From the World To Our Plates

Home-style Japanese food with deep roots and a modern, urban edge.

Hi and welcome back to this deep dive into the Kanto food region of Japan!

Kanto-style cuisine reflects modern urban life, shaped above all by its main city, Tokyo, and is known for bolder, more assertive flavors.

I’ve been a big fan of Japanese food for many years now, so I always enjoy an excuse to cook it. What I’ve learned, though, is that restaurant Japanese food and homestyle Japanese food do differ quite a lot, which makes this even more interesting.

Now, how did I put together this meal? Traditionally, pork was the protein of choice in Kanto thanks to its affordability and practicality so this played into my thought process. While regional boundaries in Japanese cuisine are much more blurred today, due to close cultural ties and overall affluence, I decided to stick with tradition and chose a pork main. Not just any dish, but one of Japan’s most iconic: tonkatsu.

From there, the rest of the menu followed what is commonly served alongside tonkatsu, building a classic ichiju sansai meal (one soup, three sides, plus rice). This is something I really like about Japanese cuisine because, without it being overly filling, I feel like it creates a feeling of being pleasantly full with a balanced mixture of flavors, textures and ingredients.

Tonkatsu restaurants often serve tonjiru, a hearty pork and vegetable miso soup, so that choice was an easy one. Steamed rice with just a sprinkle of sesame mustn’t be missing.

For the remaining components – a pickle, a simmered dish, and a fresh dish – I went with:

• Pickled daikon with chili: fresh, crunchy, and a great all-rounder
• Itoko-ni: simmered kabocha squash with creamy azuki beans
• Spinach gomaae: simple, sesame-forward, and perfectly balanced
  

I also added a small amount of konnyaku to the tonjiru. Since Gunma Prefecture, an important part of Kanto, is famous for konnyaku production, I leaned into that connection and made miso konnyaku as a chewy extra-snack on the side.

Altogether, this came together as a very home-style (almost diner-style) Japanese meal, drawing inspiration from different parts of the Kanto region while still feeling cohesive, comforting, and nourishing.

This is the kind of set meal you could easily imagine ordering in a Tokyo tonkatsu shop or neighborhood shokudō.

To finish things off, I made matcha brownies for dessert. Not traditional, but very tasty and a fun nod to modern Japanese flavor adaptations.

Here’s the final meal:

Here‘s a pic of the brownies that were devoured before I could even take some glam shots!

And here are the recipe links. Just One Cookbook by Nami is a real treasure-trove for Japanese homestyle and modern cooking:

• Tonkatsu (Japanese Pork Cutlet) (Video) とんかつ • Just One Cookbook , Homemade Tonkatsu Sauce とんかつソース • Just One Cookbook
• Tonjiru (Pork and Vegetable Miso Soup) (Video) 豚汁 • Just One Cookbook
• Pickled Daikon 大根の漬物 • Just One Cookbook
• Japanese Spinach Salad with Sesame Dressing 胡麻和え • Just One Cookbook
• Japanese Simmered Kabocha 南瓜の煮物 • Just One Cookbook (to make this “Itoko-Ni” I added azuki beans that I precooked for 40 minutes in water)
• Matcha Brownies 抹茶ブラウニー • Just One Cookbook

Thanks for joining me on this little Kanto-focused tour of Eastern Metropolitan Japan—on to the next stop! 🎈🌍