A post on 5ch claiming that “katsu and curry taste better eaten separately” sparked a heated back-and-forth. The pour-it-on-together camp championed the texture of breading soaked in curry roux, while the serve-it-separately camp argued for preserving the katsu’s original crispiness. The discussion soon spiraled into katsu curry’s murky origins (one theory holds it began when a baseball player asked for tonkatsu to be placed on his curry) and a full-blown ranking debate over which reigns supreme: the tonkatsu set meal, katsu curry, or katsudon.
What people said
1AnonymousSep 19, 2026 17:36
Katsu curry is a dumb menu item, if you ask me
5AnonymousSep 19, 2026 17:45
It's amazing precisely because you're eating katsu with curry as the sauce, together with rice.
Old man, go eat your pickles instead.
6AnonymousSep 19, 2026 17:46
Pour a little curry roux on the breading
and eat the crispy part together with the slightly soggy part — that's the way to go.
7AnonymousSep 19, 2026 17:46
Don't need the cabbage.
Sure, katsu goes with rice, and katsu goes with cabbage,
but there's no such thing as "cabbage rice" in this world.
Kind of like being stuck alone with your friend's friend — awkward.
8AnonymousSep 19, 2026 17:46
Even if you want to eat it separately, they just pour the curry on for you, so good luck with that.
11AnonymousSep 19, 2026 17:48
Are you comparing it to your own home's curry?
The kind mom makes, with carrots and potatoes in it.
12AnonymousSep 19, 2026 17:50
You should eat the curry and rice separately too, then.
15AnonymousSep 19, 2026 18:00
If they'd just not put the katsu on the roux side and skip pouring roux on it, you could eat the katsu on its own too.
16AnonymousSep 19, 2026 18:01
Just eat them separately from the start then lol
17AnonymousSep 19, 2026 18:05
Just ask the staff if they can serve it separately.
19AnonymousSep 19, 2026 18:13
For starters, katsu is hard to eat with a spoon.
I want to use chopsticks.
22AnonymousSep 19, 2026 18:16
It started when some baseball player asked the shop owner to put tonkatsu on top of his curry.
23AnonymousSep 19, 2026 18:17
Re: #22
That guy's a genius.
24AnonymousSep 19, 2026 18:17
Karaage and katsu curry are the best in the world.
25AnonymousSep 19, 2026 18:36
It's mainstream enough that there are restaurants specializing in just katsu curry.
27AnonymousSep 19, 2026 18:47
It comes down to how you feel about that slight mismatch between the two.
29AnonymousSep 19, 2026 18:50
It's been around since I was born, so I don't feel any mismatch at all.
30AnonymousSep 19, 2026 18:50
I think it was Makuhari — apparently there's a place with simmered katsu curry. Might check it out sometime.
31AnonymousSep 19, 2026 18:51
Yeah, guess that's how it'll be if you can't judge things by your own sense of taste.
32AnonymousSep 19, 2026 18:52
If you can't forgive moisture soaking into crispy breading, then it's a hard no for you.
34AnonymousSep 19, 2026 18:56
Re: #32
You really don't get it.
Katsudon broth is basically pure liquid,
but curry is a solid, not a liquid.
It doesn't ruin the crispiness at all.
36AnonymousSep 19, 2026 18:59
That's why Japanese curry has to be thick and gloopy.
37AnonymousSep 19, 2026 19:00
Curry is basically a hot-pot dish, you know.
It's tasty because the hot-pot broth soaks into the breading along with the meat juices from the katsu, making it nice and rich.
38AnonymousSep 19, 2026 19:01
But in the end it's all about what you put on the rice, right?
Katsu curry,
sashimi,
eel —
that's the only difference.
They're all delicious.
39AnonymousSep 19, 2026 19:02
Re: #38
Even just a raw egg on top is delicious.
In the end, it's the rice that's great in Japan.
40AnonymousSep 19, 2026 19:02
Katsu curry from a Western-style diner (yōshokuya) is always delicious, no question.
41AnonymousSep 19, 2026 19:03
Re: #26
It was Shigeru Chiba — the guy who wore uniform number 3 before Shigeo Nagashima.
43AnonymousSep 19, 2026 19:04
Soba shop curry is fine as is.
No need to turn it into katsu curry, right?
44AnonymousSep 19, 2026 19:04
People who can only eat in the "triangle eating" rotation (alternating bites of rice, side dish, and soup) probably can't stand katsu curry.
46AnonymousSep 19, 2026 19:05
Chicken katsu is the way to go with curry.
47AnonymousSep 19, 2026 19:06
Re: #46
No way, that's a hard pass.
48AnonymousSep 19, 2026 19:06
If it's chicken katsu, I'd rather eat it without putting it on the rice.
49AnonymousSep 19, 2026 19:07
It'd be perfect if they just cut the katsu into bite-sized pieces.
50AnonymousSep 19, 2026 19:08
More like thin strips than bite-sized, really.
If it's cut too thick, the flavor gets muddled.
51AnonymousSep 19, 2026 19:09
Places like Go Go Curry cut it into nice thin strips.
52AnonymousSep 19, 2026 19:09
Please stop putting cabbage on katsu curry.
60AnonymousSep 19, 2026 19:12
Tonkatsu set meal = katsu curry >>> katsudon
62AnonymousSep 19, 2026 19:13
Re: #60
Nah, the gap's even bigger than that.
Tonkatsu set meal = katsu curry >>>>>>>> katsudon
63AnonymousSep 19, 2026 19:13
Re: #60
The tonkatsu set meal just separates everything out to look fancier and charge more for it.
The Background and Talking Points
The origin story floated for katsu curry — that a baseball player once asked for tonkatsu to be placed on his curry — brought up the name Shigeru Chiba, but in truth this is a famous piece of food lore with multiple competing origin stories, none confirmed as historical fact. What split the thread was a simple matter of taste: whether you like the texture of breading soaked in curry roux, or want to preserve the crispiness. But the discussion notably expanded from there into a ranking debate — “tonkatsu set meal > katsu curry > katsudon” — and even into whether cabbage or chicken katsu belong on the dish. There’s no right or wrong way to eat it; the debate reflects each person’s own food culture, from habits like eating in a “triangle rotation” to memories of their mother’s home-cooked curry.
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