Mr. Kurosawa is Back with Fried Vengeance! (Warning: This is a Katsu Overload)

About John Hudson Go

John Hudson Go teaches Psychology at Enderun Colleges, Taguig. He previously taught at the University of the Philippines Diliman, where he is currently taking up his Master's degree. He is a counselor, trainer, facilitator, and advocate in the fight against HIV/AIDS (you could call him an HIV/AIDS worker). Hudson is a mixed martial arts enthusiast, practicing Brazilian jiu-jitsu in his down time and amassing a collection of autographed UFC memorabilia (from Facebook and Twitter contests at that!). If he had a psychological disorder, it's most probably obsessive-compulsivity. In his past life, he was a LION! Get to know more about him via Twitter @DailySunTzu.

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(With Agie Manego on lens.)

When In Manila and a fan of the Japanese fusion movement, the creative minds behind SumoSam and John and Yoko are back with new offerings for their Euro-Japanese restaurant Mr. Kurosawa.

Chef Christine Nicole Nicolas, corporate chef of SumoSam Group of Restaurants.

It was food bloggers’ night at Mr. Kurosawa, and we got first dibs on the new items set for release this first quarter of the year.

Food, drinks, chopsticks, cameras, and a hell lot of food bloggers!

I love that fusion is splattered all over the restaurant. The European influence found in the bar, the red brick walls, and the artsy-fartsy ceiling is tempered by the Japanese tone of the honeycomb windows, the bamboo lamps, and Japanese photos and paintings.

Now let’s dig straight into the dine, shall we?

For our drinks, we were served Winter Melon Milk Tea, Strawberry Yakult Milk Tea, and Matcha Milk Tea.

The Strawberry Yakult Milk Tea (AKA “Red Angel”) had the thickest consistency among the three – more like a smoothie than a milk tea. It is also on the sour side because of the Yakult. The Matcha Milk Tea was the most enjoyable for me. As a fan of the Green Tea Frappe in Starbucks, it’s safe to call this the milk tea version of that drink.

Seriously, this version looks WAAAY better!

We were served four kinds of katsu. Among the four, I liked the Shrimp Katsu, with the minced shrimp mixed with shitake mushrooms and batter to form thick patties.

The Ebi Katsu had a very nice presentation. It has a wasabi mango mayo dip that presents the twist with this dish.

According to my culinary arts students (who were my companions for the evening), the Fish Katsu is most probably made with flatfish which is a good, more expensive ingredient compared to restaurant staple cream dory. Along with the Tonkatsu, these two dishes are really more on the safe side.

In addition to the katsu, they also have Last Samurai Chicken Wings in the menu. They do look and somewhat taste like Chicken Bon Chon – the wings are definitely bigger, but the sweet with a hint of spicy sauce didn’t quite sink in to give the wings a full-bodied taste.

I don’t know if it was because we were served with katsu after katsu after katsu that everything started to taste the same. I would appreciate a sushi and sashimi smorgasbord, but the breading in katsu dishes is just too filling. Normally I would love to try just one form of katsu along with orders of sushi, sashimi, teriyaki, and even kobe. So here’s to a revisit to Mr. Kurosawa! And I’d be looking forward to the fusion in this next visit.