(1) OVERVIEW:
Go! Go! Curry! is a specialized restaurant chain, which serve Japanese style curry rice. It has over 70 locations in Japan. The Japanese curry rice is the most popular food at the school lunch. Many homes cook their own variation of curry rices in Japan. The Japanese curry has its prominent place in the Japanese dining culture today. Personally, I love Japanese style curry rice very much. I also cook my own curry rice almost every month. Unlike the most of the families in Japan, I use only the meat, onions, and carrots, so that the creamy texture of the thick curry sauce will NOT be spoiled by the diced potatoes.
This review is based on my first visit to the Go! Go! Curry! at the "Times Square" location, which actually located at the Midtown West area of Manhattan, New York. This is their very first chain restaurant in this city.
(2) FOODS/PRESENTATION: SUPER AWESOME 5 STAR!
I had the pork Katsu Curry ($9.55). The word "Katsu" means Cutlet (and "Victory") in Japanese. I prefer the pork cutlet far more than the chicken cutlet, fried shrimps or sausages, that are available toppings here. I also asked the extra curry sauce ($1,55) because it seemed the amount of the curry sauce for the rice and pork cutlet seemed not enough for my liking. My Pork Katsu Curry was ready within five minutes. The extra sauce was served in the very traditional Indian style fancy sauce cup. This dish was served on the well-polished stainless steal classic-looking memorable oval-shaped dish. Instead of a dinner spoon, a wooden-handled dinner fork came with it. In Japan, where the curry rice is usually served without the fancy topping like this are eaten with the dinner spoon. (Compare this culture to those curry dishes eaten with the dinner fork in Indian and South Eastern Asian nations.
My Pork Katsu (cutlet) was perfectly cooked with Panko with a little Katsu sauce, and authentically delicious. The rice was also cooked perfectly. The pork curry was dark, rich, creamy and heavenly delicious with many tiny diced and well-cooked pork meat. This pork curry rice sauce truly is a high quality work of art! I was so excited, thrilled and inspired! For this quality and delicious curry dishes for this very affordable prices in this very expensive area, I expect this Go! Go! Curry! chain restaurant to be very successful and profitable. In fact, I witnessed the high customer turn around when I dined here at 6 PM of 2018.1007 (Sun).
(3) AMBIANCE: 3 star
This Go! Go! Curry! location is just a small size chain restaurant with only handful small black wooden tables for 2 people and the narrow counter seats. The 2 tables were put together and we had to share the disposable table napkins in a plastic dispenser (recycled brown).
The walls are painted in the color of the typical curry powder. The place gets their fast food job done but its interior did NOT inspired me at all. (IF they did NOT have the sitting separate dining tables like these, I surely left without eating here. This happened what I did when I visited other Go! Go! Curery! of 231 Thompson St, sadly.)
(4) SERVICES: average 3 star
At this small fast food joint, you are the one who bring your foods on the plastic tray to your table and bring back the finished tray to the counter, where you originally placed your order and payed at the beginning.
By the way, at this Go! Go! Curry! restaurant, you also must pour the cold water from the tank water table into the cheap plastic cup by yourself. I am glad I brought my own drinking glass. (I always carry around my eating utensils and drinking cup.)
(5) CREATIVE SUGGESTIONS & TIPS FOR YELPERS:
(5-1) Get a FREE TOPPING coupon: Since "Go" means 5 in Japanese, this restaurant calls the 5th, 15th and 25th every month "Go! Go! Day!". If you order any curry on one of these days, you will receive a topping (add on) coupon.
(5-2) The most popular dish is the Pork Katsu curry ($9.55 + tax) BUT you can have the plain curry (as low as $5.55+tax and as high as $8.95+tax). They also have vegetarian curry and a variety of toppings (including tofu cutlet, gyoza, veggie tempura, natto, boilet egg, Rakkyo, Fukujinzuke, and many more), drinks, and even miso soup.
(5-3) You do NOT have to eat the curry rice here. For an example, you can just order the common and traditional Japanese dinner such as the steamed Japanese sticky rice, shrimp & vegetable tempura, hot miso soup and green tea. The combination of the steamed Japanese sticky rice, pork cutlet, and miso soup also sounds good. :-) The extra rice (5 oz) is only $1.55+tax)
(5-4) You can also have the Japanese curry udon noodle here by combining the curry sauce and udon ($7.99+tax), too.
At this point, the target of the Go! Go! Curry! seemed the cheap students and busy people, who just want to full their stomach with big flavor quick foods. I am looking forward to seeing how it evolves.
Dr. Takeshi Yamada and Seara (Coney Island sea rabbit)
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