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» Here’s what US$90 worth of katsu curry looks like at CoCo Ichibanya: A mountain of cutlets!

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Here’s what US$90 worth of katsu curry looks like at CoCo Ichibanya: A mountain of cutlets!

Casey Baseel Mar 1, 2016
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Thought we were going on a diet after that giant pickle burger? Think again!

After his recent experience taking on a gigantic pickle burger from Burger King, we wouldn’t have been surprised if our Japanese-language reporter P.K. Sanjun had just decided to take a break from food in general for a while. But P.K. is always hungry for more, and this time he was hungry for curry.

Specifically, he was hungry for katsu curry, the variety topped with a pork cutlet (called “katsu” in Japanese). With his stomach grumbling, P.K. was just about to head to the nearest branch of curry chain CoCo Ichibanya, also known as CoCo Ichi.

But before walking out the door, he stopped to grapple with a difficult question. When eating katsu curry, you generally have to make a decision. Do you enjoy the cutlet gradually, alternating between bites of it and spoonfuls of rice and curry sauce? Or do you eat all of the rice first and save the cutlet for a fantastic finale of pork?

P.K. wanted to do both, and hit upon an idea for achieving his gluttonous goal. See, in addition to offering really tasty curry, CoCo Ichi lets customers customize their curry by picking from a last of toppings. You can even order additional helpings of the same topping if one of them has a particularly strong hold on your heart.

So P.K. wondered, just how many cutlets could he get with his curry for 10,000 yen (roughly US$90)?

▼ Time to turn that paper money into katsu curry!

A look at the restaurant’s menu revealed that a standard-sized plate of curry costs 463 yen, and a cutlet topping 290, so a quick calculation told us that for 10,000 yen we should be able to get 32 slices of katsu. But though CoCo Ichi has a reputation for polite, friendly service (even by Japan’s high standards), we wouldn’t recommend showing up unannounced and asking for such a massive meal, so we decided to call ahead to check if they could accommodate us.

“We don’t have enough cutlets on hand today, but if you give us until tomorrow, sure, we can do that,” the employee who took our call said. “But if we slice them into bite-sized pieces, we won’t be able to stack them,” he added apologetically, “so is it OK if they’re unsliced?”

We assured him that as long as they were willing to cook up 10,000 yen worth of katsu curry for us, we could handle cutting our own meat. The next day P.K. walked into the restaurant, sat down, and the waiter, gripping the platter with both hands, brought him the katsu curry of his dreams.

P.K. immediately named his plate “Mt. Katsu,” which narrowly edged out “Ayer’s Rock of Katsu” and “Ace Clean-Up Batter King Champion of the Curry World” for the honor.

Having never actually seen 32 slices of katsu all together, P.K. couldn’t resist posing for a picture with them like they were his favorite celebrities.

Then, like he and said favorite celebrities were the sole survivors of a plane crash in the Andes, he couldn’t resist eating them.

▼ The receipt, with each and every cutlet （ロースカツ） individually listed.

But while his heart was willing, P.K. found his stomach wasn’t quite up to the task of eating as many pork cutlets as some people consume in an entire year right then and there. He maxed out at four, while also dutifully finishing off his rice and curry. He then took the remaining 28 slices back to RocketNews24 headquarters, where the rest of the staff helped P.K. finish his work assignment.

After all, that’s what good coworkers do, right?