The tonkatsu craze started in Manila back in 2012 by local brand Yabu. A few months after its success--Filipinos' very warm reception of the unlimited rice and side dishes, other katsu chains soon came, such as Ginza Bairin, Saboten and Tonkatsu by Terazawa. Depending on your preference, Manila has been familiar with what's good katsu and what isn't.
Now it's 2015 and the Bench Group brings us Maisen, the world-famous global tonkatsu franchise. Though it arrived significantly late in the tonkatsu game, everyone including myself, a huge fan of Yabu since Day 1, was dying to find out how it would fare against its competitors.
First impressions: the branch was really small. Because there were only a few tables, we were fifth on the waitlist even if it was a weekday. We eventually settled to dine al fresco.
I ordered their Loin Katsu Set and to be honest, my reaction was in the middle of overwhelmed and underwhelmed. I wasn't disappointed, though I also wasn't jumping up and down. The pork was of great quality as you'd expect, the fried golden crust was flaky and flavorful, but it wasn't anything significantly different or special. I have to say I liked their tonkatsu dip, though--it was a lot less rich and acidic as compared to the other tonkatsu brands. Maisen's was on the sweeter, tamer side, and I couldn't get enough of it.
I also got to try their Cheese Minced Pork Katsu Set. It was flavorful but sort of reminded of Embutido, the Spanish-Filipino dish? Something about how the pork, cheese and other ingredients were mashed together, then you dip it with their sauce and it becomes embutido + ketchup. It was good, though I wouldn't go back for it.
One of the things they seem to pride themselves in is the Katsumabushi Set--small katsu chops which you enjoy with rice and can be eaten in three different ways: right from the bowl, garnished with sesami, wasabi and scallions, or poured with dashi as a broth.
Overall I'm not that excited to go back, perhaps because I'm more familiar with Yabu and because their katsu innovations are more exciting. Though I also want to give Maisen another try soon, especially to sample their yummy-looking sandwich sets. read more