Gypsy & Pig (Japanese restaurant), Melbourne

Gypsy & Pig (Japanese) Restaurant
Shop 3 391 Little Lonsdale St
Melbourne, VIC 3000
Tel : 03- 9640 0731

This is a Japanese restaurant that specialised in Kurobuta. Kurobuta, sometimes refer as black pig, is bred in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Unlike commercial pork, which lends itself favorably to a variety of sauces, kurobuta has its own intrinsic and distinctive sweetness.
Sweetness and juiciness are two factors that distinguish kurobuta from run-of-the-mill pork. This sweetness and rich flavor come from the high levels of intramuscular marbled fat – the very thing that pork producers have dramatically removed to produce pork that can be marketed as "the other white meat" for the health-conscious.This high degree of subcutaneous marbling is a result of special breeding techniques that are not very different from those applied to raising wagyu cattle. The only difference, perhaps, is that there is no massaging of the pig with sake as is the case with wagyu.

I think that should be enough for the "Kurobuta" history and what type of flavour and texture you are looking for when eating this meat. To be honest, what attracts me to this restaurant is the "black pig" as I never tried this meat before. I was suprised when I was served a white meat instead of a black one! Well, after further reading about Kurobuta, it is only the pig hair is black in coulour, and if the pig is bred in England, it will be called Berkshire pig instead of Kurobuta.

Well, the good thing about this pork is that it does not have the "pork" smell. In my opinion, the pork in Australia and Malaysia is very different. Correct me if I am wrong, a little birdie once told me it is the method of killing the pig that cause the smell. Somehow, the way the Malaysian way removes the pork smell. (Well, if you are in Malaysia, please try some of the Malaysian pork, and vice versa)
Like wagyu beef, because of the intense marbling, the way to prepare juicy and succulent kurobuta pork is to not overcook it. The good news, however, is that unlike wagyu,kurobuta lends itself more favorably to heat.

Tonkatsu style filled with cheese sauce - yum!

With kurobuta pork, you don't need much seasoning or thick barbeque sauce, the best way to savor it is to eat it on its own, with perhaps a dash of salt and pepper.
A traditional Japanese favorite is to eat it tonkatsu style – sliced thin, breaded and deep-fried, for which Kagoshima kurobuta pork comes highly recommended by top chefs in the preparation of this dish.

We ordered the pork to be cooked in different style; deep fried; braised; boiled in kimchi soup, and kimchi fried rice. The best of all is just plain deep fried style (first picture from the second row). The pocket cheese tonkatsu style shown on the picture above is good too. I find that the kimchi soup and the braised pork did not show off the quality of the meat. In fact, it kind of masked the original texture and flavour of the meat. Don't get me wrong, the food still taste good, but just not what I expected. It tasted like ordinary dishes we had in other restaurant.