Tonchinkan is a restaurant on Tenjin Street in Choufu. It is run by a little old man and a little old lady. I’m assuming they are married. The outside of the restaurant has a wax display case with depictions of the food inside, faded by years of exposure to the sun. When looking on the outside, it doesn’t seem like the restaurant has changed its menu in years. Although I didn’t ask if this was true, I can probably guess that it is. However, upon walking into the restaurant your are blown away by the wooden exterior. The place looks so new and beautiful. Nice hard wood decor all over the restaurant. When sitting inside, you feel as if you are trapped in a wooden box put together by an uncountable number of 4×4’s. It is very down home and cozy.
As you walk into the restaurant the left hand corner on the far side is take up by the kitchen. You can see your food being prepared if you were to sit at the counter. An old woman shuffles out from behind the counter to show us to our seat and pour us some hot tea. We are brought to a table as opposed to the counter. However, near our seats are black and white pictures of when the restaurant must have first started, and autographs of celebrities and athletes, whose hey day had long passed. Despite the new interior, I thought, this restaurant is old. I MUST interview these people at some point. And soon, because the old man preparing our food, must certainly be between 85 and 95.
Unfortunately Kana was in one of her “hunger moods.” This means she is going to be cranky until she eats. This means I wasn’t able to take pictures of the interior like I wanted to. It would have been a good time as well since there wasn’t anyone besides us and the proprietors. I did manage to get pictures of the food though.
I ordered the regular fried pork cutlet. Kana ordered a pork cutlet that was fried with minced garlic.
Here is my order.
If you look carefully my rice bowl is much bigger than Kana’s. The little old lady gave me extra rice. I guess because I’m the man of the house or something? Also I’m foreign and I speak Japanese. Just one of the many perks I suppose.
Now this is the most interesting part of our little excursion to Tonchinkan. If you notice the pieces of pork on the right of my plate there is some yellow dust sprinkled onto them. This is curry powder. This is the first time I have encountered this type of seasoning on fried pork. I’ve eaten fried pork with miso and Worcester sauce. Although I say Worcester sauce, it is a thick sweet black syrup made with Worcester and a mixture of pureed vegetables. I only eat it on fried pork. But the curry powder had me intrigued. So I ask the little old lady what I should do with the curry powder. Do I eat it with Worcester sauce? Do I eat it plain? What should I put it on? Do I put on a lot or just a little? She happily came over to help me as I tried to open up the curry powder shaker. I was told to eat it with sauce and to put on a lot. The results of my curry powder foray can be seen in the above picture.
I must say that the curry powder flavoring was very delicious. I asked several of my teachers at school and none of them have heard of putting curry powder onto fried pork. I think this may be unique to Tonchinkan. I suspected as much the first time I saw the curry powder. So I said that I HAD to try it for the experience of it. I’m glad I did. When I go back I’m going to try and interview the little old lady and the little old man about the restaurant and the history of the restaurant. This type of information and history must be preserved!
I would definitely recommend Tonchinkan if you are in Choufu. Go out the North Exit of the Choufu Station and at the first set of lights take a right. You’ll immediately see a pachinko parlor. Take a left before the parlor. Walk down the street and Tonchinkan will on the right. I’ll update with better pictures sometime in the near future.