Gani's Restaurant Review: Maisen Katsu @ Greenbelt 5

Preface: So Maisen Katsu just recently opened in Greenbelt 5, and Maica spotted it a few weeks ago. She suggested we try it today, and I was willing to give it a shot. Maica had a work-related activity near Greenbelt so she took Martina there while I waited for them to finish. During this time I used the free wifi in the mall to read up on Maisen Katsu. Our Awesome Planet's article was the very informative and prepped me for our upcoming lunch.

Waiting for our food.

Background: After a few seconds of googling, apparently Maisen Katsu is one of, if not, the best tonkatsu restaurants in Japan. I'm not going to try and do hardcore research about why they decided to bring it here or what. You can read Our Awesome Planet's entry (link above) for background information.

Ambiance: I'll be honest, the location was outside the mall and it was small. When we got there it was full inside so we ate outside. I didn't mind, since there was a roof. Then again, ambiance isn't something I look out for too much. The design of the place was simple. Typical Manila katsu place full of wood and Japanese themed designs. I even heard a passerby wonder out loud if Yabu had opened a new branch. Yes, Maisen Katsu looks just like Yabu at first glance.

Looks like every other katsu place in Metro Manila.

Service: It just opened I think last month. Service is still good, the waitstaff were very friendly and helpful. Our server, Ms. Anne if I remember right, even taught me the different ways to enjoy my Katsumabushi Set lunch. They were very pleasing and helpful.

They were also very quick to refill the free cold tea and were always attentive. They were also very quick cleaning up! Once I was done with my lunch they got my tray (with my consent, of course) which was also good because I was slowly scavenging food from Maica and Martina.

Food presentation and taste: Typical katsu restaurant presentation. Once you've seen one style of presentation you've seen them all.

But the taste, oh man. It was good! My katsumabushi set was very delicious. I tried different ways of eating it. With and without the dashi broth. It was excellent. The meet was tender, and I never realized that wasabi tasted good with katsu until this afternoon. My meal was very delicious, and according to Maica her dish was also great.

My Katsumabushi Set

A close up of the rice with cubed katsu pieces

I was also able to sample some of Martina's kiddie meal since she didn't eat everything. I tried the tonkatsu sandwich, but it was a bit meh for me. The chicken karaage was great. It was very tender and tasty. I've never had a karaage like that here in Metro Manila. Though I have to end this paragraph with a footnote that I was sampling kiddie meal fare so they might have changed the recipe to account for a kid's taste buds.

Value for money: It's priced like your typical Metro Manila katsu place. Though it might seem a bit more expensive since they may charge the same but the quantity might be different. If I recall Yabu's similar priced katsu set offered more katsu in terms of grams than Maisen's. HOWEVER, the taste of Maisen is really better than Yabu's. It cost us a little over Php1200 for the three of us, but I honestly felt it was worth it.

Closing: It was my first time to eat at Maisen Katsu, but it has already jumped to the top of my favorite, er, commercial (meaning multiple branches usually located in malls) katsu places. Right now my ranking would be: 1. Maisen Katsu, 2. Saboten, 3. Ginza Bairin, and last but not least 4. Yabu.

That's how good Maisen Katsu is right now for me. Great taste, good presentation, good service. I only hope they can maintain this sort of quality as time goes by. I will definitely be eating there again, and I do hope you decide to try them to.

Out.