Yabu: House of Katsu Review

Disclaimer: This is my first ever Restaurant Review, I am not a food critic and all opinions expressed are of my own personal experience. The restaurant has no foreknowledge that I would write this review.

I have been reading a lot of good reviews about Yabu, which made me wanna try it. And I just got lucky because recently I won a Yabu GC worth 2,000 from i am dekaphobic blog which means I'll get to try Yabu for free, yey!

If you know me that well, I am certified foodie and I love trying out new dishes, and Japanese food is no exception. 

Knowing my in laws food preference I was doubting weather they'd enjoy Yabu, but still hubby and I offered to use the GC with them. It's also their first time hearing about Yabu which made them curious and accepted our offer. So last Sunday September 22nd which is also my father in laws birthday, we went to Yabu SM Southmall. I was expecting a long queue based on the reviews that I read, but as soon as we arrived there we were seated right away. Well maybe because we arrived there around 1:30pm which is already past lunch time. 

First thing that I noticed was the ambiance, it was very cozy. Each table has a set of condiments, Himalayan Pink Salt, Tonkatsu Sauce, Salad Dressings and Japanese seasonings. As soon as our orders were taken, a small dish with sesame seeds and a pestle was served. Since I was reading reviews prior I already knew that the sesame seed needs to be ground and the tonkatsu sauce to be added next which will serve as a dipping sauce for the katsu, even before the server informed us about it. 

Kuya Tantan having fun grinding the sesame seeds

The fruit Shake was served next, and mine was Watermelon Shake. The price ranges from 90-100

Surprisingly we found a strand of hair on J's Mango Shake right before he was about to take a sip, so we had it replaced right away.

And finally, after few minutes of waiting our foods was served.

I ordered the Kurobuta Pork Set 120g (575.00)

Me and my son shared this order, since he only eats a little.

"Kurobuta, also known as the black Berkshire pig, is the world's FINEST pork. It is also called the "kobe beef of pork" due to its rich marbling, softness and flavor."

Jaear ordered the Chicken Katsu Set 180g (360.00)

He never gets tired of chicken lol!

Creamy Dory Set 180g (375.00) for my Mom in Law 

Seafood Katsu Set 1 (485.00) for my Father in Law

Chicken ans Seafood Katsu Set (475.00) for my Sister in Law

Each set of Katsu is already served with unlimited Japanese rice, Miso Soup, unlimited shredded cabbage, Japanese pickles and sliced fresh fruit for dessert. However on top of the price of each Katsu sets, there's still a 5% service charge. Our bill was around 3,000 plus, I'm too lazy to do the math lol, but since we have the 2,000 GC we only paid 1,000 something. Not bad. 

The Experience: 

Did I say I love the ambiance? The lighting, the interior design and all are very cozy. On the way to the Rest Room ,there's a huge mirror on the wall. Outside and inside the Rest Room's wall are filled with posters about what celebrities and bloggers have to say about Yabu. However there's only 1 rest room for both male and female. We didn't get to experience long queue since we arrived late, the Staffs are all approachable and kind. But I just didn't like the fact that there was a strand of hair on J's mango shake, but so far we didn't find any on our foods.lol! My in laws didn't enjoy the food as much as I did, again as I said our food preference is different. The Katsu was really crispy yet very tender, however it just didn't meet up my expectation of it being juicy, I am basing this on the reviews that I read. J didn't really liked the sauce with sesame seeds in it but according to him the Chicken was kinda dry and not that tasty which made him dip his chicken. They also didn't like the miso soup. But again, I wouldn't question that, this is not their kind of food, but of course they still enjoyed it somehow and we all got full. Well as for me I really enjoyed it, I even had 3 rice refills and a refill of the shredded cabbage. 

Will I go back for more? Yes I will, because there's still other set that I wanna try, and the next time around I'll try to bring along my friends who also loves Japanese so it's not just me who's enjoying. lol!

SM Southmall Branch

Ground Level, SM South Mall

Alabang-Zapote Road, Almanza, Las Piñas

Metro Manila, Philippines

Phone Number

(+63 2) 800-0447

Sundate with the In Laws

After Kuya T and Baby A's birthday,the party isn't over yet, because my Father in Law celebrated his birthday last Sunday, September 22nd. Instead of celebrating at home we decided to eat out. J and I offered to use the 2,000 GC for Yabu: House of Katsu which I recently won from [i am dekaphobic blog. Yabu has lots of branches but we decided to go to SM South Mall since it's the closest one and besides it was also raining. It's our first time to try Yabu, neither one of us had tried it before. And knowing their food preference I was kinda doubting weather they'd enjoy the foods as for me, I go for anything.  We went out late already and as soon as we arrived at South Mall we immediately looked for Yabu.

Here's the story of what happened that day, through photos.

Kids OOTD. Before leaving the house.

It was around past 2 pm already so it was a late lunch and snack at the same time. We were seated right away and while waiting for our foods we took some photos.

My In laws. Happy birthday Papa!

Mother and Sis In Law

While waiting for our order

In laws with baby Athena

Water Melon Shake for me!

Drinks were served first, together with the sesame seeds for the sauce..

Kuya Tantan grinding his sesame seed

Special Delivery: A day's Haul

I can't believe it, but September is already coming to an end. Time indeed flies so fast and I'm already left behind, got lots of overdue posts! The past days had been very busy, a lot of things happened and I can't put it all in one post so I am gonna try my best to blog it all away tonight just to catch up. And to set the mood, I decided to start up with my haul for this week.

It's been a while since the last time I received a special delivery, it's kinda weird because I was used to receiving parcels almost everyday haha! Anyway I received 2 parcels yesterday, those are the prizes from my previous winnings.

Septemeber 26, around lunch time my first parcel arrived. It was really unexpected and I honestly do not know what it is.

