Tonteki was featured on the popular Japanese TV program called “Shinya Shokudo (深夜食堂)” or “Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories” which is now available on Netflix.
Episode of Tonteki from Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories
Midnight Diner features Japanese dishes that are more representative of home-cooked recipes than Japanese restaurant menus in the US. If you’re interested in Japanese home-cooked meals, you will enjoy this show as much as I do! Tonteki’s episode is Season 1, Episode 3 on Netflix.
Tonteki – Japan’s Regional Food
One of the characteristics I love about Japan is each region has its own unique culture and well-known food made with local ingredients. These regions are not too far apart, and sometimes even by taking just a 20-minute train ride, you can experience very different food (e.g. Osaka and Kyoto). I love traveling in Japan and visiting new places to experience local special food, arts & crafts,s and such. This is probably why we have a culture of buying local souvenirs or gifts wherever we go to bring back home to family and friends. Until I watched Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories, I had never seen or had Tonteki (トンテキ). Tonteki is a regional food in Mie Prefecture in central Japan. That’s where Tenmusu (Shrimp Tempura Rice Ball) originated from as well!
What’s Tonteki?
Tonteki is one of the simpler dishes featured in Midnight Diner; it is pan-seared pork loin steak. Ton (豚) means pork in Japanese, as you may already be familiar with Tonkatsu (pork cutlet) and Tonkotsu (pork broth), and -teki (テキ) comes from suteeki (ステーキ) which means steak in Japanese. For those of you who study/read Japanese, Tonteki トンテキ is sometimes written as とんテキ、豚てき、とんてき、豚テキ, with the different combination of hiragana, katakana, and kanji. The original Tonteki was introduced at the Chinese restaurant Lai Lai Ken (來來憲らいらいけん) in Yokkaichi (四日市) after WWII. The pork loin steak is cooked with thick garlic soy sauce and served with shredded cabbage. This dish is also known as Glove-yaki (グローブ焼き) as the pork loin with slits resembles baseball gloves. These slits are added so that it’s easier to eat with chopsticks and it also helps cook the meat faster without overcooking it.
What Makes It Tonteki??
According to Yokkaichi Tonteki Association (how cool they have an association for this dish!), in order to call a dish “Tonteki”, it has to have the following four requirements: However, as you see in today’s dish, the master (the main actor) from Midnight Diner made Tonteki that’s slightly different from the original style Tonteki. As this series on JOC is a recreation of the master’s recipe, I followed how he made it in this episode. Maybe when I have a chance to try Tonteki in Yokkaichi, I’ll re-create the original version. My family loved this simple dish and I hope you’ll enjoy it as well. If you want to check out other Midnight Diner Tokyo Stories – Season 1 Recipes, read Netflix Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories – Season 1 Recipes. Wish to learn more about Japanese cooking? Sign up for our free newsletter to receive cooking tips & recipe updates! And stay in touch with me on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram.
