Kuroge wagyu (Japanese black beef) chokotto beef curry from Sanda-ya Souhonke

Category: Store Bought (From Japan)

Flavor:  2.5 out of 5

Spice: 1 out of 10 

***  I need to make a note before this review.  I'm out-of-town for work right now and I don't have a rice cooker with me. What I do have is a small plastic thing which allows you to make rice in a microwave. This was the first time I used it and I didn't use enough water so the rice was undercooked which definitely made a negative impression with this curry.  I'll be reviewing this curry another time to give it a chance at a better rating since terrible rice is a big deal ***

This is what I will be making rice with for the next 4 months.

The name of this curry means "a small portion of beef curry".  Chokotto is right, but they should have named it Chokotto-oishii because that's what it is.  It wasn't bad, but at the same time it wasn't good.  It was just a very small portion of curry with no distinct flavor or anything to set it apart from other currys. 

When they say the portion is small that is an understatement. For Japan - maybe it's a small portion, but for the United States this is almost a small portion and I should have made both of the packets.  I usually consider American portions to be too big and feel that Japanese-sized portions are the right size most of the time. So when I think a portion is too small it's definitely small. Unless you're not very hungry or you're on a very strict diet this really isn't enough to satisfy you. 

Along with the small size there was literally one piece of beef in the entire thing.  One piece!  That's it?  I guess you have to put at least one piece in there to call it beef curry but come on Sanda-ya Souhonke, you can do better than that.  To add to the disappointment of the single piece of beef, there wasn't much flavor. There was no more spice to this curry than to a cup of water.  I've had mild curry before that was spicy compared to this. 

Now, I happen to enjoy fairly spicy curry so I at least like a little spice even when it's mild. To me a total lack of any spice means it's essentially bland and just made to not be offensive to anyone.  When you make any product, curry included, so that it's for "everyone" you end up with a product that's actually not for anyone. Yes, it was a little sweet, but even that flavor wasn't strong enough for this curry to have any real flavor to it. Be bold and put some flavor - any flavor- in your curry!  Maybe I won't like it but at least I can't blame you for not even trying. 

Overall, this curry was not very satisfying.  It didn't fill me up, it wasn't delicious, and all it did was make me feel a bit disappointed. On the other hand it wasn't actually bad. The best part is that I didn't feel so bad about messing up the rice, because I wasn't wasting good curry on it. 

My Favorite Curries

When it's time to eat curry there are essentially three categories of curry to consider.  Homemade, store bought that you heat up at home, and curries prepared at a restaurant. I don't think it's really fair to compare curries from one category to another because they're different and each one can be amazing. There are benefits to each category and I happen to have favorites for each one as well. Perhaps one day I'll try a curry that becomes a new favorite or I'll figure out the secret to making one curry to rule them all! But for now here are the best:


Homemade


Favorite: My mother-in-law's beef curry.
Why it's my favorite:  While I haven't eaten curry in every Japanese household, my mother-in-law's curry is definitely better than any curry my wife and I have made at home. The flavor is so rich and there is a perfect balance between sweet and salty. Everything is cooked to perfection and the beef is so tender you'd think it was tenderized before it was cooked (but it wasn't). It is the most umami curry I've had.
          I've helped make it and that is when I learned that the best curries are a combination of different brands of curry mixed together. I don't know which ones are used or what the ratio is to the family recipe, but even if I did I wouldn't give the entire thing away. I'll have to fully learn the recipe next time we visit Kanazawa.
          It might be the best curry I've ever eaten but I will never make a claim like that without conducting a blind taste test with all of my favorite curries at the same time.
Pros: Obviously when you are making curry from scratch at home you know your ingredients will be fresh. You also can make it with whatever vegetables and meat you want. Plus, you control the portion size, if you want to make a lot and eat it for days you can. If you want to make a lot and freeze some for later you can do that as well.  Curry also tastes best the day after it was made. So if you cook it at home you can leave it on the stove overnight and reheat it the next day for a mouth full of oishiiness!
Cons: You have to spend time buying the ingredients and cooking the curry. This can be a lot of fun, but sometimes you're too tired to enjoy cutting vegetables or waiting for curry to cook. Sometimes all you want to do is make some rice and eat which is where the next category comes into play.




Store bought

Favorite: Noto Beef Curry.
Why it's my favorite: It actually tastes like it was freshly prepared even though all you had to do was heat it up in boiling water for 3-5 minutes. The beef tastes really good and the flavor of the curry itself is sweet and tangy. I'd be happy to get curry this good in a restaurant and I've had worse curry in a restaurant in Japan, so for pre-made food that's pretty amazing.
Pros:  All you have to do is place the pouch in boiling water for 3-5 minutes and then pour over rice. It also tastes great.
Cons:  You can only buy this in Japan so if you live in the United States (or anywhere else) like I do, you're out of luck. The ingredients are not as fresh as homemade or restaurant curry and it contains a bunch of preservatives. For store bought curry this is one of the most expensive - I think it's worth the price to have every now and then but it's a little expensive to be an every day item. Sometimes I forget to make boiled eggs ahead of time and I'd rather eat than wait for eggs to boil and then cool down. Curry is always better with a boiled egg on top.



Restaurant

For restaurants I have a tie. I'll write about each one separately below. 

