Curry Rice @ Crown Curry, Ame Yokocho, Ueno, Tokyo

Is Tokyo and Japan as a whole really expensive? Well, I have been answering this question for some time now and I can honestly say that it is possible to get a budget trip down from a place know for its notorious cost of living. This myth can be easily busted, and here is one place that can give you a substantial and filling meal without busting the bank.

Front of the house

Crown Curry is located at the end of Ameyokocho, the very popular shopping street in Ueno. This is the second time I have been here and I put myself to a challenge to find a meal cheaper than the one I had last year at Sutadonya (click here), which was already below the thousand mark. And alas, I have found my destination in Crown Curry.

There is actually a lot of possible variations for this humble dish

The menu is very simple, it is a curry stew with a side or topping of your choice. And thats it! All you need to do is go to the ticket machine and pop some coins before pressing the order you want. So I got the hamburg steak rice which was priced at a modest ¥500 and a bottle of Asahi at ¥400. When your beer is almost the same price as your meal, you know its cheap. And if you cannot read Japanese, do not fret. There is a display case outside which has the plastic equivalents. Just make sure to memorise the characters before going in. 

Lunch is served.

The plate that came before was good in fact. The curry should not be seen as a rendition to what we get in an Indian or Thai establishment. Rather, it should be viewed as a devilled stew that has a texture similar to the filling of a Lancashire hot pot. If you get my drift.  This is because the Japanese learnt curry making not from the Indians but the British, when they still controlled the Spice Route, way way back in the Colonial era. Yeap, this so called modern Japanese favourite is much older than you think.

A close up at the thick and savoury gravy.

The gravy was thick and smoky. There was a very intense flavour, which I believe comes from dried chillies. However, the heat is manageable, and in fact weak for the Malaysian tongue. But we are in Japan so that is a given. It was fine and has deep notes of garlic and a bit of coriander seeds and fenugreek. If you just ignore the fact its called curry and enjoy this dish as it is, then the whole experience seems to be much more palatable. It was to me actually and I enjoyed every bit of it.

The hamburg steak and rice go so well together

The hamburg steak was a quite simple. Minced meat, probably a combination of beef and pork mince which was lightly seasoned was baked and placed on the rice platter. it has simple flavours, which is fine, so as to temper the gravy that is the main star. I mean, no supporting cast should overtake the main actor right? Unless that actor is god awful, but I digress. And there is no better tonic to cool your self down than some beer. I personally prefer the Sapporo Classic, but Asahi is not bad too. 

Check out the rustic interior, its like a time capsule. 

A filling lunch and a tasty one at that, note that Crown Curry can be very crowded later on in the afternoon. I entered at 12 pm and I had the last seat. 10 minutes later, there was a line behind me waiting inside the establishment. And the patrons are mostly Japanese. So it some real authentic Yoshoku style grub going on. If you are in the area and have spent all you cash on green tea Kit Kats, give Crown Curry a go for some honest chow. The address is as follows:

6 Chome-12-１１ Ueno, Taitō, Tokyo 110-0005, Japan

The sign up close. Very easy to spot.