Japanese Dining You

The Strand Arcade, 233 Queen Street

Shop 16

Auckland CBD

When you think of Japanese food, curry isn’t exactly the first thing that comes to mind. I was surprised to find out, then, that curry is actually extremely popular in Japan, even claiming the title of ‘Japan’s national dish’ on some websites. I hadn’t tried it before, but after several suggestions from friends and having read some glowing Zomato reviews, I decided to give Japanese Dining You a try.

I think it’s the fact that Japanese food is generally so low in fat that I found it hard to imagine the kind of creamy creamy curry sauce I am used to. This is actually more of a gravy or a thickened stock without coconut cream like an Indian curry might have. I ordered the medium beef with a little pickled ginger. I have no idea how I could have eaten a large, as the serving was huge. Another shining example of how five dollars can fill you up, I’d say. These kinds of dishes are fairly simple and with so few ingredients that restaurants can presumably afford to serve in such massive portions.

There was not a lot of meat in the mix and although it came in thin, roast-beef-like slices, I found that there was more than enough sauce to make up for it. Considering the price, I certainly wasn’t expecting a full steak. I instantly recognized the taste but it took me so long to figure out what it was. The secret ingredient, folks, is curry powder. While Indian curries use a wide range of herbs and spices, Japanese curries mainly rely on curry powder, which apparently took off when it was introduced by the British around 150 years ago. Japanese Dining You uses a lot of it, which makes for a super strong and fragrant curry sauce that I was scraping clean from the bowl.

I hear that the mince and cheese curry is the best so I am kicking myself for not getting it, but really the meal was big enough and I probably didn’t need the extra calories.