Tonkatsu Iwai

I visited Tonkatsu Iwai, a restaurant in Daimon, Tokyo, which was selected as one of the 2024 Tonkatsu 100 Best Restaurants in the Tabelog. This restaurant used to be called “Nomotoya,” and including that period, it has won the “Tonkatsu 100 Best Restaurants of the Tabelog” award six times. In March 2022, the famous restaurant changed its name and relaunched itself as a new restaurant, and is still as popular as ever, making a name for itself among tonkatsu lovers.

At Tonkatsu Iwai, they serve tonkatsu with wasabi stem and Kagoshima soy sauce. Curious, I went to the restaurant and found out…

A rustic atmosphere where you can dine without feeling self-conscious… Tonkatsu Iwai is a restaurant like this…

I arrived at Tonkatsu Iwai on a weekday around 10:50 a.m. The official opening time is 11:30 a.m., so I arrived 40 minutes before the restaurant opened, but as expected on a weekday, there were no customers ahead of me, so I was able to get pole position. The restaurant is located on the second floor of a small building right next to the main gate of Zojo-ji Temple, and it is a little hard to find a space to wait. On this day, customers started arriving 10 minutes before the restaurant opened, and by the time the place opened, there were only four customers including myself. It is possible that this was just a fluke, but on a weekday, it might be possible to enter the restaurant without much of a wait.

The restaurant Tonkatsu Iwai has seating for 21 people, including five counter seats. The atmosphere of the restaurant is very much like an ordinary tonkatsu restaurant, with a simple atmosphere where anyone can dine without feeling self-conscious. I like this kind of restaurant…I like the high-class tonkatsu that is becoming more and more common these days, but I would hate to see this kind of restaurant disappear.

What is it like to eat a pork cutlet with wasabi stem? I tried it with Tonkatsu Iwai’s signature dish, the loin cutlet set meal.

What I ordered at Tonkatsu Iwai on that day was their signature dish, the loin cutlet set meal. You can choose either 120g or 160g of meat for this loin cutlet set meal, but since I was planning to eat meat udon at the nearby Homemade Sanuki Udon and Meat Jinza Daimon Branch right after this, I had no choice but to order the smaller 120g this time…

They had taken my order before the restaurant opened, so it took about 3 minutes after I sat down for my order of roast pork cutlet set meal (120g) to be brought in front of me. The price is a bit on the high side at 2,450 yen including tax, but the price is the “white pork cutlet” that dominated the market for a while… Looking at it, I was excited to see that I could have a white pork cutlet at such a reasonable price. What’s more, the set meal includes a large serving of rice for free and a pork miso soup with lots of vegetables and sesame oil flavor.

The cross section of the pork cutlet looks like this, with the rare color remaining while the center is well heated. The degree of frying is a true artisanal technique.

Now, let’s try the pork cutlet with wasabi stem and Kagoshima soy sauce. I put it in my mouth and said, “Whoa!” This wasabi stem has the coolness of wasabi, but it doesn’t stimulate my nose too much. It is like they took only the good parts of Wasabi. On the other hand, Kagoshima soy sauce is quite sweet, and I thought it might be contradictory to the stimulation of wasabi, but when I tried it, I found they complement each other. This is unexpected. I can understand why the owner recommends this way of eating.

They also have tonkatsu sauce and seaweed salt for seasoning, which I tried, but the wasabi and soy sauce was the best. Anyway, it is a tonkatsu, but it is very light and easy to eat.

Oh yes, I haven’t explained anything about the meat. Tonkatsu Iwai uses a special black pig called Roppaku pork. The fat is sweet and light due to the use of sweet potatoes as feed. It is true that the fat was very light. However, when I bit into the medium rare meat, I felt the juices pouring from the tender cross section of meat… One bite turned me on and I devoured it in no time at all.

The Tonkatsu Iwai’s loin cutlet set meal (120g), like this, frankly exceeded my expectations by a wide margin. It is no wonder that this restaurant is a regular on the “100 Best Tonkatsu Restaurants” list on theTabelog! I can’t say that I was disappointed. In fact, I think it should be selected as a Michelin Bib Gourmand. I didn’t have a heavy feeling in my stomach at all after finishing the meal, and I regretted in the opposite sense that I should have chosen the 240 gram thick cut loin cutlet… If this level of tonkatsu is available for less than 3,000 yen, I think the existence of high-end tonkatsu restaurants like Tonkatsu Narikura may become more and more dangerous in the future.

Other examples of Tonkatsu Iwai’s lunch menu (prices include tax)

• Loin cutlet set meal (160g) 2,900 yen
• Thick cut loin cutlet set meal (240g) 3,400 yen
• Filet cutlet set meal (2,900 yen)
• Loin combination set meal (loin and fried shrimp) 2,950 yen
• Loin mixed set meal (loin and filet) 3300 yen

Note: Free extra large serving of rice; extra rice, pork miso soup and cabbage are available for 100 yen.

Lunch time is a little more economical… Tonkatsu Iwai is a 2-minute walk from the nearest station, Daimon Station on the Toei Subway Oedo Line (Asakusa Line).

Tonkatsu Iwai offers the same tonkatsu set menus for dinner as for lunch, but the prices go up a little bit during the evening hours. The price increase is only 50 yen, though, so it will hardly affect your wallet. Lunch time is a bit more economical. It’s also easily accessible from Haneda Airport, so not only Tokyo residents but also those who fly to Tokyo should definitely give it a try.

Now, here are the details of the restaurant…

It takes 7 minutes on foot from Hamamatsucho Station on the JR Yamanote Line.