KATSU SORA's Premium Iberico Tonkatsu & RAMEN SANTOUKA's Shin-Aji Motsu Ramen! - Awesome!

KATSU SORA is the premium Katsu restaurant of the Hokkaido Ramen Santouka Group, offering 4 kinds of premium pork tonkatsu — Spanish Iberico, Japanese Kurobuta, Spanish Shimofuri, and Canadian Sakura Pork.

Also, what makes the Katsu Sora experience unique is the introduction of the Buffet Bar of Salad, Japanese Rice, and Japanese Miso Soup.

“Sora” means “sky“, and the name stands for their promise to bring you to Katsu heaven. 🙂

The concept is similar to Tokyo’s Butagami, where they offer the widest variety of premium pork for your Tonkatsu pleaure.

Here’s our Katsu Sora experience…

Katsu Sora is located at the 2/F of Promenade Greenhills, in the former location of Burgoo directly above Teriyaki Boy.

KATSU SORA

It’s located in the corner spot beside Hokkaido Ramen Santouka.

The resto is a bit small, with narrow aisleways and maximized seating arrangement.

Best to sit in the booth chairs under the Katsu Sora sign near the Buffet Bar.

Go for the Tonkatsu Set. The Spanish Iberico Tonkatsu set is unique to Katsu Sora.

✮ Buffet Bar (P250 Ala Carte). Romaine lettuce, Lolorosa lettuce, Iceberg lettuce, Cherry Tomatoes, Corn, Broccoli, Cucumbers, White Onions, Cabbage, Potato Salad, Fresh Fruits in Season.

It’s best to order the sets because they come with unlimited refills of salad, soup, and rice from the buffet bar.

The boys like the slices of oranges and watermelon. I personally like the potato salad for starters.

Salad Dressing. Japanese dressing, Japanese Ceasar dressing, Japanese sesame dressing, Japanese thousand island dressing and Japanese wasabi dressing.

It’s nice to get a variety of options to customize your eat-all-you-can salad experience.

✮ IBERICO PORK. Imagine meat so highly marbled, juicy and sweet that it melts in your mouth. It may sound like the stuff of dreams, but this pork is for real. Iberico Pork, also known as Pata Negra, is the world’s most highly sought after premium pork. It is a free-range breed from Southwestern Spain, and can be identified with is distinctive rich, savory and sweet flavor. This is the height of the premium pork experience.

I like the Iberico Tonkatsu because its the tastiest among all the premium pork, with tender meat but still having a good bite.

✮ IBERICO PORK TONKATSU SET (P655 – 120g). Iberico Pork Tonkatsu, Jujugokokumai Rice, Salad, Soup, Hot Tea.

Make sure to order either the Iberico or the Kurobuta set, which comes with the healthy 15-grain Japanese rice.

✮ Juugukokumai Rice (served one time with Iberico and Kurobuta Tonkatsu set). A premium 15-grain rice with a subtle flavor. This mixture has the health benefits of brown rice, but with a softer texture and a better taste. The white rice ensures that the blend retains its moisture, while other grains such as corn, barley, millet, sesame seed, and black bean jazzes up the texture and flavor. This 15-grain rice is hearty, nutritious rich in fiber, and above all – delicious.

Gokokumai Rice (Special 5-grain rice, High in fiber and more flavorful than plain rice) and Japanese Rice (Short grain white rice that goes perfectly with everything).

As part of the buffet bar, they offer 2 other kinds of rice — the plain rice and the 5-grain Japanese rice. It’s self-service and you get it directly from the rice cooker.

✮ Furikake. Dry Japanese Condiment to sprinkle with rice.

Make sure to sprinkle it with 3 different types of Furikake, which help enhance the flavor and adds a different texture to the rice.

Each set comes with a plain miso soup…

…plus they offer two kinds of miso soup at the buffet bar in soup dispensers.

The kinds of miso soup available rotate throughout the week among their seven types: Awase Miso, Shin-Su Shiro Miso, Inaka Miso, Iriko Dashi, Kaijiro Miso, Gen-en Miso, Shiokoji.

✮ Kurobuta Pork Tonkatsu Set (P550 – 120g). Kurobuta Pork Tonkatsu, Jujugokokumai Rice, Salad, Soup, Hot Tea. A tonkatsu made with the most prized heritage meat from Japan. Kurobota is finely marbled, moist and flavorful with a delicate meat texture. A solid choice for every pork connoisseur.

The kurobuta pork has more fat marbling and more tender than the other pork tonkatsus.

One good thing about the meat in Katsu Sora is they don’t use brine or other chemicals to treat the meat to make it tender or enhance its flavor. So you can really taste the actual flavor of the pork.

One downside is it’s not adviseable for take out.

Shimofuri Pork Tonkatsu Set (P450 – 120g). Shimofuri Pork Tonkatsu, Jujugokokumai Rice, Salad, Soup, Hot Tea. This is your gateway to the delights of marbled tonkatsu. Shimofuri is more marbled, delicious and moist compared to your usual pork. Its intramuscular marbling mean that every inch is saturated with flavor.

I’m not familiar with this type of pork. They say it’s healthier because it has less fat.

