A note on the words: tonkatsu is a breaded, deep-fried pork cutlet; hire katsu uses the fillet and rosu katsu the loin. Shabu-shabu, the genre this shop is registered under, is thin meat swished through hot broth at the table. Harajuku is the youth-fashion district beside Meiji Shrine. Prices are as of this writing (August 2026).
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Pretty Pork Factory & Katsu Puripo on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
So, this is Hangover Meshi. Come to think of it, I remembered there being a highly rated, fairly pricey branded-pork tonkatsu restaurant somewhere around Harajuku and Omotesando, so I went looking and hit the jackpot: “PRETTY PORK FACTORY & KATSU Puripo.” I feel like I’ve seen this shop in Shinjuku too. This place seems to be a bit of a reinvented concept — not just tonkatsu, but also things like branded-pork samgyeopsal sets and shabu-shabu. Since I was there anyway, let’s go in! So into Tokyu Plaza Harajuku I went — never been inside this building before lol
The restaurant is way up on one of the higher floors. A shop with dazzling neon-style lighting lol Doesn’t look like a tonkatsu place at all lol lol lol
Maybe because it was a weekday, the place was practically empty. Well, getting in without waiting is a good thing!
Fried shrimp: 1,800 yen each
Special-selection tonkatsu chef’s-choice set: 3,300 yen
Special-selection hire katsu chef’s-choice set: 3,600 yen
Fried shrimp! 1,800 yen a piece! I want it!
And with the special-selection chef’s-choice set, you can’t pick the pork brand, but it’s a slightly more affordable tonkatsu.
Separately, there are a few branded pork options available that day, tracked with a circle-or-cross list!
There’s technically a chart showing the flavor and characteristics of each premium pork, but I couldn’t really make sense of it lol so I just went with whatever felt right.
After much deliberation, we ordered, and this is what came out first.
Pickles! These are good on their own too — crunching away happily.
Ta-da! This is the hire katsu made from the “Melty Pork” brand — two pieces.
Two pieces, but there’s a real sense of volume to it. Trying it plain first, no sauce at all — tender and so good!
A crispy crust and incredibly tender meat, with the umami of the lean meat packed in tight, and you can really tell how juicy it is. So good. Next I tried it with salt, then with the sauce. Delicious.
For the cabbage dressing, you can choose between a soy-honey dressing or a vegetable dressing. Yeah, whether 4,000 yen is expensive or reasonable is a whole separate conversation, but if the question is simply “is it delicious or not,” then yes, this is delicious. Really good.
The reason I went with the smaller fillet portion is because this is what I really wanted to eat! Fried shrimp.
A big fried shrimp, head fried and all! And they carefully add the tartar sauce for you!
One bite in — tender and delicious! Sweet shrimp, the best. It’s so good on its own that you almost wonder if you even need the tartar sauce. They fry the head split open too, so I dove right in and crunched through it. The umami inside is rich and delicious too. Sure, there’s the whole question of whether it’s worth the price. But it’s delicious!
And then there was the Kofuku Buta Saddleback pork shoulder-loin katsu that the person I was with had ordered.
5,000 yen, I thought — quite something! But the portion is quite something too lol There’s a good amount here. I had a piece, and it’s a proper, substantial loin, incredibly delicious. Tender yet with real bite to the meat, and the fat is sweet and delicious! A good tonkatsu, eaten every once in a while, really is a moment of pure happiness.
So there we are — “Katsu Puripo,” a branded-pork tonkatsu shop I’d wanted to try at least once. The price is honestly a stretch, but the quality is beyond doubt! The meat itself is on a totally different level. It feels like it’s doing something a bit different from ordinary tonkatsu. This kind of thick-cut branded-pork tonkatsu didn’t used to be common, but it’s become pretty mainstream now, with more and more places doing it — and honestly, they’re all delicious! What a good era to be living in.
Pretty Pork Factory & Katsu Puripo (shabu-shabu / Meiji-jingumae Station, Harajuku Station, Omotesando Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★☆☆ 3.5
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
