Served with rice, miso soup, fresh cabbage and pickles. I got a cuppa matcha 🍵 to go with brief: “THE SECRET TO OUR POPULARITY IS THE COMBINATION OF A CRISPY, TEXTURE-RICH BATTER SURROUNDING A JUICY FLAVORFUL 25-LAYERED SELECTED PORK CUTLET. WE SELECT ONLY THE HIGHEST QUALITY PORK, WHICH IS THINLY SLICED AND STACKED INTO 25 LAYERS. THIS LAYERED CUTLET IS COVERED WITH FRESH BREADCRUMBS AND FRIED SLOWLY IN LOW TEMPERATURE FOR 8 MINUTES. IT IS THEN SET VERTICALLY FOR TWO MINUTES TO STEAM, ALLOWING THE HEAT TO SPREAD EVENLY INSIDE. THIS IS ALL A PART OF OUR ORIGINAL RECIPE AND PROCESS, WHICH HELPS TO BRING FORTH THE MAXIMUM TASTE. ALL THE NATURAL JUICES ARE KEPT INSIDE BETWEEN THE LAYERS AND CRISPY BATTER, MAKING KIMUKATSU LIGHT AND FLUFFY, YET EXTREMELY JUICY AND FLAVORFUL. ONLY THE TOP KOSHIHIKARI RICE GRAIN FROM NIIGATA IS BEING USED IN OUR RESTAURANT. USING SPECIALISED RICE COOKER, EACH GRAIN IS CAREFULLY WASHED, SOAKED IN WATER FOR HOURS BEFORE COOKING TO PRODUCE THE BEST OF JAPANESE RICE. IT IS THEN SERVED IN OHITSU, A TRADITIONAL JAPANESE WOODEN RICE BUCKET, TO KEEP THE RICE WARM & TASTY.” SOOT’S TAKE: No wonder it took 20 minutes to prepare the katsu! Still, that wasn’t what impressed me the most. It was the rice. The rice was out of this world good and I could already tell the moment I uncovered the rice bucket. My first mouthful was revelatory, the same way it was when I had Hom Mali rice at the last Thai restaurant I dined at. The rice made everything taste better than if each element had been eaten by itself.