Pork Katsu Don (lunch set: $13.80++)!
Friday Japanese lunch — Pork Katsu Don lunch set $13.80++. Crispy panko-breaded pork over short-grain rice with egg sauce, miso soup, sides.
Friday lunch with BB — Pork Katsu Don lunch set at $13.80++. The Japanese tonkatsu-over-rice format at the sit-down restaurant lunch set pricing.
We ordered:
- Pork Katsu Don lunch set — $13.80++
Katsu don (カツ丼) is the Japanese rice bowl topped with a panko-breaded pork cutlet (tonkatsu), with eggs and onions simmered over the top in a sweet-soy dashi sauce. The combination of crispy fried pork, soft fluffy egg, sweet-savoury sauce, and short-grain rice is one of the most reliable comfort food combinations in the Japanese repertoire.
The lunch set format usually adds the supporting components — a small bowl of miso soup, a portion of pickled vegetables (tsukemono), and sometimes a small salad.
The katsu was the headline. Pork loin pounded thin, breaded in proper coarse panko, deep-fried until the crust shattered on first bite. Sliced into strips for the don format so each piece had crispy edges showing.
The katsu-don preparation simmered the strips briefly in a sweet-soy dashi (a mix of dashi stock, soy sauce, mirin, sugar) along with sliced onion, with beaten egg poured in at the end to set into a soft custard layer. The egg cooks just enough to set but stays soft and slightly runny, soaking through the bottom of the breading and into the rice underneath.
Short-grain rice was the proper Japanese-style sticky-but-distinct grain. The simmering sauce from the katsu egg pour soaked into the top layer of rice, giving it the signature glaze that defines katsu don.
Miso soup came as the side — tofu cubes, wakame seaweed, scallion in a fermented-soybean dashi broth.
Pickled vegetables added the small acid-and-crunch component — usually pickled daikon (yellow) and a small piece of pickled ginger.
A small salad with sesame dressing rounded out the set.
At $13.80++ for the lunch set, this is fair Japanese restaurant pricing. The ++ adds about 18% in service and GST, bringing the final to roughly $16.
The katsu don format is one of those reliable Japanese restaurant lunches that doesn’t need to be elaborate to satisfy. We’ve done this format at multiple Japanese chains over the year, and the quality consistency at most spots is real.
Overall: 4.2 / 5. 😋👍🏼 Reliable katsu don lunch set — would re-order.