Xend 

 I got all excited so I opened it up as soon as I finished taking a photo teehee

What a lovely packaging! The box is no ordinary box at all.

3 Variants of Kolours Hair Dye

I was really fascinated with the packaging. Of all the parcels I've received this one is by far the loveliest! I won this a giveaway last August and it was hosted by the fashion bloggers Lissa Kahayon of Scene Stealer and LAureen Uy of Break My Style. Te giveaway was sponsored by Nuffnang Philippines. I know, it took a while before it was sent out.

Later that day, the second parcel arrived.

LBC Pakaging

5 Variants of Champs Chewable Vitamins

Kids checking 'em out

I have been waiting for this for a while. I won this last July from Mommy Cj M. De Castro of Planeville Mom. 

Since she announced the winners, we never heard anything from her anymore, until last week. She had her reasons and it's totally fine, I'm just glad she's okay, coz we were also kinda worried when she went MIA. But she's back and Kuya Tantan now have his Chewable Vitamins which he really loves!

FOOD: Creamy Tuna Pasta (Red Sauce)

It's already 2 in the morning and I am still wide awake! Remember about the Creamy Tuna Pasta I prepared for Kuya T's 4th birthday last September 15? I promised to make a Recipe post about it, so here it is!

We love Spaghetti and since I also love tuna, I just decided to put a twist on it and came up with this, it may not be an original Recipe but I came up with this on my own, didn't copy it from anyone.

Ingredients:

 

Spaghetti Noodles

Spaghetti Sauce

Century Tuna

Nestle Cream

Onions

Garlic

Salt

Cooking oil

Excuse me for using different brands, yan lang kase available (tee hee)

We, especially Kuya T and Jaear prefer the Filipino Style Sauce

If you like it Spicy, you can use the Hot and Spicy Century Tuna.

The size of the ingredients also depends on the number of people you will be serving this to, as for me I cooked 1 kilos of pasta, snack and dinner na rin. And the left over could still be served the next day, so hindi sayang.

Cooking Procedure

Pasta: 

1 Pour water in a large pot and bring to a boil

2. Put in salt and oil

3. Add the Spaghetti Noodles, and cook until tender.

4. Drain then set aside

Sauce:

1. In a pan, saute garlic and onion

2. Put in the Tuna and let it cook for 3-5 minutes

3. Add the Spaghetti Sauce, then let it simmer for 10-15 minutes. You can add salt if desired.

4. Add the Cream while continuously stirring for a minute.

5. Remove from heat and pour over to the cooked pasta and serve!

I was only able to use 1 Nestle Cream, according to J it's already okay na. So that depends on your taste preference. 

 Voila! Creamy Tuna Pasta (Red Sauce)

Same Filipino style spaghetti with a twist of Tuna and Cream. 

There you have it, easy and yummy you should try it too!
I'm hitting the sack now, Good night♥

Throwback Thursday: Childhood Memories!

This Throwback Thursday has been going viral for a while now. I mean I could see a lot of Throwback Thursday posts every now and then, not that I am KJ or anything but I never get to join this craze, not until today. I bet you would be raising your eyebrows if I tell you why LOL. But to some who loves joining online contests like me would understand. Yes! You got it right, I did my first ever Throwback Thursday post for the sake of an online contest.

This contest is hosted by Baby Expo Philippines Facebook Page. 

All you have to do is to post a photo of yours when you were young or a baby photo and use the Hashtag #BabyAndFamilyExpoPH. Submission of entries is until 11:59 pm only and announcement of winner will be tomorrow 12 noon. The cutest picture and caption wins 500 worth of GC from Reyes Barbecue. Not bad right?

So I scanned over our photos and good thing there were few old photos of mine that was saved on our hard drive. Yey so I was able to join and I actually submitted not just 1 but 3 entries. And here they are, including the captions.

Didn't know I was a minion ever since I was just a baby...Oh I love Banana's! #BananaLover #ThrowBackThursday#BabyAndFamilyExpoPH

Missin' the carefree moments when all I wanna do is play all day and that my only struggle is how to put on my slippers right! haha... Taken way back...long long time ago with my cousin Jayson Nuval#ThrowbackThursday #BabyAndFamilyExpoPH

They say that our first Best friend's our siblings, I couldn't agree more that's why I am thankful that I am blessed with a big sis and 2 big brothers! We may be separated by distance but forever we're family nothing could change that. #ThrowbackThursday#BabyAndFamilyExpoPH

I actually wanted to send some more entries but I thought that it's too much, OA na haha! Win or loose, it doesn't really matter because I actually enjoyed doing it. It made me look back and reminisce. Nakaka-miss talaga maging bata! I think I might do this every Thursday, makiki-join na rin sa craze. Infairness looking over the photos made me Nostalgic, but I don't wanna post any ka-dramahan here.

Let me just share some more Throwback Thursday photos:

With our eldest Kuya Sar, I would cry whenever he leaves

and go to school. (Zamboanga City)

With my Ate Flor, we have 7 years age gap. We use to

fight a lot when I was young, but turned out to best friends now.

She's now residing in the US. (Zamboanga City)

 My Christening and 1st Birthday celebrated at once.

(Zamboanga City)

 With my Mom. (La Union)

 I won Little Miss San Francisco. A pageant in our barangay.

(San Fernando City, La Union)

 With my Kuya Mike

Yours truly, taken at Acapulco Beach, I was 

around 5 years old.

I was actually thinking twice weather I should post these photos or not, pero sige na first time eh hehe!

So basing on the photos, I could tell that my childhood years was really awesome. I've been to different places already, I was born in Zamboanga City, grew up in La Union and relocated here in Manila when I got married.

Okay that's it! Before I get emotional here haha! 

Till next post!