Saku, Japanese Pork Cutlet

Food Quality
Atmosphere / Services
Reasonable Priced
Summary

Saku just opened it’s new location on W Broadway Vancouver. They occupy the old location of Honolulu Coffee. Some of the interior decoration remained.

The polished concrete finish puts the restaurant a grey tone. Furnitures are mostly white and wood finish. These three neutral color set the general tone compared to the warm wood finishes in their original location. The space is also quite dark compared to the Saku on Robson.

Grey, Neutral and Modern.

As soon as you enter the restaurant, you can smell the deep fried oil. I was given a choice between the bar facing out the window or the bar near the kitchen. I took the window seat for better ventilation, but then patrons waiting outside kept eyeing my precious pork cutlet. It’s not very comfortable. Next time, I’ll take a seat on the inside.

Patience is a Virtue, and it’s worth it

After ordering, my food took 32 minutes to come. I came here before the restaurant is still not fully seated. The only reason is they took really good care of the pork. They most likely bread and fry the pork cutlet by order. I’m not a chef, but judging by the pork, I can tell they use low heat to keep the juiciness and keep panko from getting too crunchy.

I ordered the limited time offer: Miso Katsu (150g). Pork cutlet is placed on metal stand to avoid sogginess from steam. The bite is not overly crunchy, but I can taste the freshness. This is very authentic Japanese pork cutlet. It is very juicy to the point of dripping. Sweet black miso and fresh (also sweet) green onion is a really good combination on the pork cutlet. It’ll be a shame to see it go by September. Of course, the best part of the meat is the different texture of tendon on the side. Out of the 6 pieces of pork, the 2 pieces on the edge has too much bread. The 2 pieces in the middle is really juicy and really good.

Authentic Japanese Presentation

My meal came with rice, pork cutlet, soup, cabbage salad, condiment, and lemon salt with a dab of wasabi. They are served in a large wooden tray so you have lots of space to indulge in your food. I really like the presentation. It’s very Japanese.

Fresh cabbage are sliced thinly. I put some sesame dressing on top and enjoyed with a dash of lemon juice. They are crunchy and refreshing when pork cutlet gets boring. They are not as crunchy as I remembered in Saku Robson, but still good to have.

Soup has onion, thinly sliced carrots and a bit of lean meat in it. It is a little salty, so I left it for after the meal.

The 3 colored condiments includes yellow radish, Japanese pickle and something purple. The first two are crunchy with a bit of sourness. That purple thing though, is not crunchy, and really sour. I couldn’t finish it.

There’s a dish that I thought was empty at first, but it is actually not left over from previous customer. This is lemon salt with a dab of fresh yellow wasabi at the corner. It’s goes well with my pork cutlet by having alternating tastes.

Rice and salads are refillable so you can be sure that you won’t leave this restaurant hungry. I heard the staff asking the girl next to me, but I personally didn’t get asked. Perhaps there are too many customers lining up when I was eating.

The entire meal does not seem like much, but I walked out of there being full even without any refill. Perhaps it’s all the grease from the food. Nevertheless, no complains on the quantity of food.

604 Food Critic Assessment: Expensive, but authentic.

The meal was very good, but it’s quite costly. I spent $18.12 on a $15 meal. The machine default to 15% minimum tips which I’m not too happy about. Their service is only mediocre with limited staff serving many customers. That being said, I’d still come here when I have authentic Japanese pork cutlet craving.