Tonpachi — Restaurant in Nagoya

Welcome back to the restaurant line ride. If you've been reading my other Japan restaurant reviews, you've probably figured out a running theme in Japan is waiting for food. I saw this place on another review and decided to give it a try. I usually only eat pork for special occasions, with ramen and pizza being the most common.

With that said, this place is well known for fried kontonsu with miso. It's not quite my normal thing, but it looked really good. So here we go...

The atmosphere is similar to other popular spots in Tokyo, small and warm. 16 seats, water only, and I think cash only, but I wasn't getting ready to try to pay with a card to find out. This time, I only saw three couples abandon hope when they saw the line, which was set up on both sides of the restaurant.

The service was great, as they tried to reduce the line by taking orders in line like it's an In-n-Out Burger. Obviously, I ordered the Miso Kontonsu set, as did every other person in the line.

I was asked to dine with another solo diner to save space in the restaurant, and we both accepted, meaning two strangers would sit across from each other without saying a word to each other. Oddly enough, that's normal in Japan, as they don't talk to strangers.

In the end, I could only give the food four stars. Not because it didn't live up to the hype, I just can't do that much miso flavor. I didn't even know miso could reach that intensity. It was so flavorful that when combined with the miso soup it was a bit too much for me. I was drinking water like I just arrived from the desert and it still wasn't enough.

If miso is your thing, this is your place. Don't let my 4 stars...

（chat GPT協助翻譯中文菜單，提供給需要的人，順序可能有誤，可以對照關鍵字點餐） 評論在最後面。

［とん八］菜單 第一張（定食） 定食（附白飯、味噌湯、醃菜） 豬排定食（とんかつ定食） 大豬排定食（大とんかつ定食） 味噌豬排定食（味噌とんかつ定食） 大味噌豬排定食（大味噌とんかつ定食） 起司豬排定食（チーズとんかつ定食） 味噌起司豬排定食（味噌チーズとんかつ定食） 菲力豬排定食（ヒレかつ定食） 味噌菲力豬排定食（味噌ヒレかつ定食） 紫蘇菲力豬排定食（しそヒレかつ定食） 起司菲力豬排定食（チーズヒレかつ定食） 味噌起司菲力豬排定食（味噌チーズヒレかつ定食） 蓋澆肉排定食（メンチかつ定食） 味噌蓋澆肉排定食（味噌メンチかつ定食） 起司蓋澆肉排定食（チーズメンチかつ定食） 味噌起司蓋澆肉排定食（味噌チーズメンチかつ定食） 漢堡排定食（ハンバーグ定食） 味噌漢堡排定食（味噌ハンバーグ定食） 起司漢堡排定食（チーズハンバーグ定食） 味噌起司漢堡排定食（味噌チーズハンバーグ定食） 牛排定食（ポークステーキ定食） 炸蝦定食（エビフライ定食） 味噌炸蝦定食（味噌エビフライ定食）

※ 單點（不要飯、湯、醃菜）可折...

There is a wide variety of katsu items and sauces but pretty much every body orders misokatsu. "Large" tonkatsu is a rosu cut.

Miso katsu has a thick, gravy-like sauce that is actually quite balanced with salt/sweet.

Super fluffy rice!

Somehow the cutlet is magically super crunchy despite being drenched in the sauce.

Taisho is dressed like a French chef, clearly he is taking this...