Okay, so I don't usually do this, but let me just say this upfront.
I like the food at Natsu.
But the price, wah la, not so much.
It isn't that I'm not getting the bang for my buck- the food is delicious and of excellent quality- but there's just something about the final bill that makes me wonder how the price is, how it adds up, and whether I should have ordered something else instead of sandos.
But neither of us felt like having the Wafu Fregola pasta (Japanese mushrooms and black fungus), and whilst the Chestnut Mushroom Rice seemed rather interesting with Seasonal Fish or a Wagyu Hamburg, it was the Pork Katsu Sando that caught our eye- and stayed there.
So we had that.
We also decided to go for the Seasonal Broth, which the menu said had Hokkaido crab, Japanese dried scallops and Shiitake dashi, but for some strange reason- maybe our tongues are not accustomed to clear-tasting seafood broth Japanese style- we couldn't detect the taste of the crab, or the scallop both.
Then again our taste buds this afternoon might have been conditioned by the Togarashi fries and the Kani croquette.
I don't really know what goes into the Togarashi fries (like, what's Togarashi?) but we liked the dip, for which this afternoon we chose the Yuzu Kosho mayo. It's not always that one gets to taste the tangy, citrusy taste of yuzu stirred into mayonnaise although I think (had we known what it was) we wouldn't have minded the Doubanjiang aioli either.
I liked the katsu sando.
Served to our table sliced into half for convenience, (technically) it was easy to pick up and munch through, but then so big was my portion that I decided it better to split it up and eat everything on its own separately.
I ate the thick, crispy, perfectly toasted bread with my hands.
But the chonk of pork filet, breaded smoothly and thinly, I had it cut up with fork and knife before having it with the sliced avocado and other vegetables.
As much as I liked my sando, however, it was the dessert that I liked the most.
I had been particularly attracted by the sight of mochi doughnuts on the menu, and whilst I wasn't sure how theirs were like, I'd heard enough about it to want to try.
They were so good.
Hot and crispy with a wee bit of crunch on the outside, the mochi inside made them soft and chewy.
We had them round little balls of flour with a scoop of ice cream (I can't remember the flavor- matcha, maybe)
I was a little sad when dessert was finished.
It was one of the nicest offerings they had here.
Perhaps one day I might drop in to Natsu just for their desserts when I happen to be in the Joo Chiat neighborhood once again.
They have, after all, pretty interesting ones.
Like the Bandung Kakigori which has sakura meringue, the Uji Matcha Kakigori, which (surprisingly) has coconut foam and gula melaka, the Zenzai, which sounds like it's got mochi and tang yuan in azuki bean soup, souffle cheesecake, and of course, the mochi doughnuts, which are distinctive, unusual, and overall deliciously good.