DON DON DONKI pork katsudon ($7.90)!
Don Don Donki Harbourfront food hall — pork katsudon with panko pork cutlet, simmered onion, egg, scallions, nori over rice. $7.90 takeaway bowl.
Mall lunch — DON DON DONKI Harbourfront pork katsudon at $7.90. The Japanese megastore’s prepared bento at the food hall counter. 😋
What was in the bowl ($7.90):
- A round black plastic takeaway bowl filled with:
- White rice at the base.
- Panko-fried pork katsu strips on top — the breaded cutlet sliced into pieces.
- Simmered onions in dashi-soya sauce, soft + translucent.
- Soft-set egg (cooked into the sauce, scrambled-style not yolky), the signature katsudon binding.
- Chopped scallions scattered on top in bright green.
- Shredded nori (kizami nori) strips on top in dark green.
DON DON DONKI (the SG name for the Japanese megastore Don Quijote) has the Harbourfront branch food hall — pre-made hot bentos at affordable Japanese pricing, mostly $6-12 per bowl. Katsudon at $7.90 is one of the cheaper picks (cheaper than chain Japanese restaurant katsudon at $15+).
Katsudon is the Japanese rice bowl classic — tonkatsu (panko pork cutlet) + onion + egg simmered in dashi-soya sauce + rice + nori. The sauce is the whole point: dashi (kombu-bonito stock) + soya + mirin + sugar, simmered with onion until they go translucent, then beaten egg poured in to soft-set into a half-scrambled cohesive coating.
The katsu in a katsudon will always be slightly soggy from sitting in the sauce — this is intentional (the soft-soaked texture is the signature). Eating fresh-fried tonkatsu = a different dish. Don’t confuse the two.
For $7.90 takeaway, this version was the proper katsudon execution: panko cutlet that started crispy + soaked into the sauce, soft simmered onions, soft-set egg coating everything, fragrant nori topping. Not as good as a dedicated tonkatsu chain like Tonkichi or Saboten, but at half the price.
DON DON DONKI’s food hall is the mall food court alternative for SG-Japan loyalists — you walk through the megastore (snacks, sweets, sake), end at the food hall, grab a bento, eat at the counter seats with view of the harbour.
Total: $7.90.
Overall: 4.2 / 5. Properly executed katsudon at SG-mall pricing, soft-set egg coating was the signature done right, scallions + nori were the proper finishing touches. Will reorder for the price point. 😍👍🏼
