Yabu: Enter Kurobuta ~ Savvy about Nothing

Every once in a while you learn a new word that changes your outlook on food a little bit. I still remember hearing about Kobe beef and to this day, I always think of Kobe Bryant when I hear it. Haha. While I have not had the luxury of trying that, luckily for us the similarly superior version of pork, called Kurobuta, is vastly more reachable.

It really was glowing!

Everyone and their uncle has already been to Yabu and I've heard great things, so I was really looking forward to this visit. Strangely, we even got to try the recently opened Saboten first, because it was the first to open in the Fort. Comparisons below! ;)

A safe and delicious haven.

First of all, they have a great-looking place in SM Aura, right by the Sky Park! The interior looks very fancy and I love the contrast against the manga draped across the walls. From my intense sleuthing skills, I found out (from the menu) that Yabu partnered with an established Chef Kazuya in order to perfect their food. He is also the inspiration for the comic strips featuring the art of Tonkatsu. Cool!

Pick your poison.

There's definitely no lack of condiments to keep you on the edge of your plate (lol does that phrase even make sense?). Before you get started, you can start preparing your sauce by grinding sesame seeds yourself and mixing in the sweet and tangy sauce.

Alvie and I weren't hungry so we opted to get a single meal of Kurobuta (we weren't going to pass that up!) and one extra order of unlimited cabbage (P80). This is a great way of making the meal a bit lighter on the wallet, too. :)

Kurobuta Pork Set 120g, P575.00

3/4 inch cutlet made from "rosu", or pork with a trimming of fat.
Served with unlimited Japanese rice or organic brown rice, miso soup, Japanese pickles, organic cabbage with your choice of dressing and a bowl of fruit.
A veritable feast of a meal! Let's walk through everything that comes with it, shall we?
Random fruits: not my thing, but okay, sure you can add that to my meal.
Miso soup: Standard, good miso soup.
Japanese pickles: I love snacking on these.
Unlimited cabbage: Mix and match the condiments to your taste! I especially love the yellow, potent wasabi. Cabbage is rarely this exciting.
Unlimited rice: The brown rice was not bad, and the Japanese rice was really good. This places anyone dieting into quite a dilemma.

Kurobuta, also known as the Black Berkshire pig, is the world's finest pork. It is called the "kobe beef" of pork, due to its rich marbling, softness and flavor.
...and of course, the Kurobuta tonkatsu. It was actually a bit thick and as soon as I bit into it, I understood the hype. It was perfectly prepared in nice and flavorful breading. The real charm for me is how soft it was. I've only had softer pork one time in my life, and it was lechon from Uruguay. The quantity wasn't bad too, Alvie and I split it and each had a decent light portion of meat. The best thing is that the pork didn't taste too fatty, and had a lean feel to it despite being so soft. Kurobuta is a name I shan't soon forget.

Saboten vs. Yabu
Now having tried both, we can do a small comparison of the two rival Katsu kings. I don't know who started copying first, but the experience was very, very similar. Think McDonald's and Jollibee. They only differ in a few things. Gun to my head though, it would have to go to Yabu for me. They introduced me to Kurobuta, something Saboten doesn't have, and totally win in variety. Lots of different interesting dishes make choosing your lunch a difficult task, and you even have brown rice as an option if you are somehow able to resist the call of the amazing Japanese rice.. As far as the experience of the two though, it's almost the same.

Menu:
Premium Tonkatsu Set

Verdict:
Kurobuta Pork Set 120g: Very Good!

We were very pleased with our meal and service was excellent. Very coincidentally, the day after we had this dinner, I was surprised to encounter a first in our young blogging history: we got an invitation from none other than Yabu to come and try out their newest dishes!