Gochisousama ni Ikirujin. Tonkatsu Tonki Meguro Honten Yoshihara Izuhi</trp-post-container

The interview of FOOD People

People who live for the feast. Tonkatsu Tonki Meguro Honten Yoshihara Izuhi

Japan is one of the world's leading food nations. People's interest is always high, and new restaurants are opening one after another. So what kind of people are supporting the food industry today? In this article, we focus on those who have style. It is true that some people think that simply tasting a delicious meal is enough, but just as with movies or music, knowing the story behind the food and the people who make it makes the dish shine even brighter. This time, we interviewed the third generation owner of Tonkatsu Tonki Meguro Honten, a tonkatsu restaurant in Meguro. Despite being a long-established restaurant, Tonkatsu Tonki Meguro is loved by many customers, both near and far, as a "set meal restaurant in town. What is the mindset of the owner, who has carried on the tradition of a good old-fashioned tonkatsu restaurant?

Illustration_Michiko Otsuka
Text_Aki Fujii
Edit_Shinri Kobayashi

Yoshihara Izuhi / Tonkatsu Tonki Meguro Honten

Born in 1975, he is the third generation of Tonkatsu Tonki Meguro Honten, which has been in business for 80 years since 1939. He is the grandson of the founder, and the current president is his uncle. After graduating from college, he worked for a fire equipment inspection company before starting his career at Tonkatsu Tonki Meguro Honten at the age of 29. This March marks his 15th year at the restaurant, and although he is the most prominent figure in the kitchen, in charge of cutting the cutlets in the center, he says, "There are many experienced staff who have been working here for decades, so my 15th year is still just a youngster (laughs).

Even a starving stomach is filled to the brim with customers saying, "I'll be back again.

In fact, it is only recently that I have come to think of Tonki, where I work, as a "wonderful restaurant.

Even though it was a "long-established" restaurant, people used to make fun of me for being the son of a pork cutlet shop owner, and my classmates nicknamed me "Tonki. My classmates called me "Tonki," and some of my seniors in club activities called me "Hey, Tonkatsu" (laughs). (Laughs). I am grateful that these people are now our customers, but at the time, I had no intention of taking over the business (laughs).

When my father asked me, "What are you going to do?" when I was about to graduate from college, I immediately said, "I'm not going to do it." I was aiming for a job in the firefighting industry at the time, so I immediately answered, "I won't do it." And to begin with, until I joined the restaurant at the age of 29, I thought, "There is no way I can work serving food when I am starving. (Laughs) But once I started working at the restaurant, no matter how hungry I was, the customers would say, "I'll be back again," and I would mysteriously feel full.

The staff comes in through tutelage, old-fashioned style.

In the past few years, I have finally realized that I work in a wonderful restaurant. Not only do we have many customers who have been coming to us for a long time, three, four, or five generations of parents and children, but also the employees and part-time workers have been working there for a really long time.... I do get a lot of complaints (laughs).

There are many mature staff members who are well over retirement age. For example, there are many children who started working part-time in their first year of high school and have stayed with us until their senior year of college. One of them even introduced me to her younger sister, saying, "I'm going to get a job. Another girl even took her younger brother on as a part-time worker so that she wouldn't have to work on weekends...it was like taking her place (laughs). Of course, there are children who quit right away, but it is rare in this day and age to have so many staff members come in through their contacts, and I feel that is why they work with such peace of mind.

I would like to maintain almost all aspects of Tonki, from the way the pork cutlets are made to the way they are cleaned, in my generation as well. I still take orders for "how many pieces of loin and how many pieces of fillet" in handwritten "Sho" characters. The only thing I have changed is that I have recently converted the cash register to an iPad and automated the tallying of all menu items. I would like to do what I can to simplify and make things more convenient, and spend more time on customer service, cooking, and cleaning.

The counter, which has a good reputation among customers, is our business card.

The cypress counter on the first floor is always washed every day with soap and a scrubbing brush, and the flooring on the staff side of the counter and the large pan for frying pork cutlets are also washed every day. If a restaurant that uses oil is greasy, there is nothing we can do about it. It has been about 50 years since we moved to this building from our original location near the current kiosk at the west exit of Meguro Station, but the counter is still praised by many customers, and it is truly our business card.

There is one more thing that we have continued to do since the first generation and that we receive compliments from our customers. All the staff at our restaurant are experienced in capturing the characteristics of each customer's face and atmosphere, so that even if the order in which customers enter the restaurant is irregular, the order in which the food is served will not be out of order.

I have also become good at remembering people's faces through this, and I can bite back the words "I'm back again" from customers who come every month. It's a small detail, but I can tell that person didn't like mustard, or said they didn't want to put green onions in their pork miso soup.... You can tell that by looking at the plates we lower. Even if it is not perfect, if I can make the most of it the next time they come back, they may be surprised and say, "Wow! If you can make the most of it the next time you come back, your customers will be surprised and happy. I don't mean to make a surprise, but it's this exchange over the counter that makes me happy.

Tonkatsu Tonki Meguro

1-1-2 Shimo-Meguro, Meguro-ku, Tokyo
03-3491-9928