Japan’s famed tonkatsu eatery is now in Malaysia

This is the first Maisen outlet to open in Malaysia. — Photos: Maisen

In Japan, the name “Maisen” evokes an almost God-like reverence. The eatery, established in 1965 in the Hibiya Mitsui Building in Tokyo, has built and forged its identity off the back of its famed tonkatsu pork cutlets. To this day, serpentine queues trail outside the flagship outlet in Tokyo’s Aoyama, which opened in 1978 in a converted 1920s bath house.

Since those heady early days, Maisen has spread its wings throughout Japan with 13 restaurants and 60 takeaway stores while the brand’s famed katsu sando sandwiches are eponymous on transportation hubs throughout the country.