COCONUTS HOT SPOT — Katsu Cafe, a small tonkatsu place on the corner of Katipunan Avenue and B. Gonzales Street in Quezon City, offers good food and the unique experience of eating at a Japanese street cafe while indoors (and not in Japan at all).
The decor of wood and plastic grass and a faux folding security gate make Katsu Cafe’s interiors unique in a stretch of road where restaurants usually highlight value for money more than ambience.
Not that Katsu Cafe doesn’t offer value for money. At P195, their Katsuretsu sets offer battered and deep fried meat cutlets with a side salad and, the menu promises, unlimited Japanese Rice. The set comes with Miso soup and sesame seeds for Katsu Cafe’s Tonkatsu sauce.
Their gyoza, or potstickers, come at P120 for a plate of five and are great.
Some sticking points, though.
The menu promised unlimited Japanese Rice with the Katsuretsu sets. Although you can get refills for your rice, it’s about as Japanese as Alodia Gosiengfiao.
Staff also tended to hide in the kitchen (we could hear them flirting and joking) while we waited for our food, which took more than 20 minutes to arrive.
Now, we’re not saying wait staff shouldn’t have fun on the job. This isn’t Feudal Japan, after all. Hearing them kidding around gave the impression that they didn’t care that our food was late.
That, and their filing out soon after our food arriived to buy fishballs from a cart across the street.
