Restaurant Name: Coco Ichibanya Curry House

Pricing: $$$/5

Food: ♥♥♥/5

Ambience: ♥♥♥/5

Service: ♥♥♥/5

Website: http://www.ichibanya.co.jp/english/

Location: 201 Victoria Street #01-10, Singapore 188067

Curry is part of Japan's culture. Most Japanese regard curry as their staple food and love them to the extent of going crazy over them. You will see a shelf of instant curries of different varieties displayed prominently in the Japanese Supermarkets. This is how the Japanese value their curry culture like how they embraced their Nissin Cup Noodles culture too. Da Rabbit loves Japanese stuff too as she thinks that Japanese do produce a lot of quality products which are suitable for Asians. Just to side-track a little.. Da Rabbit loves shopping at Uniqlo and Daiso for great stuff ♥

To understand why curry has become one of Japan's national food, please watch this documentary:

Part 1

Part 2

The difference between Japanese curry and Indian curry is that Japanese curry tastes more like a stew with the vegetables (i.e. Onion, Potato and Carrot) and meat (i.e. Chicken, Beef and Pork) added as key ingredients whereas Indian curry relies very much on their spices to bring out the taste. Da Rabbit always think that Japanese curries are the 'baby' version of Indian curries as they are milder and less spicy. Many a times, they taste sweeter than the Indian version too ^^

The Japanese will normally savour their curry with rice and pickles.

Le' First Encounter

Da Rabbit had tried her first plate of curry rice from Coco Ichibanya in a small, cozy eatery in Shibuya, Tokyo. It was her friends who introduced her to this infamous curry house during her trip to Tokyo this April. As it was during the Sakura Season, the climate was pretty chilly and the curry from Coco Ichibanya really did warm Da Rabbit quite a fair bit.

This was how the Authentic Japanese Version looked

The curry was served together with a glass of Lassi (Yoghurt Drink) which helped to ease the spiciness but a lot! Da Rabbit ♥ drinking Lassi!

Upon Da Rabbit's return to Singapore, she has decided to give the Singapore version of Coco Ichibanya a try...

Le' Ambience

Coco Ichibanya was located at level 1 of the Bugis+ mall (beside Bugis Junction). One would be attracted by the 3 dimensional display outside the curry house.

The decor of the curry house is futuristic with round circles as the main theme - perhaps this was due to their round plates whereby their curry rice was served on? The place is pretty noisy as it is not enclosed.

Da Rabbit thinks that the circular lightings on the ceilings look like some suction duct.. LOL

Le' Food

Da Rabbit ordered Mushroom Curry Rice which was recommended under the Menu and had chose to decrease her rice by 100g (standard was 250g) which reduced the cost by S$1. Da Rabbit ain't a big eater aniwaes...

Le' Singapore Version - Mushroom Curry Rice

The Singapore version looked somewhat darker and blacker than the Tokyo's version perhaps due to lighting...

When you are at Coco Ichibanya, you get to customise your curry to your preference in terms of the quantity of rice you eat (from 150g - 550g) and the spiciness of curry (from mild to crazy hot which is level 5). You have the choice to add your toppings (i.e. Tuna, Corn, Boiled Egg, Cheese, Eggplant, Kimchee, Bacon, Spinach, Ripe Tomato, Clams etc) *WOW*

The level of spiciness of curry is not determined by the amount of chilli that was added, or rather it is determined by the amount of pepper added. The curry tasted really pepper-ish and can numb your tongue after a few mouthfuls whilst it is still piping hot.

The Pickles was placed on the table for our self-service.

Da pickles tasted pretty tangy in flavour and did help to reduce the level of spiciness surprisingly ^^

Le' Total Damage

Overall

Da Rabbit felt that the curry went well with the mushrooms but the rice was a little undercooked as it is pretty hard. However, the overall is quite OK and close to the Tokyo's taste - perhaps the Tokyo version tasted better due to the cold weather. Da Rabbit would recommend her peers to give it a try but will definitely not recommend this as a staple food as eating only curry with rice on a regular basis is boring and fattening in her opinion.

You might also be keen to explore these foodie places in the vicinity: