Weekday Pork Loin Tonkatsu Set ($13.90++)!
Bencoolen area Japanese tonkatsu weekday lunch set: panko-fried pork loin over rice with salad, gyoza, miso soup, matcha drink. $13.90++.
Weekday lunch at a Bencoolen Japanese restaurant. Pork loin tonkatsu set, $13.90++. 😋👍🏼
What was on the tray:
- Tonkatsu donburi bowl: thick panko-fried pork loin cutlet sliced into strips, served over white rice
- Salad on top of the rice: mixed greens, sliced cucumber, carrot strips, mayo-based sesame dressing drizzled over
- 3 gyoza pieces (side dish): golden pan-fried dumplings with crispy bottoms
- Bowl of miso soup: brown miso base with scallion + a dollop of bonito flakes
- Iced matcha drink in a tall mug: foam-topped, the green-tea pick-me-up
- Small dishes of soy sauce + tonkatsu dipping sauce on the side
The Bencoolen area has multiple Japanese restaurants serving lunch sets in the $10-$15 range, mostly targeting the office worker and student lunch crowd from the surrounding Bencoolen, Bras Basah, and Bugis areas. The format is consistent: cutlet/donburi main + small side + soup + drink, all bundled at one fixed price.
The tonkatsu donburi (katsudon) variations:
- Classic katsudon: tonkatsu with egg simmered in sweet-savoury sauce over rice
- Salad katsu don (what was served here): tonkatsu sliced over plain rice with fresh salad on top
- Tare katsu don: tonkatsu dipped in dashi-based sauce, served over rice
- Curry katsu: tonkatsu with Japanese curry over rice (the most popular variant)
The salad-on-rice format is the lighter version of katsudon:
- Plain rice base (not sweet-savoury sauced)
- Cold salad layer on top of the warm rice
- Sesame mayo dressing as the sauce
- Hot cutlet on top: the temperature contrast between cold salad and hot cutlet
- Healthier perception: more vegetables, less heavy sauce
Gyoza as the side is the standard:
- 3-5 dumplings depending on the set
- Pork + cabbage filling: the classic Japanese gyoza
- Pan-fried with crispy bottoms: not fully steamed, not fully fried
- Soy + vinegar + chilli oil dip on the side
The matcha drink is the upmarket Japanese lunch drink option:
- Either iced or hot
- Slight bitter-grassy notes balanced with sugar
- Sometimes milk-based (matcha latte) for a softer version
- The Japanese caffeine alternative to the Western iced coffee or Asian milk tea
At $13.90++ (around $15 after taxes), this is solid value for a complete Japanese lunch set with the cutlet + sides + drink. Below sit-down sushi restaurant prices ($18-$30 for similar) and above cheap chain options ($8-$10 for less elaborate sets).
Overall: 4.4 / 5. 😋👍🏼 Solid weekday lunch set. The cutlet thickness was right, the salad-on-rice format worked. Would re-visit.
