Tonkatsu Wako is the Japanese pork cutlet chain from Kawasaki and its Mega Bangna branch serves the best tonkatsu I have eaten in Bangkok. My wife and I went on Saturday 1 August 2026 and paid ฿1,035.76 for two sets and an extra cutlet. This post covers the loin set, the ladies set, the free rice and cabbage refills and why I rank it level with Maisen.

Tonkatsu Wako Has 252 Shops And One Recipe

Wako opened its first shop in the basement of Kawasaki station in December 1958 and has offered free refills of rice and cabbage since 1960. On 1 January 2026 it had 252 shops, 18 of them outside Japan. The first Thai branch opened in Bangkok in September 2015 inside the old Isetan department store at CentralWorld. There are now ten around the city, including One Bangkok, Siam Center, ICONSIAM and Terminal 21.

Two ceramic sauce pots, a bottle of yuzu dressing and a box of sesame sachets on a wooden tray under a wooden sign reading extra rice and cabbage free of charge in Thai, English and Japanese.
The sign on every table at Tonkatsu Wako Mega Bangna.

The menu book sets out the four things the kitchen cares about: the pork, a pure vegetable frying oil, breadcrumbs made fresh in each restaurant from loaves of bread and rice cooked for each guest in a small iron pot. A wooden sign on every table says extra rice and cabbage are free of charge.

Finding The Mega Bangna Branch

The branch is in the Mega Foodwalk zone on Level 1 opposite McDonald's. It opens from 11am to 10pm. We drove. Parking at Mega Bangna is free for six hours without a receipt and for eight hours with ฿500 of receipts stamped at a service counter. We arrived at half past four on a Saturday and a table came free as we walked up, so we sat straight away. By the time our food arrived a queue had formed outside.

The Loin Set

I ordered the Rosukatsu Gohan, the pork loin cutlet set, at ฿350. The loin comes cut into strips on a wire rack with a mound of shredded cabbage, a pot of rice with a wooden lid, a bowl of miso soup with pork and vegetables and a mortar with a pestle for grinding sesame into the sauce. I hate sesame, so I skip the grinding and pour the sauce straight on.

A wooden tray at Tonkatsu Wako with a lidded wooden rice pot, a striped mortar holding a black pestle, a small dish, a lidded red miso soup bowl and chopsticks in a paper sleeve.
The tray that comes with every set: pot rice, miso soup and a mortar for sesame.
A hand lifting the wooden lid from a small iron pot of freshly cooked white Japanese rice.
Rice cooked to order in its own pot.

The cutlet is the reason to come. The crust is light and shatters, the loin inside is pale pink at the centre and juicy all the way through and the sweet, fruity sauce is made for it. The rice is soft, slightly sticky and smells of the pot it was cooked in. It is the best partner the cutlet could have. I always ask for a second pot of rice and a second miso soup. Nobody blinks.

The Ladies Set

My wife had the Nanban Saikachi, one of two ladies sets at ฿440, which the menu says men are welcome to order too: a bite-size pork fillet cutlet, a fried prawn, a fried Japanese salmon fillet, a cup of chawanmushi steamed egg and a sweet to finish, with the same pot rice and miso soup. My wife could not finish it all, so the dessert went home in a takeaway box. I added an extra bite-size fillet cutlet to my set for ฿90.

The Nanban Saikachi ladies set at Tonkatsu Wako: a breaded prawn, a fried salmon fillet cut to show the orange flesh and a bite-size pork fillet cutlet on a wire rack with cabbage and a dish of tartare sauce.
The Nanban Saikachi ladies set, ฿440.
A single bite-size pork fillet cutlet on a round wire rack beside a pile of shredded cabbage on a pale blue plate.
The extra bite-size fillet cutlet, ฿90.
A hand lifting the lid from a cup of chawanmushi steamed egg with a slice of mushroom on top, on a black saucer.
The chawanmushi from the ladies set.
A black lacquer bowl of miso soup with pieces of pork and spring onion, its lid held above it.
Miso soup with pork comes with both sets.

The Bill

  • Rosukatsu Gohan, pork loin cutlet set: ฿350
  • Nanban Saikachi ladies set: ฿440
  • Extra bite-size pork fillet cutlet: ฿90
  • 10 per cent service charge: ฿88
  • 7 per cent VAT: ฿67.76
  • Total for two: ฿1,035.76

The two iced green teas were not on the bill, because tea comes with the set.

Two glasses of iced green tea on a wooden table at Tonkatsu Wako.
The iced green tea that came with the sets.

Would I Go Back

Definitely. This is the best tonkatsu I have had and I like it as much as Maisen, the Tokyo chain with branches across Bangkok. I cannot choose between them. If you are at Mega Bangna for the day, Bincho does teishoku sets with fish and the Katsu Midori branch here does conveyor belt sushi. For more places to eat in Bangkok, start with our Bangkok guide.