MIYAGAWA TONEMON — Restaurant in Kyoto

This place has some really good ratings and was only a 5 min walk from our hotel, so seemed worth a visit for lunch. It's a hole in the wall kind of place, down a narrow alley so it already starts with some character.

Inside, it's all woody and cosy with an indoor garden space through full height windows. We say next to the window but unfortunately no view which is fine as I guess the focus should be on the food.

Menu is basically 3 pages of different kinds of pork each with different cuts so loin, tenderloin, rib shoulder, etc. What's offered depends on availability. We don't speak Japanese which I think limited what we could learn about the different kinds of pork. Their top of the line send to be a Hungarian pink pork but we figured we were in Japan so thought to stick to Japanese pork. The black pork was sold out so we ended up with the Tokyo pork (whatever that means).

My wife ordered the loin (180g) which was the more traditional breaded cutlet style. I ordered the tenderloin (180g) which came out as 6 thick rounds. Both dishes served on very nice plates with lots of indentations for various sauces. This included black pepper, spicy yuzu, red pepper, sea salt, their own tonkatsu sauce, shoyu, a fruity olive oil, lemon and some pickles.

We shared the dishes so managed to try both kinds of pork with the different sauces. But starting purely with the pork, the loin was fattier and the meat was very well balanced in terms of day and tenderness. The tenderloin was much leaner and the taste of the pork much more evident. I won't say one is better than the other but ended up eating the tenderloin with the stronger sauces and the loin just with the tonkatsu sauce (very nice balance on acidity and spiciness) and white rice. The amount of meat was just right but the proportion of fat maybe a bit too much.

Sides were the white rice, soup, cabbage and a tiny bowl of yoghurt. The cabbage is paired with a carrot sauce which goes so well. Much better than the traditional goma type dressing. The soup was very tasty but also very oily (seems to be pork fat) so again a bit of an overkill.

Overall, it was good to try once and I think we both enjoyed the meal. But I'm unlikely to return. I prefer the more rustic traditional tonkatsu cutlets. But I would come back for the carrot...

The best meal we had in Kyoto! Hands down the best tonkatsu we had so far. They have menus in English, Japanese and Korean. I like the fatty part so i order the loin tonkatsu. It came with different dips and spices on a plate that looks like a paint palette. The breading is not too crispy like other tonkatsus I had before. It was not also greasy because it was cooked on low temp and we saw how the chef fried them, took it out to rest and even set the timers on for the duration of the cooking process. The meat was so juicy and tender. It melts in my mouth and I savored every bite. I like the lemon with salt combo to dip the fatty part. The meal came with rice and soup and a side of cabbage or lettuce salad. We were also served yuzu ice cream and a warm fruit tea to end the meal. It was the perfect dessert!

We paid about 4,000 yen for the meal with the beer but it's so worth it! The staff were all friendly. Our server explained to us the different sauces and what sauce tonuse for the salad. We got seated right away at the counter even without a reservation. It was our lucky night! Based on the reviews, better make a reservation before coming over especially if there's more than 2 people in your party. Cards payments are accepted.

I highly recommend this place if you...

First of all, this must be one of the most amazing pork katsu I have ever tasted! Cooked just right - tender, pink and juicy, with a nice thick cut. The condiments were well thought out and really complimented the pork - I especially liked the peppercorns and yuzu. Carrot sauce on cabbage was great.

However there were some negatives. After lining up in the cold for 20 mins, we were seated at 7pm and ordered using the QR code - but most of the pork options ran out while we were in the process of ordering so it was frustrating for us. We were very hungry so quickly selected whatever was left and were unsure of what exactly we ate (later at home we translated our receipt to find out it was Awasetsu pork loin?) Running out of food options at 7pm was not good, it would have been nice to not feel rushed and be able to read the description of what we were eating. I think a slight increase in portion size would have made the meal more filling and perfect. Overall a very memorable meal and we were delighted with the quality and attention to detail in the...