TA・KA
This place has been featured in various media outlets, and it seems that the owner will be returning to their hometown of Osaka to open a new shop, so they will be closing at the end of September 2023. I wanted to visit before they closed, so I went on a holiday and arrived 5 minutes before the opening time, being the first customer. When the opening time arrived, a female staff member invited me into the store and led me to the counter at the back. I looked at the menu and thought I should probably choose the Beef Katsu Curry "Full-Bodied BLACK Curry," but since the name of the shop has "Men" in it, I felt like I should try the noodles too, so I chose the Curry Ramen "CurryMen typeA" (1,300 yen). When I ordered, the staff asked me, "TypeA is quite spicy, are you okay with spicy food?" I said I was fine with it. By the time I finished ordering, the store was already full of customers. It seemed like many of them had just happened to pass by and decided to come in. After serving the other customers with water, the staff asked me what I needed, so I requested a wet towel, disposable chopsticks, and a paper apron. I waited for about 8 minutes, watching the cooking process from the counter, before my food was served. I put on the paper apron and took a sip of the soup. It was thick and more like a curry roux than soup. The first bite was a bit sweet, but then the deep spiciness kicked in. However, it wasn't as spicy as I expected. I took another sip, but the spiciness was still lacking. Next, I slurped up the noodles. The curly noodles were well coated with the roux. The noodles were cooked slightly firm. I couldn't quite tell if the noodles and the roux went well together. I rarely eat curry ramen, so I didn't know what the right answer was. I continued eating with the cheese that was provided on the side. The curry became slightly milder, and the cheese would stretch and mix with the noodles in my mouth. The portion was decent, and just the noodles alone were filling, but after finishing the noodles, I poured the roux over the rice and had curry rice to finish the meal. After finishing the noodles and rice, I drank some water to cool down, took a breather, and then paid the bill. While I was eating, I could hear the sound of oil frying the beef cutlet in the kitchen. Oh, I also want to try the cutlet curry. I wonder how the curry and cutlet would taste together. There were a few people waiting inside the store, and as I left, a few more people were waiting outside. They probably knew about the closing and came to visit before it shut down. Just a little time left until the closing, so I wanted to try it while I could in Tokyo.