About a week has passed since the start of 2025. On New Year’s Day, I drew an omikuji at Kanda Myojin, and to my surprise, it was ‘Great Blessing.’ Not only that, my wife also drew a ‘Great Blessing.’ It looks like this year is off to a good start.
Even so, the first day back at work is inevitably gloomy. It’s not like I can go full throttle from the start; I’d like to spend a few days warming up my body like a car’s engine. Not that this is the reason, but I had my first ‘dora-meshi’ of 2025 at Hasuda SA on the uphill lane.
I’ll be dropping by not from the highway mainline but through the walk-in gate from the regular roads. Recently, many service areas (SAs) can be accessed from regular roads, which I find very convenient. However, the parking lot at Hasuda SA is operated by Times for hourly rental. But since you get two hours free by using the facilities, it’s plenty of time to eat ‘dora-meshi’ and take a break.
I wandered around the food court, which was still relatively empty at that time. With such a rich menu, it usually takes some thought to decide what to eat, but on this day, surprisingly, I didn’t hesitate. When I spotted the chicken katsu don, my eyes locked onto it and nothing else. I guess that’s what you call intuition.
And then, the chicken katsu don was served right in front of me. The half-cooked egg poured over the rice and katsu gave me an instant conviction that this was going to be delicious. And then, I took a big bite of the chicken katsu.
The freshly fried breading was super crispy. The golden-colored egg, half-cooked, went perfectly with the white rice. As I brought it to my mouth, the aura of happiness spread along with a slight sweetness. Not just the katsu, but the egg and the rice were all delicious. The included clear soup was a nice touch, but for some reason, there was also a pickled plum. I’m not a fan of sour things, so I could have done without it… However, there was some shichimi togarashi on the counter, so using it according to taste was an option.
As for the portion size, it wasn’t particularly large, but it was more than enough to satisfy. I didn’t feel like I needed more. And above all, it was delicious, making me want to eat it again. This chicken katsu don is better than pork katsu don for me; it’s my favorite.
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