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Swinging from simple to spicy at The Curry Club
Japanese comfort food in your Scoville comfort zone
Chicken katsu donburi
Did I want to spice my curry with bhutlah pepper? According to the menu here at The Curry Club, it rated a zesty 1.5 million on Scoville heat index, and the restaurant made you sign a waiver to try the $2 add-on. If I were eating chicken wings, I'd almost have to.
But I'm trying a Japanese curry — one developed over a long, 48-hour cooking process according to The Curry Club's web site — and I want to at least taste what that's like once before diving headlong into a heat check. Besides, there's an array of other free seasonings to try first, without any apparent liability, ranging from togarashi to habanero. They're all granulated spice, laid out like salt shakers, all the same brand, one that highlights the Scoville range of each product.
The Curry Club opened in summer 2024
All this emphasis on spice isn't to say the sweet and earthy signature curry blend doesn't hold up on its own. This place has comfort food nailed. Even Curry Club's blandest dish is a standout: a chicken katsu rice bowl flavored with little more than soy sauce, eggs, and onion. Yes, I would add a dash of the wiri wiri powder to it (150,000 on the Scoville scale), because I'm a spice fiend. But the elegantly simple dish proved perfect without it.
What The Curry Club really seems to be going for is making a dish as basic or loaded as you want it, spice or otherwise. Pork or chicken katsu is the go-to entree for Japanese curry, but here you can switch up to chicken karaage style fried chicken, katsu spam, katsu tofu, or a Hawaiian style loco moco smothered in curry. With bowls and plates starting around $15, You can mix and match, add toppings, serve it over udon noodles. and yes, finish it with whatever spice level you want to tolerate/enjoy.
A Japanese curry beef stew with steamed vegetables and a potato croquette
I couldn't resist tying the brisket, which employs the curry as the base of a beef stew, For add-ons I went with the steamed vegetable mix (potato, carrots, and broccoli), tossed in an ajitama egg, and finished with a potato croquette. It may have been a little zany, but I had no trouble finishing the $25 order.
A melon cream soda: melon soda with a scoop of ice cream
Also zany was melon cream soda ($7): a bright green melon soda with a scoop of vanilla ice cream that might be considered a worthy (and photogenic) foil to some of the higher Scoville spice options.
Ultimately, I stopped short of the bhutlah pepper. Between green soda and and curry stew, I've got to save something for next time. And given there's easy parking to be found at this satisfying diner, it's easy to look forward to a next time.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Swinging from simple to spicy at The Curry Club
Japanese comfort food in your Scoville comfort zone
Swinging from simple to spicy at The Curry Club
Japanese comfort food in your Scoville comfort zone
Chicken katsu donburi
Did I want to spice my curry with bhutlah pepper? According to the menu here at The Curry Club, it rated a zesty 1.5 million on Scoville heat index, and the restaurant made you sign a waiver to try the $2 add-on. If I were eating chicken wings, I'd almost have to.
But I'm trying a Japanese curry — one developed over a long, 48-hour cooking process according to The Curry Club's web site — and I want to at least taste what that's like once before diving headlong into a heat check. Besides, there's an array of other free seasonings to try first, without any apparent liability, ranging from togarashi to habanero. They're all granulated spice, laid out like salt shakers, all the same brand, one that highlights the Scoville range of each product.
The Curry Club opened in summer 2024
All this emphasis on spice isn't to say the sweet and earthy signature curry blend doesn't hold up on its own. This place has comfort food nailed. Even Curry Club's blandest dish is a standout: a chicken katsu rice bowl flavored with little more than soy sauce, eggs, and onion. Yes, I would add a dash of the wiri wiri powder to it (150,000 on the Scoville scale), because I'm a spice fiend. But the elegantly simple dish proved perfect without it.
What The Curry Club really seems to be going for is making a dish as basic or loaded as you want it, spice or otherwise. Pork or chicken katsu is the go-to entree for Japanese curry, but here you can switch up to chicken karaage style fried chicken, katsu spam, katsu tofu, or a Hawaiian style loco moco smothered in curry. With bowls and plates starting around $15, You can mix and match, add toppings, serve it over udon noodles. and yes, finish it with whatever spice level you want to tolerate/enjoy.
A Japanese curry beef stew with steamed vegetables and a potato croquette
I couldn't resist tying the brisket, which employs the curry as the base of a beef stew, For add-ons I went with the steamed vegetable mix (potato, carrots, and broccoli), tossed in an ajitama egg, and finished with a potato croquette. It may have been a little zany, but I had no trouble finishing the $25 order.
A melon cream soda: melon soda with a scoop of ice cream
Also zany was melon cream soda ($7): a bright green melon soda with a scoop of vanilla ice cream that might be considered a worthy (and photogenic) foil to some of the higher Scoville spice options.
Ultimately, I stopped short of the bhutlah pepper. Between green soda and and curry stew, I've got to save something for next time. And given there's easy parking to be found at this satisfying diner, it's easy to look forward to a next time.
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