Saboten prides itself on being one of the largest tonkatsu chains in Japan – and that’s a pretty big deal if you ask me.
They’ve just unveiled their 18 new set meals, which include new items like teppanyaki and shabu shabu. The plan is to cater to patrons, both young and old, and also to expand options beyond just tonkatsu dishes. This new dining concept is currently only available at IMM.
For the meals, we tried 2 of the 18 that they were unveiling. The first was Aka Ebi Mentai & Loin Katsu Gozen Set ($16.90), which consisted of the Aka Ebi Mentai, Half Loin Katsu and Pork Enoki Roll.
The second was Hotate and Aka Ebi Mentai & Tenderloin Katsu Gozen ($20.90), consisting of the Hotate and Aka Bei Mentai, Mini Tenderloin Katsu and Salmon Sashimi. Each Gozen set meal comes with rice, miso soup, chawanmushi, cabbage, pickles and dessert.
This is definitely one of the nicer katsus I’ve had. The coating of breadcrumbs was deliciously light and flakes nicely. Props to the juicy and firm loin meat as well. They have their own tonkatsu sauce for you to dip too. A slight dip in the tangy sauce was actually enough for me, since I prefer to not let the sauce overpower the meat.
Another standout was the Hotate and Aka Ebi Mentai. I personally really liked the mentaiko sauce. It complemented the prawn and scallop really well. The prawns looked rather huge, which appealed to the Singaporean in us. However, I couldn’t take the meat off the prawns cleanly, which was quite a waste.
The side dishes were decent. The chawanmushi was smooth but did not have the wobbly consistency that I’d have preferred. The sashimi and pork enoki were nothing to shout about either.
We also ordered the Wagyu Beef Shabu Shabu ($7.90) and Black Pepper Kurobuta Teppanyaki ($9.90). The wagyu is supposedly flown all the way from Australia! I was quite excited for this dish because anything wagyu instantly whets my appetite. I was slightly disappointed when there wasn’t much marbling on the thinly sliced beef, and it did not have the melt-in-your-mouth quality that we were looking for.
But the beef served was still much better than the ones I’ve seen in shabu shabu sets elsewhere. The soup was very flavourful and peppery. I’d advise not to cook too many beef slices in the soup before you ask for a refill. It became really salty after we left it boiling for a while and cooking half the beef slices.
The Black Pepper Kurobuta Teppanyaki was all right. I wasn’t expecting it to be that peppery. Don’t quote me on that though, since I have very low tolerance for peppery or spicy food. These two dishes would be good for sharing, in my opinion. We wanted more of those crispy breaded meats so we ordered the Halibut Fish Katsu ($6.00), but it was rather salty. I’d stick with their pork katsu in future.
The new sets still include a portion of katsu, because they want to retain what they started out with. I was surprised to know that the sets were so affordable for the variety. According to my friend, the sets used to be way more expensive. The a la carte items were mostly priced below $10, which is actually quite affordable.
I was stuffed by the time I left the place. I would definitely go back for the katsu and mentai dishes. But the menu is only offered at IMM at the moment, which makes it rather inconvenient to those who live elsewhere.
They also had a branch at Parco Bugis, which is currently closed. They have plans to open a branch somewhere in town, but nothing has been confirmed.
Address: IMM Building, 2 Jurong East Street 21, #01-19, Singapore 609601
Opening Hours: 11am to 10pm (Last Order: 9:30pm)
Telephone: 68983432
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/saboten.sg
This post was brought to you by Saboten Dining.
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