Tonkatsu Enbiton

elizbeartravel

Oct 19

With the opening of Saboten in Vivocity to long queues almost every weekend, a new Tonkatsu restaurant opened in the basement

The outlet at Vivo is a semi-open concept where shoppers can look at the tables and watch as diners complete their meals. During meal times, the queue is rather long as the shop space is quite limited

With 4 outlets, Tonkatsu Enbiton is the first tonkatsu restaurant in Singapore to serve a unique yuzu pork tonkatsu. Sourced and imported from the farms in Kagoshima, Japan, yuzu pork is from pigs fed with yuzu, resulting in a juicy and succulent texture, with a mouthfeel that is less greasy. There is supposed to be increased nutritional value in the pork, with higher amounts of Vitamin C, and fat with a higher melting point—resulting in extra juicy, flavourful meat. Other signature dishes include the A4/A5 Miyazaki Gyukatsu, served with teppan grill, black curry, and ramen

Each diner is provided with a bowl of roasted sesame seeds and a traditional bowl for grinding the seeds which can be added to your tonkatsu sauce for an added nutty flavour. They also provide a soy-based salad sauce and sesame cream sauce for the raw cabbage salad that comes as a side with any tonkatsu order. The Japanese tonkatsu sauce is also provided for you to dip the pork slices

For a start, we ordered the butter corn as a side which came served in this hotplate. The corn was loaded generously with butter so every mouthful has a creamy butter flavour combined with the natural sweetness of the corn niblets

I also ordered a kaki fry which is the fried oyster. With every main tonkatsu order, the menu offers add-on orders of chicken katsu, ebi fry, kaki fry, salmon fry and hotate fry. The kaki fry add-on was SGD 5 which was on the pricey side. The oyster was evenly coated with panko crumbs and fried till golden and crispy while the oyster remained juicy and semi-cooked. As the oyster was not overcooked and dry, you can still taste the umami flavours from the oyster

My tonkatsu set came with white rice and a Tonjiru which is pork miso soup. I selected the rosa cut of the pork which is the fattier portion and chose the Oroshi set where the katsu is topped with grated daikon and served with a yuzu ponzu sauce. I tried the tonkatsu with and without the grated daikon and they sure made a difference. Without the daikon, the tonkatsu was a perfectly coated and fried piece with succulent pork juices colliding in your mouth. As the pork loin was a fattier cut, pairing it with the daikon cut away the grease in your mouth and gave it a refreshing balance. I do like it paired with the daikon and dipped in the yuzu ponzu sauce as it made the cutlet less heavy on the stomach

Overall, the Tonkatsu at Enbiton is really up to standards and the unique yuzu pork is extremely juicy yet refreshing. I would highly recommend the Oroshi version where the daikon is really a great pairing with the crispy Tonkatsu without taking the limelight from the katsu itself

Address: 1 HarbourFront Walk, B2-27/27A, Singapore 098585

Opening hours: 11am to 10 pm