Click to see a much larger version. My set includes yuzu koshoo sauce, cream-infused tofu, and red miso soup.
Tonkatsu, or fried pork cutlet, is a staple in many Japanese restaurants. These cutlets are folded into many types of dishes including Japanese-style curry and even sandwiches. It is part of adapted Western cuisine, which makes many Japanese people believe that this is what we non-Japanese folks are eating day-in and day-out and making ourselves fat with. The truth is that I never ate anything like this back home, though that may reflect a general dislike of fried food.
Tonkatsu varies wildly in quality and some of it can be downright abysmal. Most of it is a slab of pork (like a pork chop) coated in breading and deep fried. Genkatsu is a chain of shops which offers up very thinly sliced layers of domestic pork which are juicy and light (and probably really bad for you, but one has to live a little occasionally). They even have an English menu for tourists, though the awesome set lunch, with customized sauce, side dish, and miso soup type for around $15, isn't listed on it. Tonkatsu is one of the most Western-friendly types of food in Japan with unique Japanese touches often offered on the side and generally bottomless bowls of rice, refills galore of oolong tea, and endless helpings of cabbage to boot. If you're coming here for a vacation, it's definitely worth a try.
