Enjoyable Iberico Loin dinning experience at Saboten

Being a Japanese food lover, I count Sabtoten as one of my favorite restaurant to enjoy tonkatsu . Following the closure of their outlet in Parco Millennia, they are now relocated to 313@Somerset . 

Here's  a little trivia for you :) Do you know what does Saboten means in Japanese? It's actually "cactus'' -- it embodies endurance and its thorns and flowers are symbol of growth & vitality . On that note, Saboten has been voted by Hungrygowhere as being the best tonkatsu restaurant in Singapore and they continue to bring restaurant goers new dinning experience . 

To celebrate the opening of the new 313@ Somerset outlet, Saboten has introduced the Iberico Loin Katsu, Fried Jumbo Prawn and a few grilled items to its menu .  These are only available at 313@Somerset ! 

Native to the Iberian Peninsula, acorn-fed black Iberian pigs have an ability to store fat inside —not just around— their muscle tissues and thus their meat is wonderfully marbled. 

Each set meal comes complete with free refillable Japanese imported rice, miso soup, cabbage chawanmushi, pickles and we end dinner on a sweet note, a serving of either matcha ice cream or Yuzu sorbet.   

Before we were served our main course, ( one set of Iberico Loin Katsu and one set of Fried Jumbo Prawn) , we started devouring on our side dishes: free flow of juicy, light and crispy shredded cabbage!

I have to rave about the two "oh I want to bring them home " delicious salad dressings!~ All thanks to them, we polished off few helpings of the cabbage !Oh, the cabbage is served cold and even our bowls for the cabbage are cold too so as to preserved the freshness of the veggie!

The goma dressing is creamy and very aromatic, while the ponzu (oops error in my pic) 

 dressing adds a light and fruity note to the cabbage! Really very appetizing!

Before I show you the Iberico Loin Katsu, I have to "demonstrate" how we prepare the tonkatsu sauce :)

It's time for some hands on ~You get to grind the sesame! It's quite

therapeutic preparing this...just use the special stick and go around in 
circular motions. Don't go too fast or else the sesame will be all over the table :P 

Next, add the  special formulated tonkatsu sauce

 to the grinned sesame seeds .

I wish I can have more of this! 
It has to be the smoothest chawamushi I have ever eaten!

Here's the star of the evening

Iberico Loin Katsu ($28)

See that bowl of curry? It is one of the three sauces you

 can pair with the katusu  . ( additional $3 for curry ) 

Saboten's star- Iberico Loin

Well distrubuted fats around the meat. 

It is debatable as to whether one enjoys this cut of meat. 

Personally I found it a tad chewy and tough to bite :)

However it is a very good cut of meat!  
( Husband totally loved this ) 

Goes very well with the curry :)

Here's the grated radish..very refreshing. Lighter option
compared to the other two sauces :)

Here's the other set! 

The Fried Jumbo Prawn set 

The wild catch tiger prawn is crunchy and very fresh. 

 Accompanying the prawn are crab croquette & original loin cutlet

Some of us preferred this loin cutlet as it was seemed to be easier to chew 

as compared to the Iberico one. However, the original cut has much higher fat content :P

This set is my personal preference :D 

We were also treated to this ! 

It's on the menu for a limited time 

Big fat juicy deep fried scallops! ( $12) 

Not to be missed!

Dinner ended on a sweet note! 

Choose either green tea ice cream or yuzu sorbet for dessert :) 

 The green tea ice cream barely hits the note..

I was expecting it to be thick with a bitter hint, but it was lacking in taste...

Yuzu sorbet reigns as it was very very refreshing and so light that it doesn't 

make us feel too filling

( Thanks Jaslyn & Saboten for hosting us! )

Saboten @313 Somerset
Address: 313 Orchard Road #B2-02/03 Singapore 238895

Opening hours: 11.30am-10.00pm

Tel: 6333 3432

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/saboten.sg