Best tonkatsu in Tokyo – updated

The family-owned restaurant has hardly changed since opening in 1950, making it a piece of living (and delicious) history. For three generations, the Ma family has specialised in serving juicy tonkatsu to hungry locals. Enraku’s tour de force is their rosu (loin) katsu teishoku – a set of tonkatsu, shredded cabbage, rice, creamy potato salad, pickled vegetables and hearty miso soup. Their Sangenton heirloom pork tenderloin from Yamagata is leaner and lighter than at most places, but also tastes gloriously fatty.

At Ponchi-ken, a humble Ogawamachi eatery that's earned a Bib Gourmand honour from the Michelin guide, their perfect pork loin cutlets draw enthusiasts from all across Japan, so you’re bound to find a long queue come lunchtime. But the wait is worth it: the first bite is crispy, but you’ll soon taste the juices from the lean Okinawan-bred pork. We recommend the thicker fillet cutlet, and do add on some of the slightly spicy 'special sauce' along with a sprinkling of French salt; the latter has been mixed with nori for an extra umami kick.

Opened in 1939, there’s nothing radical or new about what Tonki does, but what it does, it does very well indeed, from the lip-smacking tonjiru (pork and miso soup) to the fiery blob of mustard. There are two main options, both breaded and fried pork with rice and trimmings. The difference is that one cut of pork (the rosu-katsu) is fattier than the other; the lean meat (hire-katsu) is no less delicious. Make sure you snag a counter seat on the ground floor (the second floor features table seatings fit for groups) – that’s where you get to watch the chefs at work, churning out perfectly browned cutlets like a well-oiled machine.

The highlight here is katsudon: a bowl of rice with a cutlet, doused in savory broth, and topped with a soft-boiled egg. The portion here is generous, and the restaurant uses brand pork from Iwate. If you have a little spare change, try upgrading your katsudon to one with a top-quality loin cutlet (toku rosu).

Narikura’s light, crisp and undeniably moreish cutlets are frequently praised as the best in Tokyo. The panko crumbs are golden, fluffy and crispy, while the meat is unusually tender – and the best part is, it’s never greasy, even for the fattier cuts.  The exact menu varies slightly depending on the kind of high-grade meat available – on our visit, the standard option had been shipped in from the Kirifuri highlands in Nikko, while brand pork alternatives included Niigata’s Kiramugi and Kagoshima-grown Berkshire (‘Kurobuta’). Teishoku sets centred around either the fattier rosu (loin) or the leaner hire (fillet), and they all come with pickles, a salad and a superb tonjiru (miso soup with pork and veg), plus a bowl of rice that you can refill once at no extra cost.

Ton-kyu's drawcard is the tokusen rosu teishoku ('specially selected loin cutlet set’); it uses Hayashi SPF pork, a brand variety from Chiba prefecture famed for its flavourful fat. It's still surprisingly light – especially if you eat it with the ponzu sauce and grated daikon. One quirky detail is the 'Neapolitan' spaghetti, a small portion of which are served with all cutlets.

If you don't mind spending a little more, go for the tokusen hire katsu teishoku – the highest-quality fillet. Only two portions of it can be cut from one animal. The batter for this one is finer than the one used for the loin and coats the cutlet thinner. All sets include a choice of either tonjiru (pork-based miso soup) or red miso soup with shijimi clams.