Crazy Katsu

Special Note: For this blog entry, KiMiguel are joined by Migs' friends Brent, JT, and Joseph as they were out hunting folding bikes in Makati :)

August 19, 2012. Sunday.

We were in Makati getting a couple of folding bikes and parts, and it was already past 12 noon! We couldn't decide where to eat in Makati so the best and most logical thing to do is.. to travel to Concepcion, Marikina to have late lunch. That's how crazy we are. At around a little past 1PM, we finally made it to our destination which is Crazy Katsu.

Photo from chadsenga.com, since we didn't take a pic of the signage :|

Yes, there is a Crazy Katsu in Maginhawa Street in Teacher's Village. And yes, this is the same Crazy Katsu.

Crazy Katsu is a simple Japanese restaurant with a one pager for a menu. Its interiors are very minimalist, from the walls, to the tables and chairs. But I like it. It has a very zen- feel to it. It is owned by Shinji Tanaka (the drummer of local indie band, Gaijin), so CD's of some indie artists are available for sale on the counter. And don't be surprised to see some local musicians pop up from time to time. We saw Raimund Marasigan during our visit, 'di lang kami nakapagpapicture, tagal niya kumain eh, haha. Now on to our orders!

Joseph and JT ordered the Katsu Curry.

Katsu Curry. 190php.

Joseph said it wasn't really that spicy, that's why he was pouring Japanese spice powder all over it. And that was their only comment on it.. 'not spicy enough.'

I ordered the Chicken Katsu, which the wait staff said is their best seller. Brent ordered this too.

Chicken Katsu. 145php. This comes with rice, too.

For the Chicken Katsu, you can have it sweet or spicy or a combination of both, sweet- spicy. We had it made in sweet- spicy. The chicken was really tender and it was fried just right. I love spicy food, but I found the dish to be swimming in too much red chili's that it sometimes overwhelmed the taste of the chicken. If it's any consolation, it's served on top of shredded lettuce to temper the sweetness or spiciness of the dish.

Kim played it safe and ordered Katsudon.

Katsudon. 150php. Photo from spot.ph.

Katsudon is one of those dishes you order when you really have not preference,. It's a dish you order when you just want a sure-fire good meal. I haven't really come across a bad Katsudon, and this one was no exception. The pork cutlets were tender, the rice moist enough, the egg runny enough and the glaze (soy sauce, mirin, sugar, etc.) sweet enough.

We also got 4 orders of Gyoza, one each for the guys and one for KiMiguel.

Gyoza. 120php.

For the longest time, I've wanted to try Crazy Katsu because of all the good reviews. I must admit, the experience is a little underwhelming. While the food was good, there's really nothing special and different about it. On some days, good food is more than enough to fill an empty stomach. But if you came a long way just to try something new, you expect something more than good enough. With that said, Crazy Katsu serves good food for good prices. I just don't think we'd be coming back here except if it's the most convenient place available to eat at.

Crazy Katsu
#48 Lilac St. Hacienda Heights,
Concepcion Ⅱ, Marikina City
https://www.facebook.com/crazykatsu
http://www.crazykatsu.com/