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Gochi-So Shokudo stands out as a Japanese restaurant specialising in Iberico pork dishes (Iberico is like the wagyu of cows, but pork version). Its popularity grew quickly after the opening of its first outlet at Raffles Place, with working adults noting it for its value for money set meals. I tried three different outlets in total (Westgate, Raffles Place, Jewel) and I have to say that across all three outlets, there were nothing too mind blowing about them. Below is my review of the Jewel outlet.

The Jewel outlet is probably the best outlet if you want a view with your meal. It is spacious, bright, and the magnificent waterfall at the backdrop works to sooth your mind after a hectic day of travelling and shopping.

At the Jewel Changi outlet, the menu is straightforward and can be categorised into three varieties: chargrilled, Japanese curry and tonkatsu.

Pork jowl is an incredibly juicy cut to work with given its high fat content. It’s perfect for grills and the resulting meat is a melt in your mouth texture which goes absolutely well with a spoonful of white rice. At Gochi-So Shokudo, the fat to meat ratio of the jowl is well balanced, without either being too overwhelming. Because it’s grilled, there’s also a tinge of smokiness that comes with the jowl. Gochi-So Shokudo’s don also comes with an onsen egg that gives the bowl an overall creamy feel. Unfortunately though, my bowl came with a huge splash grilled meat sauce which made the entire dish way too saltish for my liking. The don would have been perfect on its own without any sauce really.

I was rather disappointed with the bellota pork loin tonkatsu. The cutlet itself was of a good thickness, but critically it was a little dry and consequently rather tough to chew. This definitely did not do justice to the Iberico pork. On the upside, the crust was quite crunchy and goes well with the standard tonkatsu sauce and ground sesame powder.

As with the loin katsu, the bellota loin was rather dry and chewy, although it had a nice char to it. The saving grace of this bowl was really the onsen egg and sauce.

I’m not sure whether it was just my bad luck but across all three branches I visited, I noticed the staff were rather grouchy and not welcoming at all. For the Jewel branch, the staff didn’t really seem to care about seating the guests in an orderly fashion. It also wasn’t clear what the guests were expected to do. Some guests went straight to the counter to make their order and payment and went to find a seat thereafter while others waited outside the restaurant until they were ushered in.

I wouldn’t say the food at Gochi-So Shokudo is seriously terrible for its price point. But given the service and many other food choices available in Jewel, unless you are desperately craving for affordable Japanese food, you can give this place a miss.

78 Airport Blvd, #B1-288, Singapore 819666
Daily: 10am to 10pm
+65 6214 9581
Check out their Facebook page here

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