Did you know that curry is a comfort food for Japanese people?

Where do you go when you want to have some curry? Let me tell you one thing, Japanese people love curry! It's become a comfort food in Japan, and I can ensure you that it's rare to find a Japanese person who has never eaten a curry before in their whole entire life. The NY Yankees player Ichiro Suzuki is famous for eating curry everyday for lunch! I've been eating curry since I was 3 years old. My mom made me sweet curry by mixing applesauce and honey, which was delicious! I've grown old enough to make curry by myself, and I mix apple sauce sometimes when I want to make it a little sweet.

So, can you get Japanese style curry in NYC? YES! There are a few places where you can enjoy Japanese curry, but I like the one called Curry-ya in East Village. This place is a tiny restaurant with only twenty seats at the counter table. The owner/ chef makes the curry paste from scratch. There are varieties of curry that you can choose, but the one I recommend is the Berskhire pork katsu curry (deep-fried pork cutlet curry). On top of the original curry sauce, comes a pork cutlet that is fried at the just right softness, and is crunchy on the outside soft on the inside which makes the perfect pork cutlet. You can dip it into the curry sauce, which makes it even better.

The dry curry is also another special at this place. What is "dry" curry? Well, dry means that there's no curry sauce. It's similar to fried rice but with a curry taste. If you don't like curry sauce that much, than I would prefer the dry curry more.

                                                                                      (Pictures taken by google images)

Information on Curry- Ya
Location: 214 E 10th ST (Btw 2nd Ave & 1st Ave)
Phone: (866) 602- 8779
Hours: Mon- Sun 12 pm - 11 pm

My Favorite Rame Place in the city: Ramen Misoya

I've introduced the most popular ramen place in NYC, Ippudo, in my blog before, but today I want to tell you my favorite ramen place. It's called Ramen Misoya in East Village. Why is it my favorite? Well, I love the texture of their noddles and the soup that goes together.

Misoya's basic soup is miso, but they offer three kinds of miso broth. The first one is the kome miso, which is the regular miso made out of rice. Then there's the mame miso which is made out of beans. The soup has more richness compared to the kome miso. The last one is the shiro miso which is a little lighter than the previous two misos.

I like the kome miso because it has that richness of the miso but not too much, and is not too light compared to the shiro miso. The noodles are think and a little crinkly, which allows the soup to cling onto the noodle, allowing you to really taste the soup while you enjoy the chewiness of the noodle.

The funny part of the ramens here are that they put french fries on toppings, which is very rare in ramen. I guess that's Misoya's originality, which seemed funny at first, but once you have that bowl of ramen, you will be surprised how miso soup and noodles and french fries go really well together. Also, if you are a fan of thick noodles, this is the place for you.

                                                                           (pictures taken by google images)

Information on Ramen Misoya
Location: 129 Second Avenue
Phone: (212) 677- 4825
Hours: Mon- Sat 12pm - 12 am
            Sun 12pm- 11 pm

Street vendor food: Otafuku

Street Vendors have become the sensation in NYC, where you can get the classic hot dogs to artisan waffles to famous coffee. It's quick, cheap, and satisfies your stomach when you want a little bite of something. Well, of course, Japan has some vendor foods too, and you can get a taste of that at Otafuku in East Village.

This is small stand sells three major street vendor food, takoyaki, okonomiyaki, and yakisoba. Takoyaki is ball shaped made out of flour & egg batter. Inside the ball usually has a minced octopus, pickled ginger, and and scallions. The balls are made in a specially designed takoyaki grill, and topped over with worcestershire sauce, dried bonito, and green laver. I also love to put mayo on top of the sauce, which makes it a richer taste. Normally, a dish includes six takoyaki balls, and you eat it with a toothpick.
Okonimiyaki is scallion pancakes also topped with the same sauce, and yakisoba is panfried noodles cooked in the same sauce.

Out of the three, I would recommend the takoyaki, because it's easier to share it with another person, and it's just the right size to pop it into your mouth. But you have to be careful when you eat because the batter inside the ball is really hot so you can easily burn you tongue. Whenever I have takoyaki, it always brings back the childhood memories of eating the food with friends after school.

                                                                    (pictures taken from google images)

Information on Otafuku
Location: 236 E 9th Street
Phone: (212) 353- 8503
Hours: Mon-Thu 1pm - 10 pm
            Fri- Sat 12pm - 11pm
            Sun 12pm - 10pm