Katsu Showdown

Crazy Katsu vs. King Katsu

two meals. three weeks apart. who will win the battle for better Katsu? haha.

Tonkatsu was such a rarity then. we only had it whenever we went to Saisaki and that was only when we had relatives from US come to visit. then came Tokyo Tokyo which made it more available to the masses.

now Katsu places are popping out left and right and here's a couple of the ones I've tried so far:

1. September 7, 2013: Crazy Katsu

I've long been hearing about this place and have passed by it numerous times along Maginhawa St. QC but never really felt compelled to try it out

but one night along Aguirre Avenue in BF Pque, with no clear plans on where to have dinner, we just passed by it and decided to finally try it na

the place wasn't as packed as the one in Maginhawa St. so that was a good sign

really liked the feel of the place. simple lang. clean and space was maximized well. liked the touch of the Japanese bike too. 

Jeff got a Miso soup (Php 30). again I wasn't a fan of the soup in general and sadly their version sure didn't help improve my liking for it.

by default I went for their Tonkatsu (Php 140). steady lang. seemed like it stayed on the fryer longer than it should be. but the sauce was good naman.

Jeff ordered the Katsudon (Php 150) naman. they had quite a good serving size I must say.

happy tummies for the night!

Crazy Katsu
231 Aguirre Avenue, BF Homes
Paranaque



2. September 28, 2013: King Katsu

our meal here was super random. we were almost at the brink of deciding to eat at Taisho again when we came upon a standee for King Katsu.

so since it was quite near from where we were naman, and since we wanted to try something new anyway, we gave it a go

King Katsu didn't seem too Japanese-y haha but we came here for the food so we had to wait and see

we ended up having exactly the same dishes we had in Crazy Katsu

Pork Tonkatsu with angel hair cabbage and miso soup (Php 149)

miso soup

 

Chicken Katsudon (Php 152)

happy tummies as usual!

King Katsu
Sky Garden, SM North Edsa
Quezon City

so what's the verdict? I think Crazy Katsu has plus points for ambiance but quality of food for me goes to King Katsu. I found Crazy Katsu more oily and I liked that King Katsu was more generous with its cabbage and they even had a sesame mayo sauce to go with it.

I think Crazy Katsu is more mainstream but I'm sure King Katsu with the quality of food they have will soon catch up! :)

Weekend Eats (Round 3)

more food finds :)

September 13-14, 2013

1. September 13, 2013: My Thai Kitchen

we were already seated inside Rai Rai Ken in Robinson's Galleria but changed our minds at the last minute. haha. actually we thought the prices were a bit too steep there rin naman and baka mas sulit pang mag City Buffet instead. when we went to City Buffet though we didn't feel like eating there naman so we decided to go around the mall again and that's when we chanced upon this Thai buffet place where Jeff and his colleagues had lunch last December

there weren't a lot of people that time which was good and since it was a buffet -- no need to wait!

I really liked the liveliness of the resto because of the bursting shades of purple and pink all around

in fairness for less than Php 300/head there are a lot of choices na. food was good naman though not as Thai as expected. I liked the vegetable sides / asian salad variety they offered. the bagoong rice was quite good too. I came back 3 times for the squid and the mussels cooked in curry.

Jeff liked the Kimchi and the Kangkong dish. very evident naman from his photo below :) he also got to try the dessert which I didn't get to try na. they had some fruits as well as rice cakes and fruits/rice crops cooked in coconut milk.

for the price we paid, sulit na rin here in the Thai Kitchen. I think if there was one thing though I didn't like about it was the fact that the dishes weren't kept warm. our dining experience would have been a whole lot better if they had food warmers at the least. just the same I think I would consider eating here again.

The Thai Kitchen
G/F Robinson's Galleria
Ortigas Avenue, Quezon City

2. September 14, 2013: Taisho Ramen

Jeff has been nagging to have ramen for weeks. so when we chanced upon this new resto by the Sky Garden, we decided to try it out.

they were quite generous with their condiments. press your own garlic, heaps of red radish, chili powder. this to us seemed like a good sign of better things to come. haha

and as for our choices:

1) Gyoza (Php 135 for 8 pieces) - we initially ordered 4 pieces lang, but it was so good we decided to get another set

2) Karamen (Medium Spicy Php 235) - not really a fan of wet noodles in general but I liked this one a lot. and the soup was intensely hot but really really good!

