Is a ¥550 pork cutlet too expensive? 5ch: ‘That’s ¥200 more than I expected’

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The story

Matsuya Foods Group’s tonkatsu (pork cutlet) specialty chain “Matsunoya” is offering a ¥550 “Value Morning Loin Cutlet Set” available from 4 a.m. to 11 a.m. The set comes with tonkatsu, miso soup, cabbage, and potato salad, with free refills on rice, miso soup, and cabbage — details that were featured in a news segment. The 5ch thread that followed buzzed with debate over whether it’s really okay to eat fried food in the morning, its calorie count, reactions to a price that felt higher than expected, and comparisons of price and taste with rival chains.

Tonkatsu first thing in the morning! We check out Matsunoya’s ¥550 “Value Morning Loin Cutlet Set”

At “Matsunoya,” the tonkatsu specialty chain run by major gyudon (beef bowl) chain operator Matsuya Foods Holdings, reporter Ohki Na’s top pick is the ¥550 “Value Morning Loin Cutlet Set.” It comes with freshly fried tonkatsu, miso soup, cabbage, and potato salad — plus free rice refills — making it a truly “godly” deal. This morning menu is available from 4 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Source: newsdig.tbs.co.jp / Original article here

What people said

2AnonymousSep 15, 2026 04:27
Eating tonkatsu in the morning is something you can only pull off while you're young — once you're a middle-aged guy, that's rough.
6AnonymousSep 15, 2026 04:30
Re: #2
If you just got off a night shift, that's fine.
91AnonymousSep 15, 2026 06:16
Re: #2
At night it'd be rough, but in the morning it's fine.
150AnonymousSep 15, 2026 07:24
Re: #2
When I go to Matsunoya in the morning, plenty of middle-aged guys are eating fried food.
7AnonymousSep 15, 2026 04:32
872 kcal first thing in the morning?
Even with just one rice refill, you'll easily blow past 1000.
164AnonymousSep 15, 2026 07:41
Re: #7
For a normal salaryman, stuffing your stomach with a fried-food meal like this in the morning would wreck your productivity for the whole morning.
17AnonymousSep 15, 2026 04:46
That's ¥200 more than I expected.
Unless it's ¥230 for morning soba or ¥350 for morning tonkatsu, I wouldn't call it a deal.
57AnonymousSep 15, 2026 05:39
Re: #17
Grandpa, prices have gone up way more than you realize.
62AnonymousSep 15, 2026 05:45
Re: #17
Sounds like the type who genuinely goes around saying he'll never eat a burger unless it's ¥55, or gyudon unless it's ¥280 (or rather, can't afford to).
122AnonymousSep 15, 2026 07:04
Re: #17
At my factory cafeteria it was ¥400 including a side dish.
25AnonymousSep 15, 2026 04:57
Kurobuta (black pork) would run you at least ¥3000.
But it tastes completely different, so if I'm eating tonkatsu, it's kurobuta or nothing.
168AnonymousSep 15, 2026 07:47
Re: #25
Sounds like the type who'd pick brown eggs (thinking they're somehow better).
27AnonymousSep 15, 2026 05:04
Honestly, even as a middle-aged guy you can still eat fried food in the morning.
It just takes longer to digest, so your stomach feels heavy until nighttime.
102AnonymousSep 15, 2026 06:36
Re: #27
That's exactly the feeling people mean when they say 'you can't handle XX in the morning,' y'know.
34AnonymousSep 15, 2026 05:20
Good old days when they sold a ¥1300 pass for 3 takeout katsudon meals.
Whoever lost at rock-paper-scissors had to eat the sauce katsudon.
67AnonymousSep 15, 2026 05:48
Re: #34
They're still running that for ¥1350 now.
Sauce katsudon is good, isn't it.
38AnonymousSep 15, 2026 05:25
At the level of your average old-man 5ch poster, you probably can't even tell what good rice tastes like.
40AnonymousSep 15, 2026 05:26
Re: #38
Well, maybe the rice they eat at home smells just as off as Matsuya's rice, so they don't notice the smell.
51AnonymousSep 15, 2026 05:33
Taste: ☆☆
Value for money: ☆☆☆
That's the verdict.
55AnonymousSep 15, 2026 05:36
For Katsuya, charging an extra ¥150 for a large rice portion is a dealbreaker.
59AnonymousSep 15, 2026 05:43
Re: #55
Sounds like Katsuya is getting caught up to by Matsunoya.
63AnonymousSep 15, 2026 05:46
Eating breakfast gives me a stomachache,
so I can't eat breakfast at all…
65AnonymousSep 15, 2026 05:47
Re: #63
Work the night shift.
Then your 'breakfast' just becomes dinner.
131AnonymousSep 15, 2026 07:08
Funny how the ¥430 morning soba at Irori-an Kiraku (a station soba chain) got completely ignored lol
https://newsdig.ismcdn.jp/mwimgs/2/e/860mw/img_2e2322010fdac98668a32c917e31bb1b755660.jpg

Though honestly, the way this thread was set up is the real problem.
144AnonymousSep 15, 2026 07:19
Re: #131
That's only at stations in the Kanto region, right? Not much to discuss there lol
181AnonymousSep 15, 2026 08:18
Re: #131
Ramen with rice is common enough, but soba with rice feels like a pretty novel combo.
188AnonymousSep 15, 2026 08:22
Isn't breakfast better value if you just eat it at home?
190AnonymousSep 15, 2026 08:25
Re: #188
That's not just true for breakfast.
Normally I stick to on-the-go snacks and adjustment meals.
Eating out is a luxury — more of a foodie hobby.
194AnonymousSep 15, 2026 08:28
Re: #188
Do you seriously think people who eat out haven't already figured that out???

Background and key points of this discussion

Matsuya Foods Holdings operates not only the gyudon (beef bowl) chain “Matsuya” but also the tonkatsu specialty chain “Matsunoya” nationwide, and has been focused on capturing morning demand by leveraging its late-night and early-morning hours. At ¥550, the set is pricier than the going rate for morning menus at gyudon chains, and the original article doesn’t make clear that free refills apply only to rice, miso soup, and cabbage — not to items like the potato salad. In the thread, anecdotal claims that “you can only eat fried food in the morning while you’re young” were countered by comments like “it’s fine if you just got off a night shift,” suggesting that how people perceive digestion time varies by generation and daily rhythm. There was also frustration that the ¥430 morning soba at station-soba chain “Irori-an Kiraku” wasn’t covered in the news segment, with some noting that even within the same “morning menu roundup,” coverage tends to favor certain chains over others.

*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Speed+) thread “¥430 Morning Soba, ¥550 Morning Tonkatsu 😋 A Thorough Check on the Best-Value Chain Store Morning Menus.”

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