Just as a starving soul would do during a hot mid-August lunchtime, I was walking around Jurong East Westgate looking for something quick but filling.
Tonkatsu is always one of my top options when I'm looking for a large lunch. Today didn't come as an exception either. Decided to try the Tonkatsu they serve at Gochi-So Shokudo on the first floor of Westgate.
Gochi-So Shokudo at Westgate
Address: 3 Gateway Dr, #01-02, Singapore 608532
Web: https://www.facebook.com/gochiso.shokudo
Map: https://goo.gl/maps/33RLh83qsEAh49Vz8
According to their Facebook page, they say they are casual Japanese dining. Let's see how it goes.
The restaurant has a high ceiling and looks spacious from the outside. It seems like a clean and well-lit setup suitable for a family setting.
While the restaurant is spacious, I must say that the seats were a bit uncomfortable.
The seats' angles were so steep that I couldn't really relax.
As we commonly see in other restaurants, it's a QR code scan to view the menu and order. You actually walk over to the cashier for payment after you order. I couldn't find beer on the menu, so I picked one up at the cashier and paid before I waited for my food to come out.
So it's a little unique in terms of the system. I'm not entirely sure why they take this approach, but it could be a form of reducing the hall staff required.
Anyways.
The prices are impressively competitive.
I wasn't able to snap the photo of all the menus, but here's the Tonkatsu page.
I ordered perhaps the most basic Tonkatsu. The Lion Katsu Set.
Lion Katsu Set SGD $17.50++
Sapporo Beer Bottle (Small) SGD $6.00++
The cups were not washed very clean. You know how you sometimes have the smell on the cups that are not washed well? Unfortunately, that was the smell of the cup I drank the beer from.
It really destroyed my beer experience. Even for a casual restaurant, I expect glasses to be cleaned properly.
The rice lacks care. I think you can tell by the picture, but there are dry parts and lumps here and there.
But again, to be fair, this is a casual restaurant on budget prices.
They have one type of sauce. Which is okay. I don't necessarily fancy restaurants with spicy and sweet sauces. I only use one anyways.
It's nice that they have the Suribachi to grind the sesame. It releases the fragrance of the sesame to make the sauce better.
The sauce on the cabbage is Goma (or sesame) by default.
How about the lion katsu? Well, it was honestly a little hard in some parts. Not necessarily the best you can find, but also understandable as it's at a reasonable price point.
Guru Rating
For the Tonkatsu 5.0 / 10
The good thing is that it is very reasonably priced. I think there is a high value in restaurants such as this. The name "Shokudo" means food court in Japanese. So by concept, it should be reasonably priced.
Unfortunately, it falls short when it comes to whether I can recommend this restaurant as a Japan-guru.
The key lion katsu piece was rather hard, with some tendon-ish parts which were hard to chew through. As mentioned above, the beer and rice were not good experiences at all.
I still rated this as a 5.0 because I see a need for this restaurant. Even for myself. (Any rating above 5 means that I might come again)
I wouldn't recommend this to someone looking for advice on the best Tonkatsu, but there is a world where I might go again. I may need to take a bunch of kids to an affordable Japanese restaurant, and Gochi-so Shokudo would be a great option in that case.
But if I were alone or with a partner, I would look for a different restaurant.
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