Sakura Pork Tonkatsu Set (P345 -120g). Sakura Pork Tonkatsu, Jujugokokumai Rice, Salad, Soup, Hot Tea. A tasty tonkatsu made from Canadian pork, which is premium meat that has passed one of the highest food standards in the world. The perfect choice for health-conscious pork lovers that want pork on the lean side, but still flavorful with a little bit of marbling.

The Sakura pork is leaner and relatively harder when you take a bite vs. the other premium pork.

This is the basic tonkatsu pork they use in Katsu Sora. They don’t use any local pork.

It’s best to go with a group of 4 or more so that you can order one of each type and do your own blind taste test on what the best pork tonkatsu is for you.

It’s hard to tell the difference once you put them side by side, but the flavors will speak for themselves. They use the same high-quality panko which does not absorb the oil.

For us, we unanimously voted for the Spanish Iberico Tonkatsu as the best because of its malinamnam flavor.

Kurobuta Miso Katsu Set (P570 -120g). Kurobuta Pork Miso Katsu, Japanese Rice, Salad, Soup, Hot Tea

For a different experience, you can also order the Miso set, which is Tonkatsu topped with a sweet miso sauce. You can still choose the type of pork in all the Miso set meals.

✮ Iberico Katsudon Set (P660 -120g). Iberico Pork Katsudon, Japanese Rice, Salad, Soup, Hot Tea.

I personally like their Katsudon version, which is served with a candle underneath to ensure that it’s hot when you eat it.

That’s the only problem with their tonkatsu…it’s best eaten when its hot, so make sure to eat immediately upon serving.

✮ Sparkling Sake (P400).

The best pairing for the tonkatsu is this bubbly sparkling sake, which is sweet and refreshing, and the alcohol is not too strong.

HOKKAIDO RAMEN SANTOUKA

For ramen lovers, you can hop over to Hokkaido Ramen Santouka to get your ramen fix after eating at Katsu Sora.

Unfortunately, they don’t allow cross orders between the restos as they each operate separate kitchens.

The Santouka ramen shop in Greenhills has a better ambiance than the Glorietta branch.

You can eat at the bar with a view of the Greenhills traffic, or…

…in the spacious minimalist dining area under the Japanese lamps.

I was excited to try the new ramen additions because the last time we tried this place, it was on soft opening.

✮ Shin-Aji Motsu Ramen (P350 +10% service charge). Cold Noodle with Hot Instestine Flavored Dipping Sauce (only 15 bowls per day).

We love this Tsukemen, served with a fish and pork soup with Kurobuta Pork intestines! It has a flavor profile similar to papaitan and apparently, the Japanese love this. 🙂

✮ Shio Tokusen Toroniku Ramen (Regular – P445 +10% service charge) with Roasted Pork Cheeks – Extremely valuable parts, only 200-300g/whole pig, served daily in limited quantity.

This is their best-selling ramen with their unique signature roasted pork cheeks. 🙂

Awase-Aji Ramen (P350 +10% service charge). This Ramen flavor is a combination of salt, soy sauce, and soybean. Put rice in soup after consuming the noodle.

The Awase-Aji soup is a mix of Shio, Shoyu, and Miso ramen. It is served with rice so that you can mix the rice with the soup after eating all the noodles.

We love KATSU SORA‘s Iberico Pork Tonkatsu Set served with a Juugukokumai Rice (healthy 15-grain Japanese Rice) and their Buffet Bar of Japanese Salad, Japanese Rice, and Japanese Miso Soup. Some diners still prefer the Kurobuta because of its tenderness and more marbling of fat. Budget is P700/head.

The resto is just a bit cramp, with narrow aisleways and high traffic at the buffet bar during the peak hours. Make sure to reserve in advance to get a seat.

For ramen lovers, hop on to HOKKAIDO RAMEN SANTOUKA and order the Shin-Aji Motsu Ramen to complete your Japanese dining experience. 🙂

Thank you to our friend Garry Uy for inviting us to try Katsu Sora. Congratulations on the innovative Tonkatsu resto concept 🙂

KATSU SORA
2/F Greenhills Promenade, San Juan, Philippines
Mobile: +63 915 874-1990
Facebook: Katsu Sora
Twitter: @KatsuSora2012

Operating Hours:
Monday to Thursday 11.00am – 11.00pm
Friday and Saturday: 11.00am – 11.30pm
Sunday and Holidays: 11.00am – 11.00pm

Last call for orders: 30 minutes before closing time

Related Blog Post: Jin Loves to Eat | Katsu Sora ♥ ♥ ♥

Battle for the BEST Tonkatsu in Manila:

Live an Awesome Life,

Founder, www.OurAwesomePlanet.com

P.S. What are your Top 3 best Tonkatsu places in Manila?

2 thoughts on “KATSU SORA’s Premium Iberico Tonkatsu & RAMEN SANTOUKA’s Shin-Aji Motsu Ramen!”

Pepe Samson says:

January 16, 2014 at 10:33 am

OMG the Iberico set!! Thanks for posting this!

Hershey says:

January 17, 2014 at 9:03 am

I didn’t know there is such a place in promenade! Thanks for sharing!

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KATSU SORA’s Premium Iberico Tonkatsu & RAMEN SANTOUKA’s Shin-Aji Motsu Ramen!

2 thoughts on “KATSU SORA’s Premium Iberico Tonkatsu & RAMEN SANTOUKA’s Shin-Aji Motsu Ramen!”

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