Miyagawa Ton-emon

One day, I suddenly thought, “Come to think of it, I haven’t had any good tonkatsu (pork cutlet) lately…” So I looked it up online and went to a place called Miyagawa Ton-emon. Apparently, it’s supervised by New Babe, a popular tonkatsu restaurant in Osaka, and serves tonkatsu made with high-quality brand pork. With that, it was practically a given that I’d be able to enjoy some delicious tonkatsu. I immediately opened Google Maps on my phone and started walking toward the restaurant. But…

Why do customers flock to such a hidden spot? Miyagawa Ton-emon is a restaurant like this…

As the name suggests, Miyagawa Ton-emon is located in Miyagawa-cho, south of Gion, but the place is really hard to find. You can get there by heading south on Shin-Miyagawa-dori from Matsubara-dori and turning into the narrow alley immediately on the east side, but there are absolutely no landmarks in the area, including the alley itself. I don’t think you’d ever find this place just by casually walking around the neighborhood. Especially if it’s your first visit, Google Maps is a must.

The restaurant is housed in a renovated old Kyoto townhouse. It’s a stylish space with a mix of Japanese and Western styles and subdued lighting, offering a total of 20 seats, including six at the counter. When I arrived around 6:30 p.m., it was already full, and since the restaurant gives priority to reservations, I waited outside for about 20 minutes. You can reserve a table through a website called TableCheck, so if you know when you’ll be visiting, I highly recommend making a reservation in advance. That said, every other customer that day—except for me—was a foreigner speaking Chinese. I can’t imagine travelers finding a place tucked away like this on their own, so maybe it’s featured in some famous guidebook…

With eight different seasoning options to choose from, it’s hard to decide… I ordered the 180g Hayashi SPF Loin at Miyagawa Ton-emon—so how did it actually taste?

Well then, let me introduce the 180g Hayashi SPF Loin I ordered at Miyagawa Ton-emon that day. To be honest, many items on the menu were already sold out by then, so I didn’t have much of a choice…

After waiting just under 30 minutes from the time I ordered, the moment the tonkatsu was brought to my table, none of that mattered anymore. Just look at this. The beautiful pink color of the meat’s cross-section… and it’s so thick, isn’t it? At first glance, I thought, “Isn’t this more than 180g?”

But there was one thing that really stumped me when it came to eating this tonkatsu. That is, the seasoning options…

1.　Whole peppercorns

2.　Yuzu pepper

3.　Grated daikon radish

4.　Sun-dried salt

5.　Fig sauce (tonkatsu sauce)

6.　Soy sauce

7.　Olive oil

8.　Lemon

With eight different condiments to choose from, but only five slices of the all-important meat. So I thought, “That’s not enough…” It’s not impossible to try multiple flavors with a single slice of tonkatsu, but that would mean eating it in tiny, fiddly bites, and it just wouldn’t taste as good that way… With that in mind, I decided to skip some of the condiments from the start. So, while I can’t definitively say which condiments I recommend, out of the ones I tried, the combination of sun-dried salt and yuzu pepper was the best.

Oh, and of course, the tonkatsu itself was absolutely flawless. The batter is extremely thin and fine-textured, so even though it’s tonkatsu, it’s practically like a rare steak made from Hayashi SPF pork. Even without any seasoning, the sweet fat and meat juices blend together to create a truly rich, juicy experience. It really lives up to its reputation as a dish supervised by a popular Osaka restaurant. Including the rice, pork miso soup, and cabbage, I finished the whole meal in about 10 minutes.

Finally, they served yuzu sorbet for dessert. All of this was part of the set, and the price—including tax—was 3,200 yen. I was completely satisfied for that price. However, if I had to mention one disappointment, it’s that at Miyagawa Ton-emon’s tonkatsu, you’re supposed to save the last slice to make tonkatsu dashi chazuke (rice with tonkatsu broth). So, I left one slice and ordered the broth and wasabi (it’s free), but apparently they had already run out of broth by then. Hmm, what a shame. But since I just dropped in without a reservation, I guess it can’t be helped… I’ll just have to accept that. So, to reiterate, if possible, it’s better to make a reservation before visiting Miyagawa Ton-emon.

If you fill out the survey, you’ll get one bite-sized cutlet for free… To get to Miyagawa Ton-emon, the nearest station is

At Miyagawa Ton-emon, they’re running a promotion where you get one free bite-sized cutlet if you fill out the survey. These bite-sized cutlets usually cost around 500 yen each, so this is a pretty great deal. Plus, since they use trimmings from various premium pork brands, if you’re lucky, you might get to try some ultra-high-end pork… However, since it takes quite a while to fry, it’s best to let the staff know when you first place your order. If you have room in your stomach, definitely give it a try.

Now, here are the restaurant details…

P.S. If you are looking for delicious pork cutlets in Kyoto, please stop by this article below…