Japan’s GREATEST CURRY: Coco Ichiban Curry

Curry is such a huge part of Japanese cuisine and culture that it’s hard to believe that it was borrowed from the British. That’s right, Japanese curry is based off of British curry, which itself was based of Indian curry. Despite the roots of curry in Japan, it has melded itself perfectly into the fabric of Japanese food, and no other place exemplifies that better than Coco Ichiban Curry.

Coco Ichiban Curry, or Coco Ichi, is a chain of curry restaurants found all over Japan, parts of Asia and even in America. I sometimes think that chain restaurants serve food that’s inferior to the small family-owned restaurant down the street, but there’s a reason that Coco Ichi has expanded globally: their curries really are a thing of delicious beauty.

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”Japanese curry? That’s not real curry!”

This is something I’ve heard a lot, and to be honest, was something I said myself several years ago. When you compare Japanese curry to it’s Indian or Thai cousin, it has almost nothing to do with them. In a way, I feel like the name curry isn’t completely accurate, but I can’t deny that it is a curry. Onions and garlic are cooked down until brown, mushy, and fragrant. Spices are added and allowed to bloom. Then stock goes in, transforming everything into a thick, brown, spicy sauce; a curry.

Where Japanese curry differs is in the flavor profile. It’s not as spice-laden and pungent as the other curries. It’s milder, slightly sweeter, more subtle; the perfect dish for the Japanese palette. This is most-likely why people don’t think of it as a curry. It doesn’t have that “kick you in the face”-flavor that other curries do.

It wasn’t until I shifted my thoughts that I was unable to enjoy Japanese curry. I know, it sounds weird that you have to force yourself to have a mental shift over such a small detail to enjoy a food, but I’m not the only one who got hung up on the word. Once you think of it as less of a curry, and more of a spiced beef stew, you really can start to enjoy it for what it is.

Coco Ichiban Curry: The Best Japanese Spiced Beef Stew Ever

Coco Ichi has perfected the Japanese curry into something that’s balanced so extremely well. What do I mean by ‘balanced’? Well, Japanese curries tend to be on the sweeter side. Sweeter, as in they add things like sugar, honey, or mashed fruits. Why they do this, I have no idea, because I personally hate overly-sweet savory dishes.

At Coco Ichi, the curry is savory, meaty, and salty. The spices are there, but they are more of a background note. There is no sweetness to be found. Japanese rice already has a slight natural sweetness to it, so the savory curry goes well with it.

The Curryborn

Today, I ordered the half-sized beef curry, along with various toppings: hand-breaded fried pork chops, Korean bulgogi, and a soft-boiled egg. Thinking back, I should have added some cheese to it. And for an extra kick, maybe some kimchi. If I was extra hungry, I could have added on a fried, minced meat pie.

What I’m getting at here is that the options of toppings and customization given to you is INCREDIBLE. For those of you who enjoy playing Elder Scrolls RPG, such as Skyrim, know that there are plethora of customization options you are given for creating your character. Well, Coco Ichi is like the Skyrim of Japanese curry.

You can choose how much rice you want; how much curry sauce, or roux, you get; how spicy you want it; and the kinds of toppings you get on it. And of the toppings, there are over 20 kinds that you can get! You can choose what meat-base you want for your curry (i.e. pork-, beef-, chicken-based). You can choose what side items you want. I could sit here and list all the options you get, but I only have one lifetime to enjoy my time on earth.

Curry: Japanese-style

What you’re looking at is unlike anything else you’ve seen from an Indian or Thai restaurant. Japan has decided to take curry and turn it into something completely different and unrecognizable from anything else, yet still be freaking delicious.

Curry is a meal for a man’s man. Food that will stick to your bones and leave you feeling satisfied for hours and hours. It’s not health food, super food, vegan-friendly, gluten-free, or any of that stuff. It’s food for when you’re hungrier than a grizzly bear.

When I took that first bite, it hit me at just how good Japanese curry, when done right, is. Salty, beefy, savory, meaty, spicy, satisfying. Each bite just built on the other, creating an ever louder chorus of hearty flavor in my mouth. The fried pork chop, which had been soaking in that beautiful curry roux still had a beautiful crunch to it, while being tender and fatty. Each bite had the juices of that fatty pork mixing with that curry together in absolute harmony.

Next, I popped the soft-boiled egg and let that beautiful golden yellow yolk flow over the ridges of rice on my plate. Scooping it up with the rice and curry and putting it into my mouth was like entering a world where flavors could be physically seen and touched. The yolk added such a beautiful, velvety creaminess to the curry.

I scooped up a bit of the Korean bulgogi with the next bite. It had a mouth-bursting smokiness to it, bringing a much-welcomed sweet and savoriness to the curry. It provided an amazing contrast to the spiced, meaty curry, but blended in so well at the same time.

To finish off the meal, I ordered a creamy mango milk lassi, which is an Indian yogurt-based drink. The consistency was ultra-thick, like a McDonald’s milkshake, except without all of those artificial additives. Taking a sip of it, my mouth was coated in a rich, silky cream. It was light, yet rich; sweet, yet subtle; and fruity, yet milky. The mango flavoring was present but not overwhelming, adding another layer of depth to this already delicious beverage.

Japanese Curry: The Best Curry You’ll Find In Japan

As I finished off my meal, I remembered at how foolish I was to get hung up on such stupid ideas, like whether something is a curry or not. Food should be judged on its flavor, not on categories that we’ve made up.

Japanese curry, despite its convoluted history, is a quintessential food of Japan and deserves its own place in the Curry Hall Of Fame. It’s as Japanese as sushi, udon, and tempura. And despite what anyone says about its status as a “real curry”, one thing is for certain: It is undeniably delicious.

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