Porta, directly connected to Kyoto Station, open 11:00 to 22:00, last order 21:30; Shinkyogoku, a 7 minute walk from Kyoto Kawaramachi and Kyoto City Hall Station; and Sanjo Kawaramachi, just across Sanjo Ohashi from Keihan Sanjo. Shinkyogoku does not take reservations; Sanjo Kawaramachi does.

Tokyo. Motomura is dense in Shibuya (main shop, Annex, Center Street), Shinjuku (main, south exit, Alta back street, Nishi-Shinjuku), plus Harajuku, With Harajuku, Ikebukuro, Sunshine Ikebukuro, Ueno, Akihabara, Asakusa, COREDO Muromachi, Tofrom Yaesu by Tokyo Station, and more. Katsugyu's central Tokyo shops include Shibuya Dogenzaka (Century Shibuya B1F, 1-19-14 Dogenzaka, a 5 minute walk from Shibuya Station), Harajuku Meiji-dori, Shinjuku Otakibashi-dori, Yotsuya Sanchome, Akihabara in Yodobashi Akiba, Ikebukuro Tobu, Asakusa Orange Street, Tokyo Dome and DiverCity Tokyo Plaza.

Osaka. Motomura has several Namba and Dotonbori shops, plus Umeda EST and LUCUA (LUCUA is open 11:00 to 23:00, last order 22:30). A Nishi-Shinsaibashi shop is listed as opening on 25 November 2026, and an East Shinsaibashi shop on 21 December 2026; confirm on the official list before you plan around them. Katsugyu has shops at Namba Ekimae, Namba Walk, Namba Sennichimae, Dotonbori, Umeda, Yodobashi LINKS Umeda, Shin-Osaka, Abeno, Universal Citywalk and others.

Motomura also has shops in Yokohama, Gotemba, Fukuoka, Naha and Taiwan. Katsugyu is much wider in Japan (Nara, Kobe, Kanazawa, Nagoya, Hiroshima, Kumamoto and more) and has overseas shops, including Singapore.

The official store lists are the place to check hours before you go, because mall shops follow the building, and some Motomura and Katsugyu locations close earlier than the usual 22:00.

Payment at Katsugyu's Pontocho Honten, Kyoto Ekimae and Shibuya Dogenzaka shops is listed as cash, electronic money, credit cards and QR codes. Motomura's official shop pages do not list payment methods, so bring a card and some cash.

Which to pick

Pick Katsugyu if you want to choose a cut, or to spend a meal moving through wasabi and dashi, sansho salt, curry and ponzu. It is also the easier one to try in Kyoto, because the brand started there and the shops are close to the station, Pontocho, Gion and Fushimi Inari.

Pick Motomura if you want a simpler set and the stone at the table. The 130g set is a clean, mid-sized lunch, and the Shibuya and Shinjuku clusters make it easy to fit around a Tokyo day. Booking or a CatchTable ticket takes the sting out of the line.

If you have two meals to spare, try Motomura in Tokyo and Katsugyu in Kyoto, and you will have felt both versions. In a single city, the two are often only a few minutes apart, so the second visit is easy to add if the first leaves you curious.

From Singapore

Katsugyu has three official Singapore shops, listed on its Singapore site: Raffles City (252 North Bridge Road, #B1-63/64), One Holland Village (7 Holland Village Way, #02-46) and Parkway Parade (80 Marine Parade Road, #01-11). The site lists daily hours of 11:00 to 22:00, with last orders at 21:00; confirm the shop page on the day. Motomura does not have a Singapore branch.

Where it fits in a trip

A Motomura lunch in Shibuya or Shinjuku sits neatly on the 5 days in Tokyo plan and the 7 day, 10 day and 14 day Japan itineraries, and on the solo Japan guide. In Kyoto, Katsugyu is a straightforward lunch or dinner on the 3 days in Kyoto plan, or on a day you split between the two cities in Tokyo vs Kyoto. Shibuya Sky is the timed ticket if you are already in Shibuya for Motomura or for Katsugyu's Dogenzaka shop. The fuller Motomura order, queue and Tokyo branch notes are on the Gyukatsu Motomura page.

Sources

• Katsugyu official menu, policy and about pages, as of November 2026: founded in Kyoto in 2014, the cuts, half-and-half sets, sauces, frying temperature and time, and the first-bite advice.
• Katsugyu official store list and the Pontocho Honten, Kyoto Ekimae and Shibuya Dogenzaka shop pages, as of November 2026: addresses, hours, last orders and payment methods.
• Katsugyu Pontocho Shijo Ohashi official menu, as of November 2026: yen prices, paid rice, miso and cabbage refills, and online reservations.
• Katsugyu official Singapore site, as of November 2026: the three Singapore addresses and the listed hours.
• Motomura official menu, commitment, store list, reservation page and CatchTable notice (20 September 2026), as of November 2026: the medium rare cutlet and stone plate, sauces, set sizes and refill rules, hours, which shops take TableCheck bookings, and the CatchTable same-day waiting list. Shibuya set prices from the booking page, as already used on the Motomura page in November 2026, and repeated on Motomura's notice for the Nishi-Shinsaibashi shop opening on 25 November 2026.