The Background

Tired after a long day of sight seeing and not wanting to venture out too far for food. I found Tonkatsu Sugita while searching for nearby food options from my hotel.

It has a respectable 4.0 rating on Google (which isn’t always the most reliable for food) so I decided to give it a shot since it was less than a ten minute walk from the hotel I was at and tonkatsu sounded quite good.

I’m certainly glad I gave it a try.

The restuarant is quite tiny – there’s a total of 20 seats, in a quiet part of Taito City. It’s been around since 1977 and has only had two owners during its run.

Where the restaurant was located was a nice change of pace from other bustling and packed parts of Tokyo.

Most of the seating is located at a counter where you can watch the chef prepare your food right in front of you. There’s some additonal seating in the back for large parties as well.

Fortunately, they have an English menu so figuring out what to get is extremely easy. The menu is also small so it takes out a lot of the back and forth of having a difficult time deciding on what to get, which I’m certainly prone to! The small menu is explained here. I appreciate the seriousness of how the owner goes about selecting the pork and prepares the food. The quality of the food certainly shows his dedication to his craft.

The Tonkatsu

I went with the No. 1 – Tonkatsu fillet (2900 yen, $19.63 USD) and added miso soup (200 yen, $1.35) and rice (300 yen, $2.03, $23.01 total).

Tonkatsu is also always served with a side of cabbage. There’s a few reasons for this.

Cabbage provides a nice crunch that complements the tonkatsu flavors and texture well.

It also helps to reduce the oil and can help with digestion. The cabbage can be eaten with dressing (which was provided here) or with tonkatsu sauce (essentially a thicker worcester sauce).

It definitely works with the overall meal and I can’t imagine eating tonkatsu without it.

It took about 20-25 minutes for the food to come out. The chef was very friendly and you can watch him make the food right in front of you. Think of a sushi restaurant where you can watch the chefs prep the sushi right in front of you but with pork cutlets and huge pots of oil.

The tonkatsu was fried to perfection. The outer shell was very crispy and the meat was incredibly tender. It literally melted in my mouth. Taking a bite of the fried pork, cabbage, and rice was fantastic.

The miso soup was outstanding here as well. It had a deep, flavorful taste to it and was a great complement to the meal.

The Verdict

In my three weeks in Japan this was the best tonkatsu I had. Granted, I had it three or four times (which I think is a lot in three weeks, lol) but this was hands down the best. It wasn’t even a contest. The chef certainly knows his craft and the food reflected this.

The prices were quite reasonable for what I got – $23.01 – for everything and well worth it.

I later saw that it’s mentioned in the Michelin Guide with a Bib Gourmand rating, so this place is legit. I would definitely recommend checking the place out if you’re staying in the Taito City area. It’s also about a 30 minute or so walk from Asakusa if you wanted to grab some food after visiting there. It’s worth the walk.

Tonkatsu Sugita

3 Chome-8-3 Kotobuki, Taito City, Tokyo 111-0042, Japan