My friend recommended this place to me a couple of months ago.
He was very excited when talking about it, which, at first, made me wonder, but it did not take me long to discover just why a couple of Japanese donburi bowls could get a person thrilled enough to keep sharing about the meal.
I don't know the name of this donburi stall, but you'll find it snug between two Mainland Chinese stalls in this recently renovated coffee shop at the edge of Bras Basah Complex. It is a competitive spot, this place. Opposite this stall there is a chap cai png stall, a Teochew fishball noodles stall, a Thai food stall, a Japanese ramen stall and right at the corner, a zichar stall.
Perhaps that is why the stall owners are deliberate about the food they serve.
Everything here is carefully calibrated, carefully planned.
Having a meal from this stall isn't just about the size of the donburi bowl, or the price you pay for it.
There is a lot more.
We had two different donburi bowls when my friend and I came here for dinner one evening.
First one we took was a Salmon Sashimi Donburi bowl.
The other was a Katsudon bowl.
Something I have to admit- I am not very good with names of Japanese dishes- more often than I not I go by sight more than name, so I don't really know what the name of this bowl is up above.
What I can tell you, however, is that above the huge heap of rice inside the bowl, on one side there is a substantial portion of salmon sashimi nicely cut into cubes. Next to it, there is a bit of shredded seaweed followed by a generous dollop of Mentaiko sauce, and then finally a small serving of radish pickles.
In the middle of it all is a perfectly poached egg.
We were sharing this bowl, my friend and I, so we got ourselves two empty sharing plates to divide the food up. First, the pickles came over to my side (my friend doesn't take pickles). The cubes of salmon sashimi we separated into portions of two. And finally it were the rice.
The pickles were wonderful.
They opened the palate, they went well with the rice, and even the seaweed, which although did get a little bit soggy, made for a little hint of taste as well.
The sashimi, no need to say, was good.
Fresh and cold with a firm chew, the cubes were actually still a little chilled when I ate them with a tiny dip of the Mentaiko sauce. I had some of the cubes with the sauce. I had some of the cubes plain, no sauce whatsoever, just the fish on its own.
When it came to the Katsu Donburi bowl, my friend and I did the same thing as well.
The pieces of katsu from the top of the bowl we put onto our respective plates, the rice, we kept in the bowl.
There might be some people who find the katsu underwhelming.
To them it looks like nothing more than a piece of pork filet covered with batter and deep fried.
But I find it good.
Many places tend to make the batter either too thick or too thin.
Not so here.
Here there was no piece that was difficult to chew.
Neither was there a piece with a batter so thin it slid off the meat when you picked it up with your chopsticks.
It was quite clear that the stall people didn't compromise on the thickness of batter, the crunch of the little crumbs, or the taste of it.
The pork, together with the Mentaiko sauce (very generous, too, by the way) made the meal feel like a very substantial one.
One that I thoroughly enjoyed.
I loved the crunch of the batter.
I loved the slight but gentle chew of the pork.
Both of them went together so well.
There were a lot of tiny little batter pieces scattered all over my plate after I finished the meat. But they didn't go to waste. I scooped them up with my spoon and added them to a spoonful of rice.
They made for additional, crunchy texture.