Regina Troy Barrios

Katsudyonya Saiko Is Here. Manila, Meet Your New Katsu Obsession

Article (news)

Jeeves De Veyra

<a href="https://www.instagram.com/katsudonyasaiko/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Katsudonya Saiko</a> is all about one thing: katsudon, the Japanese rice bowl topped with a breaded pork cutlet, egg, and savory sauce. At its new flagship in Legazpi Village, Makati, the Rich and Maxine Sanz&#x27;s signature version takes a different approach—the pork cutlet is cooked separately and placed on top of the egg and rice, keeping the katsu crisp.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17875525762371.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>The signature crispy katsudon keeps the katsu satisfyingly crunchy | Photo: Katsudonya Saiko</div>That crispness is not accidental. The inspiration for Katsudonya Saiko comes from a tiny eight-seater katsudon restaurant in Shibuya. Rich Sanz remembers it well: he lined up for an hour on Christmas Day back in 2011. It was a small family operation, with the father cooking at the back and the mother and daughter handling service out front. The crispiness of the katsu made the wait so worth it that he went back several times, and waited for the right team who could execute THAT level of crisp and crunch.Rich Sanz has been in the F&amp;B business for about two decades. His side hustle is photography, and he would go to Japan very often to shoot the seasons. As he went around, he ran across food that he’d dream of bringing to the Philippines... eventually.“Eventually” is when he got married to Maxine. Together, they founded the Senshin Group, a spin-off restaurant group dedicated to these Japanese concepts.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1787552648198Rich and Maxine Sanz.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Rich and Maxine Sanz at their new Katsudonya Saiko flagship in Legazpi Village | Photo: Jeeves De Veyra</div>Rich and Maxine Sanz do love their Japanese food. They’ve gone into Japanese beef bowls, sukiyaki, and with Katsudonya Saiko, their interpretation of the Japanese pork cutlet rice-topping dish.Literally translated as “best Japanese pork cutlet rice-topping restaurant,” the restaurant has a lot to live up to.The star of the menu is, of course, the katsudon.The donburi sets already come with a serving of rice, Japanese slaw, and miso soup. Guests can choose from two variations of pork katsudon.The first is the Traditional katsudon, where the pork cutlet is simmered along with the egg in their sauce, resulting in softer, stewed meat.I prefer Katsudonya Saiko’s Crispy Original version, where the breaded pork cutlet is cooked separately and just served on top of the egg on top of rice, retaining the crisp texture. A nice touch is the egg underneath, which reminded me of a Japanese folded omelet, with its thin layers adding nice textures to the fluffy rice and the crunch of the katsu.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1787552713357KATSUDON.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>A closer look at the katsudon | Photo: Jeeves De Veyra</div>Key to the katsu are the ingredients. They only use imported pork, with their leaner Hire Katsu using pork tenderloin from Brazil, American pork loin in their Rosu for those who’d like some fat in their katsu, and American Snake River Farms Kurobuta for their highest-end entrée.Rich beams with pride when he talks about the panko that’s used to get that crisp shell. The breadcrumbs are specced to be spiky and scaly to give that unusually crunchy texture that’s used in other dishes such as the aforementioned mozza sticks, the ebi (shrimp) tempura, Torikatsudon (chicken cutlet), and Gyukatsudon (beef).<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1787553062878Curry-16341.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Branch-exclusive curry adds another reason to visit the Legazpi flagship restaurant | Photo: Katsudonya Saiko</div>Start off with Torori Mozza Katsu, panko-breaded mozzarella sticks with a side of guava-pineapple jam that could actually be either an appetizer or a dessert.The first branch opened in the basement of Mitsukoshi BGC and really reminded me of the depachika eateries located in the lower levels of the larger department stores in Osaka and Tokyo. For its recently opened flagship branch in Legazpi Village, Katsudonya Saiko gets itself a full-service restaurant that serves up a full dining experience.This is Legazpi Village after all, so parking can be quite challenging. A limited à la carte seating area welcomes guests into the cool area inside. There is a coffee and matcha bar that serves up drinks while guests order and wait for their food. Rich takes his coffee very seriously, so the caffeinated drinks do pass a coffee geek’s muster.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1787552955498coffee matcha area.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Coffee and matcha make this more than just a katsudon stop | Photo: Jeeves De Veyra</div>At the far end is a bar with stools for solo diners. Beyond is the kitchen, where guests can peer through a glass window as the pork cutlets are pounded, dredged, and deep-fried into golden-brown and delicious katsu.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1787553100818KatsudonyaXpvfotographs-299.jpg" style="width:960px;height:auto" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Another cozy place to eat, drink, and hang out in Legazpi Village | Photo: Katsudonya Saiko</div>The whole space is a nice cozy place to chill when you’re not caught in the lunch or dinner rush. Towards the evening, when the crowd has thinned out, Rich turns the place into a listening room with a curated playlist of Japanese city jazz and pop.Don’t leave without dessert. The Hokkaido milk soft serve is rich, thick, and indulgent and makes a cool ending to the meal.<div>Katsudonya Saiko’s flagship branch is located on Rada Street, Legazpi Village, Makati, and is open daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. It also has branches at Mitsukoshi BGC, Westgate Alabang, and SM North EDSA. For more information, follow <a href="https://www.instagram.com/katsudonyasaiko/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@katsudonyasaiko</a> on Instagram.</div>

Discover what makes Katsudonya Saiko in Legazpi Village different, from its signature crispy katsudon and carefully sourced pork to its Japanese coffee, matcha, and newly opened flagship restaurant.

Discover what makes Katsudonya Saiko in Legazpi Village different, from its signature crispy katsudon and carefully sourced pork to its Japanese coffee, matcha, and newly opened flagship restaurant.

Katsudonya Saiko’s Famous Crispy Katsu Finally Gets the Flagship It Deserves

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Katsudonya Saiko’s Famous Crispy Katsu Finally Gets the Flagship It Deserves

Jeeves De Veyra

Published August 21, 2026 03:10 PM PHT

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Updated August 25, 2026 03:06 PM PHT

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