Tonkatsu teishoku from Suju

I saw a neighbouring table order this previously and told myself I'd come back to try it. It was good. Dry crispy breading over a fat laced and moist rosu katsu. Even came dangerously close to enjoying their tonkatsu sauce. These guys could give Tonkatsu by Ma Maison a run for their money. 

While I have not had every teishoku in this country, I'm pretty sure that Suju has one of the best better ones. I'm glad that the oshinko is still their daikon. I hope this doesn't get swapped out.

Where Suju beats Tonkatsu by Ma Maison is the nama tamago. Tonkatsu doesn't have that.

Itadakimasu!

Kimukatsu, Takashimaya

Kimikatsu (#B201-5 Takashimaya Food Hall, 391A Orchard Road) does mille feuille tonkatsu; it's the only type of tonkatsu they do. If you didn't know what that was, it's a katsu made with thinly sliced pork rolled into a tight package before it's panko-ed and fried. Unlike the common variety which is made with thick sliced pork that's panko-ed and fried. It's not new or unique and it's available from folks like Tonkatsu by Ma Maison, Tonkichi, Tampopo back in the old days and even Gochi-So Shokudo.

They opened up a few years back. Been wanting to try them for a while but whenever we're in the area, we kinda inadvertently get drawn to Nakajima Suisan. Orders here were accompanied with a sauce platter which came with tonkatsu sauce, tsukemono and ponzu.

Tried the salted egg katsu which was a National Day limited flavour. Pork was tender with a nicely browned crunchy surface. Salted egg sauce was decent tasting; not as intense as I was hoping for in the salted egg department and I'm sure it's from some powder. Wonder if it's one of those from Knorr.

I like the garlic flavour more because the flavour from the pork came through all the garlic unlike the one with the salted egg sauce. Not bad tonkatsu here. Will come back and try other flavours.

Ramen and Tonkatsu Fair at Tampopo

Hear ye, I'm back at Tampopo. They seem to be holding up some sort of Ramen and Tonkatsu Fair with a bunch of new items on the menu probably for a limited period. This visit actually came about through tip off from a little bird about a certain foie gras tonkatsu that they had.

For a start, we ordered a serving of their steamed black pig dumplings which tasted very much like the Chinese renditions (hong you chao shou) with the moderated splashes of black vinegar and chilli oil. The smooth skinned dumplings were a little smaller than I had expected but they were pretty juicy and flavourful from the fatty pork fillings that we were rather tempted to go for seconds.

The kani ramen was the only ramen item from this fair that looked interesting. Basically a bowl of squiggly yellow noodles soaked in a starchy crab flavoured broth that was filled with a pretty generous amount of shredded Japanese crab meat and shimeiji mushrooms. The extra portions of added vinegar and La Yu on the side made it tastier and easier to go down. That in effect turned it to something akin to Taiwanese mee sua.

The foie gras from their tonkatsu was subjected to enough of the heat that the fat from the livers had seeped into the pork creating an almost subtle heady aroma into the fatty pork from the first mouthful. I was initially hoping for the flavour of the fatty liver to be more prominent, but it turned out to be a balanced equilibrium between the savoury deep fried crust and the foie.

If such a thing could be described by the word 'equilibrium'.

We wrapped up with their innocuous looking chocolate chiffon cake which tasted more strongly of chocolate than the milky hue of the cream suggested. If I had to describe, it was both light and not excessively sweet.

More aji katsu at Tonkatsu by Ma Maison

Headed down to the Tonkatsu by Ma Maison at Mandarin Gallery after getting word that their aji katsu is back. It's never around for long so we needed to get some before they disappear from the menu.

They appear to be larger than how I remember them. Panko breading had a good dry crunch and the meat from the horse mackerel was flavourful, flakey and moist. Getting these reminded me of that one time sanma katsu they offered and never did again.

Tip : sprinkle crushed sesame and a bit of salt on rice. That's pretty good eating also.

Imma katsu

Haven't eaten at Imakatsu for a while so I ordered a cheese tonkatsu which I hadn't seen on their menu before since the rosu katsu with garlic seemed to be no longer available. Felt disappointing as a whole because it wasn't so cheesy and the tonkatsu was kinda small. Even the one from Tonkichi was nicer. I recall remarking on their slipping standards as a tonkatsu shop a few years back and this one didn't change my mind on it.

Their seafood katsu curry rice featured a couple of oysters, some dry salmon and a prawn. Not a fan of the boring salmon but the other fried items were passable. Am pretty sure that the panko breading is heavier these days than in the past. Curry was disappointing though. Lacked body and wasn't particularly aromatic. Keria as an all rounder made much better curry katsu. Imma stick to Tonkatsu by Ma Maison for the katsu fixes yet I wonder how the shop at Star Vista fares.

Aburi cheese katsu from Tonkatsu by Ma Maison

Tonkatsu by Ma Maison has limited aburi cheese katsu. Rosu with Camembert and cheddar.

Nice melty cheese both on and inside the katsu. Pretty rich tasting and delicious. Nice with mustard.

Anzu (あんず), Japan Food Town @ Wisma Atria

Anzu (#04-48, Wisma Atria, 435 Orchard Road, tel : +65 6262 3408) from Kyushu opened up later than most of the other shops in Japan Food Town. In their early days, Anzu had struck me as uninteresting because the menu was very limited to a few tonkatsu options which were also more expensive then the other shops in town. That menu had definitely expanded to include more these days.

There was something that struck me as rather unique from these guys. It's the flavour of their dressing for the bottomless cabbage. It made me eat more cabbage than I had intended. Yeap, you would be looking at that white bottle in the picture up there and it isn't any sort of goma.

