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Since he was a child, Sean Kim dreamed of having his own restaurant. On June 11, his dream became reality when he and co-owner Joe Shin opened Amazing Katsu in Santa Clara, a ghost kitchen serving Japanese Korean fusion katsu.
“I gained a lot of pounds every day trying the tonkatsu,” in pursuit of creating an “amazing” recipe, Kim said – a recipe that combined the thicker cuts of meat from traditional Japanese katsu with ingredients like cheese from the modern Korean katsu.
“A lot of the Korean katsu are katsu that are beaten with a hammer, so they’re really flat, and they just taste like low-quality meat, versus if you look at a really premium, luxurious katsu from Japan, they use tenderloin or loin, and a lot of them have special methods to make the katsu really tender and juicy while keeping the original form of the meat,” said Shin.
Amazing Katsu is a ghost kitchen, operating out of Elite Event Center and offering four types of katsu for pickup and delivery: pork loin, pork tenderloin, cheese and signature (featuring cheese, bell peppers, onion and carrots and described as “somewhat comparable to a supreme pizza, but in a tonkatsu style” by Shin). Kim and Shin aim to offer katsu at a reasonable cost to patrons who may not be familiar with katsu and hope to open a brick-and-mortar and eventually franchise.
“Open(ing) a lot of restaurants is my goal as well, but first of all, customer satisfaction and then happiness with experience is my goal,” Kim said. “Our quality food with a cheaper price than other restaurants, and then make them happy and satisf(ied), that’s my final goal for all people.”
Kim has been working in the food and beverage industry for around 10 years, establishing front of house systems at a popular Korean restaurant chain among other projects, but has always wanted to have his own concept. As a foodie, he noticed there weren’t any tonkatsu restaurants in the Bay Area that he was personally satisfied with. So when he met Shin, who had recently opened a Korean meal prep business in Santa Clara, at the New Baptist Community Church in Mountain View, they decided to go into business together.
“I’m really happy working with him because my weak point he has a strength point, and (his) weak point I have a strength point,” Kim said. “So we just combine in harmony.”
Up until opening his meal prep business, Shin’s career was in equity trading in New York.
“I realized that I was really bringing no value in the world whatsoever,” he said. “I felt like I wanted to do something more. I felt like I wanted to really spend my life doing something that other people could appreciate and something that could create opportunities for other people as well.”
So about a year and a half ago, Shin moved to California and opened Silgaban out of Elite Event Center. Through church, he met Kim, and Kim became co-owner of the business. Then last month, Kim founded Amazing Katsu out of the same kitchen, and Shin became co-owner.
“We’ve been donating a percentage of our profit (to New Baptist Community Church), and we’ve also been giving out a little bit of food to people who do need food at that time,” Shin said. “And we just believe in giving back to the community, and we believe in doing the right thing as we grow ourselves as well.”
Amazing Katsu, 2670 El Camino Real, Santa Clara; 408-598-8467. Instagram: @amazingkatsu_official. Open Monday through Friday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5-8 p.m.
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