Favorite:  Hurry Curry of Tokyo, West Los Angeles, CA

Why it's my favorite: It might be bias because this is where I first discovered that Japanese curry existed.  I had just moved to Los Angeles and a friend conveniently lived across the street and took me here. Previously I had only had Thai and Indian curry, but Japanese curry is something even greater! 

          Even though it was first, I've now had a lot of curry and this is still a place that I crave to go. Until I went to Japan it was my number 1 with no competition. The curry itself is so full of flavor and I could eat their chicken katsu curry at least once a week and never get tired of it. 

Pros:  It's pretty fast, the staff are always great, and it has a really nice atmosphere. All in all it's a nice experience going here and you're guaranteed amazing curry every time.  It also comes with a really tasty salad - it's one of my favorite salad dressings ever! If you don't feel like curry they also have a selection of Japanese spaghetti's (I know, weird right?) which are delicious as well. 

          If you live in Jakarta, Indonesia there's a location there as well. 

Cons:  It's not very close to my home and the way traffic is in Los Angeles I don't get to go there very often. Trying to get to the westside of Los Angeles during rush hour is worse than a paper cut. The location being so close to the 405 seems convenient, but it actually makes it a pain in the ass to get to from the eastside. 

          There used to be a Pasadena location which was much more convenient but sadly it closed almost 2 years ago when the building was sold and the new owner severely raised the rent. I still mourn the loss of that location and I refuse to ever patronize the restaurant that took it's place. 

Favorite:  CoCo Ichibanya, Osaka, Japan (although there are many locations with a new one in Torrance, CA that I need to go to)

Why it's my favorite: As with all of my favorites it comes down to taste.  CoCo is full of flavor, plus they have a very large range of spicyness. You can go from no heat to burn your tongue off and sweat like you're sitting in a sauna.  

Pros: It's a fairly large chain so there's a decent chance that you can get to one of their locations. It tastes amazing and is pretty quick. One day I need to put CoCo against Hurry Curry in a taste test because it might just be as good. You can customize your curry here which is awesome and something that I haven't seen anywhere else - at least to this extent.  You get to choose your level of spice, if you want extra rice, plus a whole slew of extra toppings for a small fee. The customization is almost as good as if you were cooking at home, except you don't have to do any work! 

Cons: It's a chain and the idea is that it's sort of a fast-food comfort place.  The decor is boring and only a slight improvement from a place like Denny's. The idea is that you go here for a quick and delicious meal, which is great, but the surroundings leave something to be desired.  The staff does their job properly, but you can tell that they work for a large company.

          As far as the Osaka location it takes 12 hours in a plane to get to Japan, plus all the time involved dealing with LAX. There is a Torrance, CA location now which is only about 40 minutes away but I haven't been there yet so I don't know if it lives up to Japan standards.

The first post

Hello everyone, I'm Currysan.  Hajimemashite, yoroshiku onegaishimasu! One of my favorite foods is Japanese curry and this is my blog devoted to everything about Japanese curry. I'm not really sure how this blog will evolve over time, but what I do know is that Japanese curry is delicious! Since this is the first post I figured I'd just answer the essential questions that are important to know when telling any story.

Who?  The intended audience for this blog is a little tricky. It's for anyone who loves Japanese curry - or any foodie really, but the main idea was for the people of Japan as they're probably the most interested in the subject.

What?  What is this? It's a blog where I will write about my love of Japanese curry. The idea is that this blog is to tell the Japanese about curry from the perspective of a gaijin who loves it.  I'll review curry as I try different ones and perhaps along this journey I'll learn why Japanese curry is not only the best of all curries but is one of the best foods in the entire world.

Where? It's located on the internet. If you're reading this you know where it is, but you should bookmark it and check back to learn all about the wonders of Japanese curry! Also tell your friends.

Why? This is a good question!  It all started with my love of Japanese curry which I first tried when I moved to California six and a half years ago.  I ended up marrying a Japanese woman which has nothing to do with my love of curry, but it definitely doesn't hurt! My wife's family (who all live in Japan) knows about my love of curry. In fact they've eaten a fair amount of curry with me and they always seem to be amused at how much I love it. They are so awesome that every now and then we get a package in the mail containing different curry to try! All Japanese people seem to really be amazed at how much I love curry since I'm a gaijin. One day one of my sisters-in-law suggested that I start a blog and write about Japanese curry because people in Japan would enjoy it. After some time I decided "why not?" and that is why this blog is getting started.  But you don't have to be Japanese to enjoy it, everyone should love Japanese curry!!!

When? I have no idea how often I'll update this site, but I'll try to update it as often as I can. I do like to eat a lot of curry so I'll write about it whenever I'm lucky enough to eat curry!

How? There will be two blogs. This one is the English version. I can barely speak Japanese and can't speak well enough to even try to discuss curry in person. My Japanese reading and writing is almost nonexistent - which is why I will write here in English. There will be a sister blog that my wife will be updating whenever I write a post. She will be providing a translation on a Japanese blog service. It is located HERE (Note: this does not exist yet ^_^ ).



Finally, since everything in Japan seems to have a mascot I decided that I too need one.  Please meet my mascot:  Curry-kun!  He's actually a curry pan.