ManilaStreats
- Mar 4, 2021
- 3 min read

We were looking for the best Tonkatsu house in Manila and found Fumizen Japanese Restaurant

Street history: if Quezon City is known as The City of Stars, Sgt. Esguerra is actually groomed to be The Boulevard of the Stars with a reported Php100 million budget approved by the local government to work on the project. Fast forward to a few years later, the said plan seem to have not come to fruition. It hit the hardest during 2020 with an ongoing pandemic, a TV network with an expired franchise, and stars moving their talents to other TV networks.

Fumizen Japanese Restaurant along Sgt. Esguerra in Quezon City arrived in the Philippines as an international franchise from Chiyoda, Tokyo. With over 40 years of diverse Tonkatsu experience and serving other authentic dishes made from imported ingredients, it is a good choice for discerning customers who are looking for the best Japanese dining experience in a local setting.

Fumizen's goal is simple: to become the best Tonkatsu house in Manila and to satisfy their customers through premium quality meals, safety protocols and efficient services such as Private Function Rooms, Unlimited Shabu Shabu Hot Pot, Truffle Salt experience, and many more.

The restaurant is housed across Livestock, another place which gained global attention with their fork-tender Crispy Pata and take on other Filipino specialties. But for now, let us travel through food in Japan, shall we?

Evidently, freshness is all you can see just by looking at these photos, from the platter of sushi and sashimi appetizers, plates of vegetables, sliced meats and sauces.

A typical Fumizen Shabu Shabu set consists of 200g of Sliced Wagyu Beef and 200g of Sliced Iberico Pork Loin served with Lettuce, Enoki, Shimeji, Shiitake Mushroom, and two kinds of broth.

Their unlimited shabu shabu is already a good reason to visit Fumizen. We have been to shabu-shabu places were soups are too overpowering and sauces have been doused heavily that we couldn't understand the meaning of what we are consuming. But not in Fumizen.

Eating food like a Japanese is not only like looking at art, but immersing yourself and being thankful for the food that is being served to you in perfect succession without skipping on the most important parts of a meal. It's almost spiritual if you will, as we tried their Shabu Shabu starting with a clean tasting broth made with kombu, where we were able to taste the fresh flavors of the vegetables and the meat.

What followed is a bolder, slightly spiced broth much like satay mixed in with the same set of meat and vegatables. Slightly dip them in their garlic and shoyu based sauces and imagine being transported in Tokyo right away! One can switch from two broths like watching a Black Swan recital.

But the best is yet to come for us during our visit at Fumizen. we couldn't get over at these plates of the lightest, crispiest and most tender Pork, and the only Wagyu Tonkatsu that I have had in Manila so far. It tops most hotels and other famous katsu places in Manila when it comes to Tonkatsu, for sure. Don't forget to dip them in their Truffle Salt!

We don't want to bombard you with too many things to say about their Tonkatsu that you may find too good to be true. It's enough for you to just try it yourself so you would understand the very essence of what Fumizen brings to the table: authentic, simple and deliciously prepared Japanese food. And that is all there is to know.