Pork katsu don + popiah ($19)!
Aljunied lunch: twin pork katsu don (panko cutlet simmered with egg and onion over rice) plus a popiah roll. $8.50 each + $2.
Lunch with BB at Aljunied. Pork katsu don x2 + popiah, $19 total ($8.50 each + $2). πππΌ
What was on the table:
- Two bowls of pork katsu don (γ«γδΈΌ): panko pork cutlet simmered in the egg-and-onion dashi mix, the egg poured over and left just-set (the glossy half-cooked sheen), sliced onion underneath, all over Japanese rice
- One popiah roll: cut into bite pieces, the thin wheat skin showing the turnip-filling moisture through
Katsu don (γ«γδΈΌ) is the Japanese rice-bowl classic built on a contradiction: you take a perfectly crispy panko cutlet and deliberately soak it. The cutlet is sliced, laid over onions simmering in dashi + soy + mirin, then beaten egg is poured over and cooked until barely set. The panko soaks up the sweet-savoury broth while keeping a little structure, and the loose egg binds it to the rice.
The just-set egg is the technique marker. Overcook it and you get a rubbery omelette lid; undercook and it puddles. The bowls here landed in the right zone: glossy, custardy, dripping into the rice.
Katsu don folklore: in Japan itβs the exam-day and pre-match meal, because βkatsuβ (γ«γ) sounds like βkatsuβ (εγ€), to win. Students eat it the night before a big test for luck.
The popiah side is the Hokkien-Teochew fresh spring roll: a soft wheat-flour skin wrapped around braised turnip (bangkwang), egg, peanut crumble and sweet flour sauce. The wet-braised filling is what separates a good popiah from a dry one, and at $2 it makes a great palate-switch between bites of the rich katsu don.
Japanese don + popiah in one meal is the classic hawker-coffeeshop mix: an Aljunied coffeeshop with a Japanese stall and a popiah stall side by side. Order across stalls, share the table.
At $8.50 per katsu don, this sits in the hawker-Japanese tier: below mall chains ($13-$16 for the same bowl) and well below the dedicated tonkatsu houses.
Overall: 4.3 / 5. πππΌ Satisfying Aljunied lunch. The egg texture on the katsu don was the standout, popiah a solid $2 side. Would re-order.
