CoCo Ichibanya takes Japan’s beloved hamburger curry to Europe – with the first outpost in London’s Covent Garden
With the Japanese restaurant now open in the UK, celebrity chef Vivek Singh conducts a taste test to find out if India, the land of curry, might take to this unique food
CoCo Ichibanya has more than 1,100 restaurants in Japan and about 150 around the world, serving unusual curries such as sausage, hamburger, and tomato and asparagus.
Back home, it’s a household name, but it hasn’t ventured into Europe – until now.
The first UK outpost opened this week in London’s Covent Garden, where diners are already lining up. You choose a topping – including options such as fried chicken dumpling, kimchi or bubble-fried salmon – and then you pick the level of heat. The sauce options range from “standard” to “Level 5 Crazy Hot”.
But what will a classically trained Indian chef make of it all?
I invited along Vivek Singh, one of his country’s most-respected chefs, whose four UK restaurants include the Cinnamon Club.
Dine there and you might spend US$107 on a tasting menu featuring dishes such as Devon crab and kokum berry salad on lotus-root crisp.
“The menu is bonkers,” he says, and laughs. “I have never come across curry like this.”
But when we tuck into a Crazy Hot katsu chicken and cheese curry, he is at least partially won over.