Tis the Season for Katsudon Perfection

Warm Greetings for the Holiday Season!

Eating and drinking in Japan to wrap up another year of great (and not-so-great) eating comes pretty close to perfection. We've eaten tons in the past week and I fear I will never get around to sharing everything in the detail that the experiences warrant. However, I didn't want to forget this, the last meal we had before we departed from Osaka yesterday for Xmas eve dinner back at Mag's.

Tonharu is one of the many tiny food joints lining the underground arcade of Namba station, one of Osaka's main transportation stays. The place was packed with hungry and grouchy salarymen, a sign of good things, surely. Every table was tucking into one combo tonkatsu dish or another, served with rice and steaming bowls of miso soup.

Both of us ordered the Katsudon (840 Yen each), one of the most substantial rice bowl dishes known to mankind. We knew we'd done right by our tired and hungry selves when both bowls arrived, wobbling in gleaming, golden glory.

The dish is standard deep fried pork cutlet, on top of rice with gravy and smothered with a runny egg topping but Tonharu's version was the best we've had to date. The pork cutlet was thicker, crunchier and the fail-safe rice-gravy-egg mixture a heartstopping rendition of all things right for the season - warmth, substance and delicacy, wrapped in love.

We made the train and back in good time to cheer our first of many glasses of bubbly with Ollie, Mag and Taka.

May your holiday season be filled with many moments like the one Tonharu's Katsudon offers. A very Merry X'mas and a Happy New Year to you, you and YOU! See you next year!