[Katsumeshi and Renge Fork]

"Katsumeshi" is a local dish loved in many restaurants and households in Kakogawa City, Hyogo Prefecture, and its surrounding areas. Katsumeshi consists of a bed of rice served on a Western-style plate, topped with a beef cutlet that has been pounded flat, and drizzled with a demi-glace-based sauce. The standard style is accompanied by boiled cabbage. While it is rarely seen outside the city, it is a casual, locally renowned gourmet dish that everyone in Kakogawa knows.

A key aspect that defines the unique character of this dish is that it is "eaten with chopsticks." The history of katsumeshi dates back to the immediate post-war era, originating at a diner in front of Kakogawa Station. At a time when beef cutlets were still a rarity, the dish was conceived as a "Western-style meal that can be enjoyed casually with chopsticks, without the need for a knife and fork." This convenience captured people's hearts. Today, it is deeply rooted in the region, with more than 100 restaurants serving it, and it has even been adopted into school lunch menus and sold as dedicated sauces in supermarkets for home cooking.

Eating with chopsticks is both the origin and the appeal of katsumeshi. However, when you actually try it, the sauce mixes with the thin layer of rice spread across the plate, which can sometimes make it tricky to scoop up every last grain using only the tips of chopsticks. A piece of cutlery that elegantly resolves this minor dining challenge is the "Renge Fork" by Yoshita Handi-Design Studio.

With a hollow similar to a Chinese soup spoon (renge), it allows you to firmly scoop up the sauce-laden rice from the bottom of the plate, leaving nothing behind, just like a spoon. Furthermore, because part of the tip functions as a fork, you can securely pierce bite-sized pieces of the cutlet and bring them to your mouth effortlessly. It can be used unpretentiously just like chopsticks, and its functionality—combining a spoon and a fork into one—makes it exceptionally convenient for eating katsumeshi. Of course, it is perfect not only for katsumeshi but also for dishes like cutlet curry, so please give it a try.

Seiryugama's Plate
https://www.shokunin.com/en/seiryu/hirazara.html
Yoshita Handi-Design Studio's Renge Fork
https://www.shokunin.com/en/yoshita/cutlery.html

References
https://www.maff.go.jp/j/keikaku/syokubunka/k_ryouri/search_menu/menu/40_4_hyogo.html
https://kako-navi.jp/katsumeshi.html