TJ Katsu on Courtenay Place is a Wellington favourite for generous, modern-fusion Japanese food. Established in 2011 with a simple aim — to serve authentic sushi and Japanese cooking to the city's food lovers — the TJ Katsu name has grown into a family of restaurants that today serves more than 1000 Wellington locals every day. This Courtenay Place branch is one of the spots where the full menu is on offer.
The kitchen's calling card is the Katsu: Japanese-style crispy chicken served with salad, rice and miso soup, described by the team as their signature dish. Around it sits a broad menu — katsu curry, teriyaki noodle bowls with chicken, beef or tofu, donburi rice bowls from teriyaki beef to fresh salmon sashimi, and bento boxes stacked with tempura, sushi, salad and rice. Entrees cover the classics, from edamame and seaweed salad to gyoza, spring rolls, takoyaki and breaded prawns.
What regulars talk about most, though, is the portion size. TJ Katsu makes a point of serving quantities bigger than most Japanese restaurants, pairing friendly service and top-quality ingredients with everyday prices. Whether you're after a quick sushi fix, a hearty bento or a comforting bowl of katsu curry, the aim is the same: satisfying Japanese food that doesn't compromise on quantity or budget.
TJ Katsu has been part of Wellington's Japanese food scene since 2011, when it opened with a simple aim: to serve authentic sushi and Japanese cooking to the city's food lovers. The idea clearly caught on. These days the TJ Katsu name covers a family of restaurants spread across the city, serving more than 1000 Wellington locals every day, and the Courtenay Place shop — at 97 Courtenay Place in Te Aro — is where the full menu is on the table, from entree through to bento.
This is Japanese food with a modern fusion streak and a generous streak to match. The team here reckons a restaurant should be more than a place to eat — it should be a form of entertainment — and they back that up with friendly serving staff, top-quality ingredients and portions they cheerfully admit are a lot bigger than most other Japanese restaurants. If you're a big foodie after sushi, skewers and crispy things that tickle the taste buds without emptying your wallet, that's the whole pitch in one sentence. Come hungry.
If you order one thing at TJ Katsu, make it the Katsu — the restaurant's signature dish. Japanese-style crispy chicken arrives with salad, rice and a bowl of miso soup, and much of the menu is essentially variations on that golden, crunchy theme. It's a plate that rewards both first-timers and weekly regulars. Katsu + Curry pours Japanese curry sauce over the same crispy chicken, while Katsu + Teriyaki Noodle tumbles it through sweet-savoury teriyaki noodles, with salad and miso alongside. Between the three, you cover most of what people walk in the door craving.
The kitchen stretches well beyond chicken, too. Teriyaki noodle bowls come topped with pan-fried chicken, beef or tofu, and the donburi line-up covers teriyaki chicken, teriyaki beef, spicy chicken and teriyaki tofu over steamed rice. Seafood fans get a Sashimi-don piled with fresh salmon and avocado, or a Teriyaki Salmon-don for those who prefer their fish off the pan. Vegetarians are looked after properly rather than as an afterthought — the teriyaki tofu noodle and tofu-don are full dishes in their own right.
For the full TJ Katsu spread, order a bento. Each box is a small feast: your pick of main — pan-fried teriyaki tofu, teriyaki chicken, sliced fresh salmon, roasted teriyaki eel or the Combination, which pairs crispy chicken with teriyaki chicken and tempura — served alongside sushi, salad, rice and miso soup. It's the order that most justifies the big-portion reputation, and an easy way to taste across the whole menu in one sitting.
Starters hold their own: steamed edamame, Japanese-style seaweed salad, crispy vegetable spring rolls, vegetable gyoza, breaded prawns with sweet chilli sauce, and takoyaki — the ball-shaped octopus pancake that Japan counts as its best-known street food. Sushi, meanwhile, is one of the restaurant's headline specials alongside mains and entrees, and it turns up in the bento boxes too.
The cooking is in the hands of chefs the owners describe as award-winning, working with top-quality ingredients, and everything is pitched at everyday Wellington prices — authentic Japanese food at your budget, without compromising on quantity. That combination of flavour, volume and value is what the owners point to when they explain why more than a thousand locals eat here on any given day. Midweek visitors can also ask about the restaurant's lunch specials.
Practically speaking: the Courtenay Place branch opens 9.30am to 7.30pm, Monday through Saturday, and closes on Sundays — the Manners Street branch picks up Sunday trade if your weekend plans demand katsu. Call (04)3858868, order ahead through the TJ Katsu website, or simply wander in off Courtenay Place. However you time it, ordering the katsu is never the wrong call.