After hearing about the one and only tonkatsu (deep fried breaded pork cutlet) place in KL, we headed over to Pavillion that very weekend.
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| Shop Front |
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| Hot Green and Brown Tea (RM 3) |
The ocha cups here are so dainty, much better quality than the standard thick-rimmed cups we've been getting at other Japanese restaurants. The cup on the left is perfect with a thin rim whereas the cup on the right looks like it was shaped by an inexperienced potter who accidentally squeezed too hard whilst the cup was spinning on the pottery wheel =P
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| Table setup |
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| Toasted sesame seeds and tonkatsu sauce |
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| Toasted sesame seeds waiting to be ground |
The toasted sesame seeds are ground with a miniature wooden pestle in a special ceramic saucer with rough edges on the inside. The tantalising smell of freshly ground sesame seeds immediately wafted over as the waitress showed us how it was done.
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| Tonkatsu sauce |
The next step was to pour the tonkatsu sauce over the ground sesame seeds...
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| Tonkatsu dipping sauce |
...mix it and tada! special dipping sauce for the tonkatsu =D
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| Hire Katsu + Rosu Katsu Zen (RM 28) |
What's the point of going to a tonkatsu place if you don't order the pork fillet cutlet (Hire Katsu) or pork loin cutlet (Rosu Katsu)? The pork cutlets are served with shredded cabbage, a wedge of lemon for the tangy flavour and a dollop of yellow wasabi for that extra kick. The set also comes with pickled vegetables, hiyayakko (cold Japanese tofu), rice and tonjiru (pork miso soup).
- The deep fried pork cutlets were very crispy thanks to the panko coating. It can be eaten on its own as it is subtly flavoured, or dipped in the tonkatsu-sesame seed sauce. The rounded ones are the fillet whereas the oblong ones are the loin cutlets which were juicier and more tender.
- The shredded cabbage is refillable and is rather bland on its own. This can be rectified by a liberal splashing of light and slightly tangy salad dressing in the tall glass bottle.
- I thought the yellow blob next to the lemon slice was mustard but it was a deceiving wasabi disguised in its cousin's yellow colour >.>
- The hiyayakko was very refreshing and provided a cooling effect to the heatiness of the deep fried tonkatsu. I wish it was refillable =(
- Pickled vegetables were quite bland. Only the slightest hint of salt was detected but it was like eating blanched vegetables squeezed to a crisp texture. Not very memorable.
- Rice with dotted black sesame seeds is refillable <yay!> - good for guys who have a bigger appetite.
- The tonjiru is very different from the usual miso soup as there was almost no hint of miso - the only thing which gave it away was the cloudy broth when stirred. For light eaters, this alone might be enough as there were a lot of ingredients in the soup. Plenty of pork, diced carrots, diced shiitake mushrooms, konnyaku slices and small daikon pieces. Very flavourful and slightly sweet (from the meat) broth.
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| The many ingredients in the tonjiru |
Would you look at the amount of stuff in this porky soup?
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| Buta Shogayaki Zen (RM 26) |
The Buta Shogayaki Zen was a surprise winner =) I was a little surprised when JS ordered this as it was quite a simple dish to make - sauteed pork belly with ginger sauce.
The dish was surprisingly light and not oily (unlike the one I had at Gin Ryu Tei at Midvalley =.=). The pork belly was very tender and the onions were so well cooked that they seemed like part of the pork belly to me =P The gingery taste was not very strong so it's good for those who do not like ginger. The mayonnaise was very compatible with the dish and added to the smoothness of the tender pork belly.
This set also comes with refillable cabbage shreds, hiyayakko, pickled vegetables, refillable rice and tonjiru. A must-try, I would say.
PawPoints: 5 Paws
Pawket: Tomato
Tonkatsu by Wa Kitchen Lot 6.12, Level 6
Pavillion
Tel: 2144 2292
