There is no single Australian stage: each city has its own, worked out from its own cafes with the same rules. This is the stage most of the cities share (Hobart, Adelaide, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra, Perth); every city's own stage is in City by city.
Emerging: Fewer than 5 Sydney cafes have it, or the first cafe post or review we have is under 120 days old, or creators are posting it before any cafe has it. It also covers anything on a small share of cafes that is holding steady.
A crumbed, fried pork or chicken cutlet with shredded cabbage and tonkatsu sauce in soft crustless white bread.
Biggest in Hobart, on 2.4% of its cafes in the last 90 days. Search changes are Aug to Oct 2026 against Aug to Oct 2025.
Each card counts the city's cafes with a post, a customer review or a current menu naming it in the last 90 days. Its share is of that city's own cafes, so a smaller city can be ahead.
We don't read Hobart, Adelaide, Canberra and Perth cafes' own posts yet, so their figures come from Google reviews and menus only.
“Where to get one” lists a different set: cafes with it on a current menu or in a cafe's or creator's post, whenever it was. That is why a city's count there is not the same.
107 cafes in 8 cities: 86 on their menus, 21 from posts.
Showing 10 of 107 cafes, cheapest first
Australian cafes with Katsu sando on their menus or in their posts.
Searches are about level with a year earlier. (Aug to Oct 2026 vs Aug to Oct 2025)
Australia searches a month
1,670 searches, the busiest month.
Tap a number for what changed then.
Sydney searches a month
380 searches, the busiest month.
Tap a number for what changed then.
Melbourne searches a month
550 searches, the busiest month.
Tap a number for what changed then.
Brisbane searches a month
First Brisbane cafe post or review in our data.
210 searches, the busiest month.
Tap a number for what changed then.
Gold Coast searches a month
First Gold Coast cafe post or review in our data.
Searches up by half on Dec 2024.
Tap a number for what changed then.
Perth searches a month
Searches up by half on Dec 2024.
First Perth review in our data.
Tap a number for what changed then.
Adelaide searches a month
160 searches, the busiest month.
First Adelaide review in our data.
Tap a number for what changed then.
Canberra searches a month
50 searches, the busiest month.
First Canberra review in our data.
Tap a number for what changed then.
Hobart searches a month
50 searches, the busiest month.
First Hobart review in our data.
Tap a number for what changed then.
Share of each city's own cafes with it, last 90 days.
Each city's part, Aug to Oct 2026.
Of the cafes across Australia that posted anything that month, how many posted katsu sando, per 1,000 of them.
It is a share, not a count, so it does not grow just because we follow more cafes. It only grows when more of the cafes we follow take it up.
The month in progress shows here once it is complete, so a part month never reads as a drop. A month with too few cafes posting is left out.
3.7 per 1,000 in Oct 2026, 1.5× vs Jun 2026
Cafe menus listing it now, Australia.
86 cafe menus
We started reading cafe menus in late 2026. Cafes adding and dropping it each month show here once the first whole month of menu reads is in.
Searches in Oct 2026, circles sized to match.
8cities where we've seen it
By Nov 2026 (so far)
Each bar is how many cities had a cafe post or review of it that month; Nov 2026 is not over yet, so its bar is so far.
Each city appears in the month of its earliest post or review in our data and grows as more of its suburbs have it. Its size is its cafes so far, never added to another city's.
Data updated 15 Nov 2026.
“Katsu sando is on 107 cafe menus across 8 Australian cities, and furthest ahead in Hobart (2.4% of its cafes).”
A crumbed, fried pork or chicken cutlet with shredded cabbage and tonkatsu sauce in soft crustless white bread. The Froth has seen it at cafes in 8 Australian cities (Hobart, Adelaide, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra and Perth) as of 15 Nov 2026.
It is on 107 cafe menus across 8 cities right now, including KAB Cafe & Catering in Melbourne, Melbourne, Loin King Cafe in Homebush West, Sydney, Brew'd Awakening Cafe in Northgate, Brisbane and Community at Quay in Perth, Perth. The "Where to get one" list on this page has every menu, city by city, with the price where the menu gives one and directions. Menus change, so check with the cafe before you go.
The average is $22.15, from 61 cafe menus in 3 cities as of 15 Nov 2026. Most charge between $16 and $25; the lowest we have seen is $11.20 and the highest $52.50. Each city's own average is on its page.
Of the cities The Froth reads, Hobart has it on the biggest share of cafes: 2.4% of Hobart cafes in the last 90 days, against 1.6% in Adelaide and 1.5% in Gold Coast. Each city's share is of its own cafes, so a smaller city can be ahead.
Searches for it across Australia were up 2% in Aug to Oct 2026 against Aug to Oct 2025. There is no single Australian stage: each city has its own, from its own cafes. The Froth rates it Emerging in Hobart, Adelaide, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra and Perth as of 15 Nov 2026.
There were 1,440 searches for katsu sando across Australia in Oct 2026, with all its names added up. Across the months we have, from Jul 2024 to Oct 2026, it ranged from 1,110 (Dec 2025) to 2,040 (Aug 2024). These are monthly estimates of search demand across every state and territory.
Australian cafes also sell katsu sando as "katsu sandwich". The Froth counts every one of these names as the same trend.
The earliest cafe post or customer review about katsu sando that The Froth has, in any city we read, is from 4 Jun 2021. We only see what we collect, so that is when we first saw it, not when it started: it may have been sold earlier, here or elsewhere.
Every city is counted on its own, with the same rules: a cafe counts for katsu sando from the first public post or customer review we found about it, and while it is on the cafe's current menu. A city's share is of its own cafes we see well (an Instagram post or a current menu in the same 90 days, a chain counting once), and its change compares the same cafes in the last 90 days with the 90 before. Cities' cafe figures are never added together, because we read some cities' posts and others only from reviews and menus. Searches are monthly search demand across Australia with all of a trend's names added up. The full method is on our "How we track cafe trends" page.