Tonkatsu, for the uninitiated, is panko-crusted, deep fried pork cutlet. It’s crispy, crunchy, juicy and so, so delicious. Tonkatsu is basically a Japanese take on schnitzel. It’s typically served with fluffy white rice, piles and piles of finely shredded cabbage, pickles, and miso soup. Usually, you pick between rosu-katsu (loin) or hire-katsu (filet). Rosu is juicier and has more marbling whereas hire is a bit more lean. It’s funny, because when you look at a tonkatsu menu, you might think that everything looks the same (a la that scene in Lost in Translation), but really all the cuts taste different. Really though, you can’t go wrong with crispy juicy deep fried pork and addictive tonkatsu sauce. And ooh, don’t get me started on the sesame seeds – they give you a little mortar and pestle for you to grind your own sesame seeds to add to the sauce. Heaven. There are a ton of tonkatsu specialty houses (Maisen, Butagumi, Kimukatsu, Tonki), but we like visiting the Wako in Mark City.