There was a tonkatsu with grated daikon and grapefruit. Something that wasn't part of their regular menu. The idea was that one would squeeze the grapefruit over the daikon which would soak up all the juices.

There was plenty of grapefruit to go around so I had enough remaining to flavour my glass of Kirin. The katsu was crisp and dry like I liked them. The one thing that didn't quite understand was the particular cut of rosu that they had used. It didn't even have the usual strip of fat for flavour and the meat was pretty lean and dry.

Anzu has a type of ebi katsu which they name as shrimp ball katsu that's made with chunks of shrimp.

The shrimp flavours for those kicked ass. Kicked Saboten's ass that is. This could be the best tasting shrimp katsu in town. Did I just say best? It's a rare use of a superlative in this parts. 

These tonkatsu sets came with the option of either regular or asari miso soup. The asari ones have tiny clams, each about half the size of a thumb's nail. There was a lot of flavour from the meat but none of that flavour was the soup. 

Tonshou, Tras Street

The talk of the town tonkatsu lately is Tonshou (51 Tras Street). They're Korean. You read that right. They do tonkatsu and not donggasu/donkkaseu. I didn't stutter. Also a claimant to the world's first charcoal grilled tonkatu restaurant. What? I know right? Tonkatsus are fried. What charcoal grill is this? 🤔

Well, they're fried like regular tonkatsu and then charcoal grilled.

Place is small. Seats about 20-23.

Chilled corn soup was creamy and sweet. Nice. Think everyone gets one.

I tasted this first so in retrospect, it established both the bar and a bias in me for their tonkatsu. 'This' being their Hokkaido kurobuta special rosu katsu. 30% fat. There's a non-special cut which is 10% fat. Meat's nicely flavoured from the fat and pretty tender. But the fat does get to you towards the end. 

I enjoyed most of it with grain mustard and wasabi which helps cut though some of the richness. As does their not so vinegary tonkatsu sauce and kimchi. As much as these helped set a taste equilibrium by offsetting some of that richness, what they did in equal capacity was mask the natural flavouring.

The combo katsu featured regular hire and rosu cuts along with a fried prawn. While they paled in comparison from the Hokkaido kurobuta, these were also pretty good tasting.

I was quite impressed that the smokiness from the charcoal grill lingered in the fried meat.

Some light and creamy yuzu dressing for their salad.

Tonkatsu by Ma Maison, Mandarin Gallery

Here's a look at the Mangalica pork katsu and ebi katsu from the Tonkatsu shop by Ma Maison (333A Orchard Road, #02-35/36 Mandarin Gallery, tel: +65 6733 4541). If you're wondering what the Mangalica pork was, it's meat that comes from a certain shaggy looking Hungarian pig. Here's the kicker. While I could quite clearly tell that the fatty meat tasted differently from the regular pork, I couldn't exactly describe how so. I was a little disappointed by that even though it was a very competently done piece of tonkatsu. It wasn't the bad kind of disappointment and by all means, don't avoid it. 

The ebi katsu on the other hand was so unexpectedly soft to the point whereby quite a bit of the texture from the prawns were lost. I had inwardly been expecting the meat of the prawns to be be similar to the nicely done ones which Saboten had. The latter had more bite even though it came in chopped pieces and these ones contained unnaturally soft whole shrimps. If I had to make a comparison, I very much prefer Saboten. Those guys make a better sesame dressing for their cabbage which really works miracles on their rice for me.

Revisiting Tonshou

Back at Tonshou. Man, it's been almost a year and that sure went by quickly.

I just found out that the chilled corn soup is refillable. 😬

Tried their Blackpink Tonkatsu. According to them, it's Hokkaido kurobuta rosu with charcoal breadcrumbs imported from Korea.

This one has the same smokiness as their other tonkatsu. My favourite way to eat it is with salt and wasabi. Their rounded tonkatsu sauce was actually pretty good as well. It's less vinegary than most.

The Autumn Special at Tonkatsu by Ma Maison

Tonkatsu by Ma Maison currently has an autumn special - Kurobuta Mushroom Katsu which features their kurobuta rosu katsu with mushrooms on daikon oroshi that has been infused with truffle oil and shiro dashi. I'm glad they didn't go overboard with the truffle oil, using only enough to perfume the food.

Very nicely done like they normally do their katsu with a dry crisp breading and moist pork beneath. Since this was kurobuta, it was also nicely marbled with fat for that difference in texture and flavour. I thought the mushrooms were delicious, pairing well with the oroshi that was mellowed by the shiro dashi. Those went along nicely with the fried pork

Foie gras tonkatsu with truffle from Tampopo

It seems that Tampopo has just upped the ante of their own game by introducing truffle paste into their foie gras stuffed tonkatsu. This item has already made it into their regular tonkatsu menu if anyone's wondering. If anything could be described as indulgent, this would be one of them. Needless to ask, I was sold. How did that taste? It was exactly like what I had in mind with both the flavour of the black truffle and the fatty melting liver coming through like butter across those tender layered pork beneath a crispy breaded crust.

Sanma katsu from Tonkatsu by Ma Maison

I've never had sanma katsu before. What's neat about these from Tonkatsu by Ma Maison was that they were also deboned. I'm guessing gutted and cleansed of the innards as well because I didn't get any of that tasty bitterness in there, but hey, so nice not to have to deal with their bones. To address the unasked question if anyone was wondering, yes - nice crisp breading and moist tender meat from the fish. Liked it as much as I did the aji. I wished they offered the option of only sanma sans the tonkatsu for their teishoku.