Maybe the best tonkatsu place in Shizuoka?

A fascinating old time tonkatsu restaurant in Shizuoka City.

Heard about this tonkatsu restaurant, 蝶屋　(ちょうや), from friend that frequents Shizuoka and tried it recently.

Member of the "All Japan Tonkatsu Association". （ぜんにほんとんかつれんめいかいいん。）Hmmm...

Wow! Once inside it's very narrow. The whole place is only about 6 feet (2 meters) wide at the counter/cooking area. In the back there are a few tables and it's a bit wider.

Notice, in the photo above, that the customer's back is in only about 8 inches (20 cm) away from the wall! Every time staff or customers pass, if you're sitting at the counter, you have to sit up so they can get by. Same behind the counter- only one person can pass at a time.

The guy with his back to the camera takes care of takes care of deliveries when they get a call.

The menu is very straight forward. I didn't know there were different grades of pork for tonkatsu until reading the menu here. Tonkatsu-とんかつ, hire katsu- ひれかつ (lean), kushi katsu- 串かつ(on a skewer), minced katsu- メンチかつ, etc.

Someone must be creative personalizing the napkins and hashi (chop stick) wrapper with the restaurant info.

Into the batter and bread crumbs....

And into the fryer while the plates are lined up ...

Then out of the fryer and onto the plate with plenty of ketchup...

And on to the salivating customer...

By the way, this guy (in the photo below) serving the food seems to do most of the work. He cooks the rice, preps the dishes with cabbage and rice, washes the dishes and serves the food. The other 3 guys and 1 woman working there do less. The cook (in the photos above) just focuses on breading the meat and cooking. The guy at the cash register primarily takes care of the cash while occasionally serving tea. The guy with his back to the camera in the first interior photo, when not out on a delivery, picks up the slack setting places, serving drinks and miso soup. The one woman seems to also covers setting places, drinks, soup and clearing dishes when the guy behind the counter is busy...

The old timers running the place must have been working together for a long time. They have it running like a well oiled machine; always anticipating each other's next step.

For example, the guy at the cash register makes change as soon as he can see the bill the customer is handing his co-worker. As the co-worker steps to the register the change is already made and back in the customers hand in a few seconds.

(The photo above is from another reviewer of the same restaurant.)

Despite deep frying in lard the tonkatsu was perfectly cooked and not greasy.

On the way out of the restaurant these delivery boxes and bicycle are ready to go.

And inside the delivery boxes...Wonder how old these are?
Looks like these have seen a lot of deliveries.
Good tonkatsu and a very interesting place!