Dinner with BB. Sirloin beef katsu set via Burpple Beyond, $35++. 😋👍🏼

What was on the slates:

Beef katsu (top slate): panko-crusted sirloin sliced to show the rose-pink rare centre, the crust golden and tight
Second katsu portion (bottom slate): two flatter cutlets, same blonde panko crust, pre-sliced
Salmon teriyaki side dish: glazed fillet with seaweed strands on the lettuce bed
Two salads: lettuce + cucumber + crab stick with the sesame-mayo dressing and lemon slice
Pickle sets: takuan (yellow daikon) + pickled red onion in the divided dishes
Two rice mounds: white rice dusted with herbs
Two dipping sauce bowls: the dark tare for the katsu

Gyukatsu (牛カツ) is the beef version of tonkatsu and a totally different game. Pork katsu must cook through; beef katsu is deliberately flash-fried for about 60 seconds, leaving the centre rare. The panko sets into a crisp shell while the sirloin inside stays essentially beef-sashimi-warm. The pink cross-section in the photo is the dish working as intended, not undercooking.

How you eat it: some gyukatsu specialists hand you a small stone grill to sear each slice to taste; others, like this set, serve it sliced with a tare dip and trust the kitchen’s doneness. Wasabi + salt is the purist’s pairing, the sweet tare the crowd’s.

Gyukatsu’s rise: the dish blew up in Tokyo around 2014-2016 (Motomura being the queue-famous name) and reached Singapore a few years later through specialists and izakaya menus. By 2022 a proper gyukatsu set in town ran $25-$40, which is why a $35++ for-two Burpple Beyond deal with salmon teriyaki and full sides reads as solid value.

The salmon teriyaki side kept the non-beef half of the table happy: glaze caramelised, fish still moist, a proper second protein rather than filler.

Overall: 4.4 / 5. 😋👍🏼 Strong gyukatsu night. The rare-centre sirloin against the crisp panko was the standout. Would re-book through BB.

Original IG post