Me and my food buddy and fellow kaladkarin, Glaiza, were thinking where to eat one Saturday afternoon. She hasn't eaten anything then, and I was a little hungry too, so after our little shopping splurge, we had to choose where to satisfy our thirst for good food/adventure. We were thinking between, Mad Mark's (I am not sure of the spelling), or somewhere else.
One thing I liked about Glorietta 5 in Makati is, even though it is a weekend, there were only few people strolling, eating and shopping in the area. Maybe because you really had to go there, unlike other parts of Glorietta that it is just beside the MRT, or just few distance from the bus station. Anyways, going back, Glaiza remembered that there is a branch of YABU in the area and we have been wanting to try it out since November of 2013.
Then Yabu it is. Upon arrival, the ambience was a little bit intimidating maybe because there was barely anyone there (location wise kasi, dadayuhin talaga siya so I guess not everyone is aware na may ganyang restaurant in the area)
We were ushered to our table, and in fairness, very prompt ang service! We were given the menu agad-agad, and though we were gutom, we still manage to go all thru the menu to check what we wanted.
After getting our orders, we were served this mini bowl of toasted sesame seeds, and a club shaped, pestle. You have to do the old style of grinding the sesame seeds for the aroma and flavor to break in. It smelled like our version of Pinipig. I just love the smell of it!
I loved it! It's a mix of minced meat of beef and pork with cheese! I love everything that has dairy product on it. Yabu was not kidding when they said they do take their katsu's seriously. It was insanely tasteful! It was not nakakaumay given the fact na may dairy siya. Plus the Panko breadcrumbs that were used were fresh, and hindi nakakasugat ng gums whenever you have a bite on it. And I think one reason why hindi siya nakakasawa kasi hindi makapal ang breadcrumbs as oppose to the meat itself. Another thing is the way it was cook, it was not greasy at all! The color is bright, and golden and crisp!
Their Cabbage Salad is okay lang, Glaiza told me one Japanese Restaurant (within the area too) that she liked their cabbage salad better than Yabu's, I think it has something to do with the quality of the cabbage or the dressing itself. But Yabu's isn't that bad, don't get me wrong, it was good, but as always, there's better, or it could have been better, or something like that.
I also had bowl of fruits as part of my katsu set, apparently there were only two choices, watermelon and pineapple. I love these fruits and it was a bit of a hassle to ask numerous times for refill, because they were only giving one slice per fruit. But again, Katsu is their main thing, so wala akong masabi dun kundi 4 out of 5 stars! (I hope my vote counts for something)
All in all, the experience was good, and the person I was with then was not afraid to try new stuff so it probably added to the experience na rin. Most probably than not, I will be back. (^_^)
