Home-grown specialty restaurant Yabu continues to make the cut in authentic Japanese katsu in the country as they open their newest branch in PowerPlant. This momentous event went hand in hand with the launch of their Japanese Cocktails and newest katsu dishes which will all be available at this 70-seater outlet.
Yabu' minced premium beef and pork covered in crunchy panko filled with oozing creamy cheese, more popular as the Menchi Katsu, has always had a certain charm among katsu enthusiasts. Due to the overwhelming support for this dish, Yabu's executive chef Lee Jose and Japanese consultant slash Master of Katsu Kazuya Tekada work their fingers to the bone to cook up the new Tori Menchi. Made of premium ham and oozing cheese wrapped in minced chicken meat, breaded in fresh panko, and fried to a golden crisp, the Tori Menchi explodes with succulence and flavors.
For those who find themselves torn among the items on the menu, the Menchi Mix Set comes to the rescue. This hodgepodge of menu specialties contains several meat and seafood katsu options- the original Menchi, Jumbo Tiger Prawn, Cream Dory, Squid, and eggplant and blanched green bell peppers as side dish.
Cocktails certainly make a party out of a dish, and this is exactly what the seven craft cocktails curated by Erwan Heussaff do with Yabu favorites. Following the ways of Takuyi Suzuki, one of Japan's best bartenders, Erwan created shochu, sake, and whisky-based cocktails with Asian ingredients to pair with the flavor of Yabu's katsus. Shochu-based Jasmine Bloom is a combination of ginger syrup and cold jasmine tea concentrate, given a kick by wasabi syrup, wasabi paste, oregeat, and lime juice. For those who want stronger Japanese flavors on a sweet cocktail, the Yabu's kick, which is a concoction of whiskey, lime juice, lime peel, cassis, orgeat, and cayenne powder, is a good choice. Clean, simple, yet still fun and flavorful tall drinks such as the whiskey-based Highballl, shochu-based Honshea, and the sake-based Kiyohime have been known to be great to pair with pork katsu. The Yuzu sour, a blend of shochu and whiskey with the zing of lemon juice and the Japanese citrus fruit, topped with egg white and a shiso leaf, is a different mixture that makes any katsu dish more interesting. Lastly, the Chie has zesty citrus and a subtle heat from cayenne with sake and whiskey, which is a great drink for a long night out with friends after a katsu dinner. read more