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WINE&DINE
204
January14
Tonkatsu
What it is:
Thought to date back to 19th-century Japan,
tonkatsu
is a crumbed, deep-fried pork fillet or loin, but it can be substituted
with prawn or fish. Normally ordered as a single dish, it can also
be eaten in a sandwich or with curry sauce. It always comes
with shredded cabbage, and is typically dipped in a thick
Worcestershire-style sauce called
tonkatsu
sauce, served with
rice and eaten with chopsticks.
Where to get it:
Tonkichi at Ngee Ann City | 6735 7522
What to order:
Tonkichi is a
tonkatsu
specialty restaurant. In
typical Japanese style, food is ordered in sets. The signature
katsu soba
set ($25) includes
chawanmushi
, a firm egg custard
in a cup which comes first. The main arrives on a tray laden with
plates bearing three pork fillets, cold
soba
noodles, dipping
sauce, plus the essential shredded cabbage. You’re given a
pestle and mortar to grind sesame seeds, to which is added the
tonkatsu
sauce. This dipping sauce is used for the pork, which
is tasty, tender, not greasy and easily broken into pieces with the
chopsticks. The cold
soba
noodles are dipped in a
soba
sauce.
Hire katsu don
($23) is another set: pork fillet cooked in egg and
special soy sauce served in a large bowl of rice. A plate of fruit
follows, and the Japanese tea is regularly topped up. This is a
large and value-for-money meal with quick service.
Okonomiyaki
What it is:
Although often called “Japanese pizza”,
okonomiyaki
involves neither bread nor tomato sauce (and rarely cheese), nor
is it baked in an oven. This pancake-omelette is a mix of seafood,
meat or vegetables held together by a cabbage and green onion
batter and topped with special
otafuku
sauce, Japanese mayo,
and seaweed and
bonito
flakes.
Where to get it:
Nanjya Monjya at Grand Copthorne Waterfront
Hotel (edge of Robertson Quay)
What to order:
Okonomiyaki
falls into two basic categories –
Osaka/Kansai-style and Hiroshima-style – you’ll find mainly the
former here (though the
hiro buta soba
, $16, is made in the
layered-noodle Hiroshima fashion). Since
okonomi
and
yaki
roughly translate to “what you like” and “grilled”, your toppings
can be whatever suits your fancy – octopus, pork belly, scallops,
Japanese pickles, spicy cod roe, sweet corn and more. We’re
partial to prawn and
kimchi
($18) ourselves.
The
teppanyaki
tables are inside, which means you’re ensured
a toasty warm dinner experience (dress accordingly) while your
waiter cooks – or instructs you how to cook – the dish. It’s a
relatively easy stir, grill and flip routine, followed by cutting the
okonomiyaki
into triangles with a metal
kote
spatula.
There’s a
tatami
room in front and private
koshitsu
rooms at
the back. Families, your best bet is sitting outside, where little
hands are as far from the blistering
teppanyaki
tables as possible.
Also try:
Okonomiyaki House Iroha 168 on East Coast Road
6738 1683
Ishi Mura at Northpoint Shopping Centre | 6484 1090
Also try:
Saboten at Millenia Walk | 6333 3432