Tatsuya Kawagoe Curry

Restaurant Website (In Japanese - I don't see an English version)

Spice:  2 out of 10
Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Here is another instance of picking a curry simply by the box.  I could tell that this curry was from a restaurant as the map of its location is on the back of the box. I also assumed the man on the front is the chef/owner of said restaurant.  The only roman characters on the box said "Tatsuya Kawagoe" which I decided was either the name of the restaurant, the chef's name, or the name of the brand.

I liked that they put a happy stick figure on the box and decided the reason you see the chef's watch in the picture is because it's always CURRY TIME!!  This is how I decided to try Tatsuya Kawagoe curry one night knowing nothing about what ingredients or flavors to expect. I decided it would be more fun to taste it 'blind' and see if what I think of it matches up with reality afterwards.

Doesn't look great, but tastes awesome!

When I first poured this curry out of it's pouch I thought that it didn't look very nice, but that it smelled amazing. The smell was good enough to offset the poor presentation, especially because I don't really expect the visual presentation of a pre-made curry to be phenomenal.  I leaned in for a closer smell - it has a sort of sweet tomato smell to it.

Then I sat down to eat and was pleased to find that it tasted more like it smelled than how it looked! The pieces of potato and carrots that were in it were nice and big which I always appreciate. The potatoes were soft like butter but not overdone to the point where they just turn into mush with your spoon.  I don't notice any meat in this curry but I don't care because it tastes great.

This curry is very sweet but I do notice some spice in it. However, it's not obvious that it's in there and I only noticed it because I was looking (tasting?) for it. It's there and it's the balance that pulls this curry together, but it is subtle and I doubt I would have noticed it if I hadn't really been paying attention. 

Even though it's working it doesn't quite taste like a Japanese curry.  As I give it some thought I think it must have some basil or oregano in it. This curry, I decided, has a distinct Italian flavor to it and it tastes like a mix between Japanese curry and an Italian risotto.  I would have given this an 8 out of 10, but I decided to take half a point away simply because it tasted as much like a risotto as it did a curry.  It's not a bad thing, but it's not a distinct "I want curry!!" flavor.

I loved the design of the box so I decided to make my own!

After writing the words above it was time to look into this curry/chef.  It turns out that Tatsuya Kawagoe is both the name of the chef and his restaurant. He's a Celebrity chef in Japan and the cuisine that he's known for is... Italian!  I guess my tastebuds actually do know a few things! That explains why this tastes like a mix between Japanese and Italian cuisines and had I known that before eating it I might have made a side of garlic bread :p  Gotta love the fusion curry.