Chicken Wing Thang - Katzya (In the H Mart Food Court)

**** Katzya has closed

Friend of Yoso "KenP" was nice enough to remind me that today, July 29th was National Chicken Wing Day. So, I decided to see what I could dish up and found photos from visits to Katzya in the new H Mart Food Court.

Not sure it's quite ready for "prime time", but hey, it was two visits.

A few weeks back, Candice, Xiāngjiāo and her hubby MichaelFC, wanted to have lunch. We decided on checking out the new H Mart Food Court. We each picked a place and got something from each shop. I got Katzya, which is the new Donkatsu (Tonkatsu) and Chicken Wing Shop.

I did two orders of wings....it's a sign of the times when folks actually say, "wow, it's only $11.95 for eight wings....that's so cheap", like the girl in front of me exclaimed. I guess when you compare this to Furaido or Bonchon it is cheaper. I guess it's all relative.

Anyway, I did one order of the regular fried wings and one order of the "Spicy Chicken Wings". Sorry to say; this is the only surviving photo I have of that visit.

The wings were medium sized with a decent batter to meat ratio. The flesh was fairly moist, no complaints there. The batter had some crunch but was on the crumbly side and the regular wings were so bland, really lacking in flavor. Notice the quotation marks on the "Spicy" wings.....that's because, while being quite sticky and messy, the wings were way too sweet and not very spicy at all. The pickled radish was fine...….but man, nothing could cut the teeth rattling sweetness of those wings.

Soon after; I started my visits to the H Mart Food Court to start tasting the various dishes and such. Other than Bann; which is kind of like a revisit since which I'd eaten at quite few times when they were on Miramar; Katya was my first revisit.

With the intention of sharing my lunch with folks in the office; I ordered two items; the Soy Garlic Wings and the Spicy Pork Cutlet.

The Soy Garlic Wings were a pleasant surprise.

The wings were still crunchy when I ate them. I'd expected cloying sweetness; but this was more balanced then the (not) spicy chicken wings. More salty than sweet, perhaps in need of more garlic pungency; moist flesh, decent crunch and not overly crumbly, decent meat to batter ratio. Not bad at all.

Then came the Donkatsu; which was nicely packaged; the "gravy" and shredded cabbage separated from the pork cutlet and rice. Good job there!

The pork cutlet didn't fare as well as the wings as it was already getting pretty soggy when I got back to the office. It was pretty lean and so on the rubbery side. The rice was still hot and slightly fragrant.

To be perfectly honest; I enjoyed the crunchy, refreshing, simple shredded cabbage with sesame dressing the best.

Because that "gravy".....well.....

Well, I poured it onto the pork cutlet, it was a bit too gloppy-gluey in texture. It had a serious, slow crescendo of heat.....no joking around there. But it had nothing else to really bolster the spice....no salt, no sweet, no other seasonings and spices. It was very one-dimensional.

This is not something I'd order again.

I had truly intended on doing one more visit. But heck, since KenB did mention it was National Chicken Wing Day....I found a reason to just go with what I have and move on. Those Garlic Soy Wings weren't bad, though one out of four ain't so great. Heck, even in baseball, a .250 batting average might get you sent down to the minors.

Katzya
(In the H Mart Food Court)
7725 Balboa Ave
San Diego, CA 92111
Hours:
Open Daily 11am - 8pm

Thanks for the friendly reminder Ken!

Comments

[kat]

:(

[Soo]

I tried the wings. They were ok but I prefer Furaido and Cross Street.

[Kirk]

Yeah, not really very good Kat!

The only wings I thought were decent were the Garlic Soy Soo..... I found Furaido to be too crumbly and dry and Cross Street is somewhat inconsistent.

[Elle]

Good to know at least one of the wing flavors were good. I've wanted to try Hmart food court especially the corndogs, so hope it's not too hectic these days.

Have you been to Zen Curry? Think they're still in their soft opening.

[Kirk]

Hi Elle - Is Zen Curry in the space where Popcorn Chicken used to be? I need to check them out.

[Junichi]

.250 average would net you a regular starting job in the Padres! Glad one dish made it worthwhile.

[Kirk]

Lol Junichi!