3) Pork Tepanyaki Set with Miso soup (Php 185) - I usually don't like dishes served in sizzing plates but didn't mind eating this dish in one here. haha. at first glance it seemed like the serving was more veggies vs. meat but it had quite a generous heap of meat naman. and the chili paste really complimented the dish! am also not a fan of Miso soup - I would often just have one sip and the rest I would give to Jeff. this time though I finished the whole thing. this was the ideal taste of Miso soup for me. very light lang plus it came with chunks of tofu and peels of seaweed. yum! I'm salivating at the very thought

seems like we have a new favorite resto in SM North! really hoping they'd have a branch in Paranaque (or anywhere in the south area) soon!

Taisho Ramen and Teppanyaki House
Sky Garden, SM North Edsa
Quezon City

A Taste of L.A.

September 9, 2013

coming from an event in Ateneo and since our next meeting wasn't starting until 2 pm, we decided to have an early lunch before heading back to the office.

initially the plan was just to see what restos were on the way but for some reason we ended up towards Tomas Morato

we were actually looking for Bagoong Club but we couldn't recall the street and when we ended up along Roces, they recommended we try A Taste of L.A. na lang

apparently this was a resto which was frequented by celebrities particularly politicians. we wondered who we'll see then. haha.

from outside it didn't look like a resto at all and was more like of a house. no wonder this was a favorite spot of big shots :p

inside it was quite an intimate set up. not much lighting so sorry for the poor quality shots as I only had my camera phone then

I appreciated the ambiance though. no frills. should be good to bring along Jeff here some time.

the menu

and here were our choices:

So-Like-Rockefellah Baked Oysters (Php 410), Street BBQ (Php 320), Garlic and Three Cheese Pizza (Php 420) and Spaghetti Maranese (Php 510)

I didn't understand why we got the bbq. didn't think bagay siya with the rest of the dishes. and it wasn't even malasa at all. Street BBQ nga. haha. The pasta naman was just so-so
I particularly liked the oysters and the pizza though and that's 2 enough reasons to come back here :)

A Taste of L.A.
171 A. Roces Ave. cor.
Tomas Morato, Quezon City

so... we made another music video

still for my former boss.. but it's for her despedida this time :(

We'll miss you, Carmen!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVdkQWkTUMg&feature=share

Wingman

September 4, 2013

since our SG trip was fast approaching, we went out for a 'planning' dinner at Wingman. there were actually numerous attempts to eat here in the past few months, but it proved to be unsuccessful until today. :)

I would often pass by Wingman whenever I'm bound for the Glorietta/Greenbelt area and madalas the place seemed quite packed so it was good that we got there relatively early and was able to secure a table albeit right next to the projector wall. haha

why don't we?

for starters, we ordered a basket of fries, onion rings and since I chanced upon a blog months back re Wingman and it came highly recommended, I also got the Iron Skillet Queso

the cheese was suuuper good and it went well with everything else. particularly liked the dips that came with the fries and onion rings

for the wings, we got half and half of the Buffalo Classic and the Garlic Parmesan. normally my taste buds prefer the 'original' or more classic flavor but this time I have to say I much preferred the Garlic Parmesan flavor.

we also got a set of 3 mini burgers called the Home Run Sliders: Classic Cheeseburger, Cowboy Burger and the Wingman Burger which came with a side of salad. While wings may be there thing, would have to say the burgers were good naman and would definitely order this again when we do get to come back again

after that hearty meal, it was eventual we'd want dessert. unfortunately they didn't have that many options, actually they only had 2: 1) deep-fried Snickers bar and 2) deep-fried Coca-Cola

so since the Coke seemed weird, we opted to have the Snickers bar for sharing. it was sort of like a waffle but instead of a hotdog or other filling it was with the snickers bar instead.

haha all I had was one bite of it + a spoonful of ice cream and I was done for the night. maybe not the dessert for me.

chill night at Wingman

steady place to hang out in with good food to boot. may just need to look for some place nearby if in need of a sugar fix though. haha.

