Yes, I did promise to tell you about the lunch I had last Friday.

It was at Yabu, the katsu restaurant that opened in Mega Mall last November. The place is small and fills up easily for lunch and dinner which is why they do not accept table reservations for after 11:30 AM and 6:30 PM. They will put your name on a waitlist though.

I got there at 11:25 and got a table for six. Mon, Yabu’s manager is an absolute charmer. He served me barley tea and chatted with me until the rest of my party showed up.

Yabu serves everything katsu. If you want something breaded and deep-fried, you’ve come to the right place. Which will explain why the place is popular. We, Pinoys, love everything breaded and deep-fried.

Yabu’s star attraction is its kurobuta katsu. “Kuro”, in Japanese, means “black” and “buta” is “black”, in reference to the ancient, rare breed of black Berkshire pigs that the British once gifted the Japanese in the 19th century. Typically, the Japanese raised these pigs in that special way that only the Japanese can and have thus produced the most succulent pork known to man.

The first time I tried it, I was totally blown away. Chef Cyrille Soenen did a magnificent job with it and it totally lived up to its reputation as the best pork in the world.

Unfortunately, I never had that same experience with it again. Not even at Cyrille’s restaurant back then (Cicou at Hotel Celeste; Cyrille has since opened Brasserie Cicou in Greenhills). To be fair, I don’t think it was Cyrille who prepared the dish the next time I visited his restaurant.

I’m guessing it’s the way the pork is prepared. Like most everything, kurobuta shouldn’t be overcooked and I don’t think it should be drowned out in sauces that will mask the meat’s flavor either.

So I was excited to try Yabu’s kurobuta katsu. Their Japanese consultant is the head chef of a popular tonkatsu restaurant in Tokyo so I was confident that if anyone knew how to prepare katsu in the Philippines, it would be Yabu. Although why they source their kurobuta from the States is a wonder.

Anyway, I ordered that and the mixed seafood katsu (oyster from Japan, scallop from the States, shrimp and Dory from the Philippines). Well, I wanted to try everything.

Mon was nice enough to accommodate my request to substitute the miso soups that came with the sets with other items on the menu. (I’m not a fan of miso soup.) He gave me a wakame salad and a potato croquette.

Mixed seafood katsu set. P425.

In the end, the best katsu was the Dory. And the potato croquette.

The breading on the scallop and the oyster was too thick. It ended up coming off. And then it was just a scallop and an oyster.

Kurobuta katsu set. P515.

The pork seemed tough and dry to me. If that’s the kurobuta they’re getting then they’re probably better off sourcing locally. I just had lechon kawali for lunch at home and it was more tender, and definitely much juicier and tastier than the one I had at Yabu.

Everything I had was quite flavorless. While the tonkatsu sauce with the freshly ground sesame seeds was wonderful, I think food should be able to stand on its own, without the sauce. A bit of seasoning directly on the meat and on the breading itself should solve that problem.

All in all, I thought my meal was quite unremarkable. It wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t good.

I have no doubt that Yabu will continue to be popular for a long time. They’ve already rented out the space next door and are expanding soon.

It’s just not for me.