Curry Craze: A Coco Ichibanya Review

Coco Ichibanya has been around in the Philippines for many months already, but I only got to try it recently, when we learned that they also have a branch at Burgos Circle, BGC. It was highly recommended by my foodie-officemates, so I knew that I had to visit to satisfy my curiosity.

 

 

As we had our tables and a nice lady approached us to guide us through the menu, I learned that ordering at Coco Ichibanya is done in a certain manner:

 

 

1. First, you choose your rice volume – which ranges from 200g to 600g. 300g is that standard size of the published prices of the dishes shown in the menu, then you just add or deduct a certain amount from the price depeding on which volume you choose.
2. Next, you pick a level of spiciness. There are 5 levels of spiciness starting from “Mild”, “Standard”, then going several notches higher until you get to “Crazy Hot”. Our orders were only within Mild and Standard, although personally these levesl were still pretty tame. You may want to get to the higher levels of hotness if you’re really after some heat in your mouth.

 

 

 

The moment our orders were brought in I knew why Coco Ichibanya’s specialties were a hit among Pinoys – these dishes are swimming in sauce!

 

Cheese Hamburger Curry  – Php 360.00

 

The lady serving us were honest enough to tell us that the “patty” of the Cheese Hamburger Curry would probably be not enough for sharing. It’s true, the size is smaller than what it seemed in the menu pictures, but what it lacked in size it made up for in taste, thanks to the surprise cheese in each patty.

 

 

If you think this dish can do well with more garnishing, you can order toppings to go with your order like seafood, meat, and even veggies.

 

Pork Cutlet Omelet Curry – Php 360.00

 

Soft and fluffy, the Pork Omelet Curry did well even without additional toppings. Imagine tonkatsu served with scrambled egg on top of hot, steaming, Japanese rice. Sadly though, the rice volume of omelet orders cannot be changed, and are fixed at 200g.

 

Fried Chicken Omelet Curry – Php 330.00

 

The chicken pieces reminded me of KFC’s fun shots. These are basically breaded chicken poppers, and it may be best not to expect much from the chicken part of this order.  If anything, the egg, rice, and curry sauce was still pretty good, but I’d probably order more chicken toppings to fully appreciate the meal.

 

Coco Ichibanya had more interesting dishes in their menu aside from the ones we ordered, like Hashed Beef and Mushrooms, Clam, Spinach, and Ripe Tomato Curry, and a variety of salads. Maybe I would have been able to appreciate the other specialties better, but so far the ones we ordered are pretty much just okay.

 

 

Coco Ichibanya