TonQ — Restaurant in Tsukuba

This restaurant probably serves some of the best tonkatsu in Tsukuba and it's always popular and crowded. You can make online reservations (recommended during busy times) and there will be a crowd waiting out front.

We went on a Friday night, right as they opened and it wasn't too long before we sat at the counter. It took about 25 minutes for the food to come out, but it was worth the wait. Although they have several types of pork at various price points, we went with the regular Akagi pork (from Gunma) and it was absolutely wonderful. It's crunchy outside, creamy inside and the pork was soft and flavorful. They fry the pork correctly, so the grease isn't IN the tonkatsu. You get as much cabbage, pickles, and rice as you wish, so we got several refills. I really liked the cucumber pickles. The soup choice is a standard miso or a changing soup of the day, which is almost always pretty good. My date was very happy after we ate...she said the 180g portion was perfect for her and she really enjoyed the rice with many grains in it.

Although flavorful, the meal is not so heavy in the stomach and you can eat unlimited pickles to cut any feeling of grease. Also of note is the excellent green tea, which pairs well with the pork.

The price is higher than other places but the taste makes it worth the expense and wait. This is a good place to go with a date as the longer wait times will give you a...

The place at lunchtime is full of Japanese people, not tourists, which tells you already that it might be good to eat here. They have seasonal specialities, such as fish and vegetables in addition to their usual breaded, fried pork options. Those options are nothing to be sniffed at. I will not list their menu here, but if you like pork, you will be happy. To accompany said pork, you may have your choice of plain white rice (koshihikari, for those in the know) or rice cooked with added ingredients; when I was there in winter, it was asari clams. Also included with set meals is three kinds of pickled vegetables and a bowl of your choice of several kinds of miso soup. Added to all of that is a pile of finely shredded cabbage to which you may add some of two kinds of salad dressing. All of this you get for a reasonable price. All in all, I would and definitely did...

I'm an American and was passing through Tsukuba on a 6000km moped journey across the country. When I made it to my hotel that afternoon I asked the hostess where to eat. Instantly and with absolute certainty she recommended TonQ, and it turned out to be the best food I had on my entire trip. Later on that evening I was at a bar, and I was telling some guy that I had the best food of my trip in Tsukuba, and without missing a beat he was like "Oh I bet you went to TonQ didn't you?"

The tonkatsu was cooked perfectly and I especially enjoyed the sauces. The selection of craft beers was also nice, I was able to try a good variety of beers from smaller breweries that were somewhat hard to find in...