Saboten

Rating: OK
Meal:  Lunch for 3
Price: 3750 yen
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes: Hirekatsudon, rosukatsudon, vegetable katsudon
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No

I'm back in Japan!  Yay!  We went to church today and lunch after church, which today was a new place in the Toyosu Mall serving tonkatsu (breaded fried pork) dishes.  Our favorite chain is Wako Tonkatsu, but this chain is different and we had never had it before.

They had English menus, which is handy sometimes.  My wife and I love the katsudon, which usually comes with the sweet egg and onion mix along with the deep fried pork.  So we got two kinds, hire and rosu (lean and fatty).  Our son hates anything fried, so we promised to remove the offending fried pork and let him just have the egg mixture on rice, along with some shredded cabbage for veg.  We then ordered a mix of vegetables deep fried and on rice as our third dish for some variety.

Thinly shredded cabbage is apparently a requirement at these establishments, and they had plenty.  It was nicer than Wako's though, very green and lightly crispy.  I think it had more flavor (for cabbage).  The miso soup has *nothing* on Wako's though, which remains our absolute favorite clam miso soup ever (would go there just for the soup).  The little tsukemono (pickled things) were excellent at this place though, as they were pickled with yuzu, a japanese lemon/lime thing.

The main dishes were pretty good, but not great.  Compared with Wako's rosukatsu nabe dish, not at the same level, which leaves it at an overall Ok.