Wingman
The Collective, Malugay, Makati

Weekend Eats (Round 2)

here's to share more food finds for August!

1. August 24, 2013: Fat Juan

The Annex of SM North Edsa has now become a dining destination with newly opened restos such as Brickfire which Jeff and I got to try weeks back.

since we try to eat something new as often as we could, we again headed to the Annex to see what it could offer us this time.

we were almost heading back towards Peri-peri, when we were greeted by a cheerful female staff handing out fliers for Fat Juan; the offering was straight forward and prices were okay so  might as well try it out

there weren't that too many customers at that time since they were still on soft opening. the store was well-kept and had a nice vibe naman.  

interesting landscape artworks featuring fruits and vegetables

they had a decent selection of dishes which were mostly the typical home-cooked meals such as Chicken Curry, Lumpiang Shanghai and a rice topping of meat balls which they called "Rolly Polly"

I love meat balls and would have ordered that dish, kaso I remember having had that dish that same week so I opted to eat something else na lang.

Fat Juan Pork Barbecue with rice (Php 99)

Potbelly with Rice (Php 139)

I ordered the Pot belly which Jeff ended up eating and I ate the Barbecue meal he ordered naman.

the barbecue was pretty good. it had the right arrangement of lean meat and slices of fat which I really liked. it made me feel less guilty eating it. haha. btw they had a condiments section so you could just create your own sauce. we really liked the spicy vinegar they had available. :)

the potbelly was actually just adobo but it was sweeter than usual to the point na it was parang pata tim na. and you could really taste the laurel leaf in the dish. really nice touch.

btw, if you want a drink with your meal just add Php 10 for your choice of softdrink.

happy customers here!

Fat Juan
G/F, The Annex, SM City North Edsa


2. August 30, 2013: Wooden Spoon

this resto was featured in a TV show months back and I remember mentioning to Jeff that we should try this place some time.

since he got his bonus over the weekend, he took me out to dinner but didn't specify where it was exactly that he was taking me. all along I thought we'd go to Maginhawa St. or to Don Day which was a Korean resto we'd been to at least 2x.

when we got to Katipunan I was thrilled when we stopped in front of Wooden Spoon! surprise, surprise!

there were groups standing outside though so you could tell the place was full na, plus it was Friday night pa!

I could not remember exactly the dishes that were recommended in the show thought and didn't have my pocket wi-fi so I couldn't research. so I texted a few friends for suggestions.

good thing we were still 3rd in line. hehe.

the place wasn't that big though it had a second level naman. considering the number of customers they get, they should really expand soon!

I like these spoon details on the panel behind me

as recommended by a friend we ordered:

Crispy Crab Pancit (Php 165)

yes, that's pancit with a scrambled egg and crab sauce. it doesn't look too appealing here because we had it mixed na.

and because of our love for spicy dishes, we also got:

Bicol Express (Php 195)

Stuffed Pechay (Php 165)

when we ordered, I was actually considering getting one more dish because it might not be enough for us. surprisingly though we barely finished the Bicol Express and we also had a leftover Pechay.

we stuffed ourselves too much with the Pancit that we ended up not finishing the other dishes.but I have to say that dish was really good talaga and I would definitely order it the next time.

yun lang I couldn't say the same for the Bicol Express, which seemed pa naman like a bestseller since the other guests in the tables adjacent to us ordered it too.

it wasn't as spicy as I would have wanted it to be and honestly it was just like the generic shredded pork dish we get in our office canteen.

the stuffed pechay was good rin and actually liked the sauce a lot. it was quite similar to another dish we had in another resto called the Dinakdakan.

too bad lang we didn't get to try their desserts that time. this gives me a reason however to come back for another round of the Crispy Crab Pancit and to get to try their other dishes too. the adobo flakes and Caldereta from the other table looked pretty good haha.


Wooden Spoon
329 Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City