Curry House CoCo Ichibanya

Although Curry House CoCo Ichibanya’s U.S. website lists its first locations as opening in 2011 – including a shop in Irvine’s Diamond Jamboree plaza – the Japanese chain’s actual first U.S. launch dates back to 1994 in Hawaii. That’s how we had visited (and loved) its restaurants in both countries well before our first visit to its Orange County location, which has added a dedicated take-out area but is otherwise extremely similar to its original design.

CoCo Ichibanya was a pioneer in Japanese katsu curry, a style of meal that pairs meat cutlets and rice with Japanese-Indian curry on a single plate. While pork cutlets (tonkatsu) made with a single slice of pork are the classic version, chicken cutlets, minced beef cutlets, cream croquettes, seafood, and vegetables can also be either stars or second fiddles on the rice and curry plate. At CoCo, unlike other Japanese restaurants that serve but don’t specialize in katsu curry, you can choose the spiciness level of your curry, the quantity of rice, and toppings – basically whichever other items from the list about you want to add – with each choice affecting the price.

This makes for some interesting customization. You can start with a rice and curry base ($10.67), choose spicy fried squid ($4) and a pork cutlet ($5.05), then tweak the curry to “level 20” (out of 20) heat ($2 extra) and go from medium to small rice ($0.50 less). Alternately, you can go with a newer curry udon bowl that includes chicken, onions, and noodles for $13.67, add beef slices ($4), and make the spice level 5 ($1). Assuming you need more, you can add naan, salad, or french fries for under $4.