The Amazing Spices-Curry at Curry House

Growing up in a Japanese home, we had curry many nights.  They joke saying in a typical Japanese houseshold, curry is served at least once a week.  When you have leftover ingredients in the fridge, here in the States, you make stew.  In Japan, you make curry!  The different spices used to in curry is very good for you.  We normally pour the curry on top of freshly cooked white rice.  Ingredients that go into the curry vary depending on different households.  In my house, we usually put in carrots, potato, a meat of some sort (beef/chicken) and onions.  When my dad gets creatives, other vegetables make it into the pot.  To make curry, it's very easy.  If you go to a Japanese market like Marukai or Nijiya, they sell blocks of curry concentrate that you just drop into hot water.  You then add the vegetables and meat, boil and you're done!  My dad sometimes makes the curry from scratch using curry powder but not all of us are as gifted in cooking like he is.

One of my family's favorite restaurants to visit is Curry House.  There are many locations in Southern California.  My sister especially loves curry.  For our birthdays, we get to choose the celebration dinner restaurant and my sister likes to choose Curry House.  Though at Curry House, they serve curry, for some reason, their recipe tastes better than the ones we have at home.  The ones we have at home are really good but the ones at Curry House is super good.  There are so many unique options of curry at Curry House.  Of course they have the basic curry with either chicken, beef or seafood but the other varieties of plates makes it fun.  I like to get the egg omelet rice pilaf curry that comes with 3 fried shrimps on the side.  This plate is big so if you order it, make sure you are hungry.

On the days I am not that hungry, I get the curry set which comes with a smaller portion of curry with rice, salad and corn potage soup.  What's great at Curry House is that you get a choice or carbohydrate you want with your curry.  You can either choose white rice, brown rice or spaghetti noodles.  I personally have never had my curry with noodles but I'm assuming people like it because it's still on the menu. If curry is not your thing, they also serve very good pasta dishes.  Some of the pasta dishes have a Japanese twist to it so just be aware.  A fun story...my sister in law who is not a curry fan joined us at Curry House.  She ordered a katsu curry without the curry.  Though the waiter was a bit puzzled at first, she got her with and enjoyed her meal.

If you have room for dessert, they have a wide selection of Japanese American desserts like tofu cheesecake, pudding parfait, and sweet potato cake with ice cream.  Something refreshing to drink is the sweetened green tea.  They also serve iced tea with the sugar syrup which is so smart!  This is the way iced tea is served in Japan.  It makes sense.  Packet sugar hardly dissolves in cold drinks making you use a lot of packets like my husband does.  I guess sugar syrup is more expensive so this could be the reason they don't serve it this way in the States. 

Check out their website for locations!