Fried ── Fried dishes
Tonkatsu
breaded deep-fried pork cutlet
Breaded, deep-fried pork served with shredded cabbage. Said to trace to a Western-food restaurant that opened in Ginza in the Meiji era, which took up the cutlet and added touches like shredded cabbage on the side.
- Origin: Tokyo Chuo
Lineage
What it's made of
Pork loin or fillet is coated in flour, egg, and panko, then deep-fried to a golden crisp in plenty of oil. The crumb is thick yet never greasy, giving a dry, crackling bite that gives way to a slow seep of meat juice, while the moisture of shredded cabbage and the sauce's tang reset the richness with every bite.
How it's made
A thick-cut piece of pork is breaded in flour, beaten egg, and panko in that order, then fried slowly at around 170°C. Managing the oil's temperature so the inside cooks through without scorching the crumb is the key, and some shops rest the cutlet a few minutes after frying to let the juices settle; shredded cabbage on the side is the standard accompaniment.
Why it took this shape
One account holds that a Western-food restaurant that opened in Ginza in 1895 took up fried dishes typified by the cutlet, adding shredded cabbage on the side and setting the rice on the same plate. In the process of adapting the Western cutlet into a thickness easy to eat with chopsticks, alongside a suitable garnish, today's tonkatsu is thought to have taken its present shape.
Before you go
- What to know if you have dietary restrictionsHow allergen labeling works, where fish-based dashi, pork, and alcohol turn up, and phrases for checking with staff.
- Takeout and convenience store customsHow to answer "Shall I warm it up?", choosing chopsticks and a paid plastic bag, saying whether you'll eat in or take out, handling trash and eating while walking, and the different tax rate for takeout versus eating in.
Dishes in the same style
- Agemaki Yuba no NimonoFresh yuba sheets are layered, rolled into a log, sliced into rounds, and deep-fried before a slow simmer in a light broth — a Nikko dish built on the region's rippled yuba-making craft, served at New Year's and celebrations.
- Aji FryFilleted horse mackerel breaded in panko and fried. Chiba prefecture holds some of the richest mackerel fishing grounds in Japan, and frying is thought to have taken root as a quick way to eat regional brands like the oily 'golden aji' fresh.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Derived style
- KatsudonA fried pork cutlet simmered with onion in dashi and bound with egg over rice. Its origin has several competing accounts with no single settled birthplace, though it took shape amid the Taisho-era embrace of Western food.
- Mirufiyu KatsuA tonkatsu variant made by layering thin pork slices before breading and frying. Said to have spread as a way to achieve both visual thickness and a light bite while using less meat than a single thick slab.
Contrast
- HanbaaguA pan-fried patty of ground meat mixed with onion and breadcrumbs. Said to have shifted toward a fully cooked, bulked-up style to suit a food culture wary of raw ground meat.
- PikataThin meat coated in flour and beaten egg, then pan-fried in butter. Said to have settled in as a lighter, egg-only-coated line distinct from the breaded fried dishes of yoshoku cooking.
Also from Tokyo
- Abura SobaNo broth is poured at all — noodles are tossed in a soy-and-sesame-oil tare pooled at the bottom of the bowl, said to have started at shops in the Musashino area in the late 1950s, with vinegar and chili oil stirred in partway through.
- Ajitsuke NoriSheet nori brushed with a soy-and-sugar seasoning and toasted crisp, said to have been devised as a gift for an imperial visit to Kyoto in the Meiji era. Its snap gives way to a burst of flavor and aroma.
- Anago ZushiConger eel, simmered sweet and savory, is laid over sushi rice and brushed with a reduced glaze called tsume — a staple Edomae topping from a fish that thrived in Tokyo Bay's nutrient-rich waters, its slick skin demanding a sushi chef's careful hand to clean.
- AnmitsuCubes of agar jelly topped with red peas, sweet bean paste, and dark syrup. Said to have begun when a Ginza sweets shop in the early Showa era added its own bean paste to the simpler "mitsumame" — jelly and peas in syrup — marking a point where wagashi met café culture.
- Asakusa shichimiA seven-spice chili blend from a shop tracing back to 1625 in Asakusa's old Yagenbori district, often described as the origin point of shichimi togarashi. The neighborhood's history as a hub for medicinal-herb wholesalers is credited with shaping a blend informed by traditional Chinese medicine, and the shop is known for custom-mixing blends to order.
- Bettara-zukeDaikon salted first, then pickled sweet in rice malt and sugar — said to descend from a lightly pickled daikon once sold at Edo's ebisu-kō market. The rice malt gives it a natural sweetness, and it still headlines Nihonbashi's autumn "Bettara Market."