CoCo Ichibanya Curry House, Pork curry (pack of four)

After eating Cocoichibanya in Okinawa, these have been great and just as yummy when you’re missing Japan and too far from the new chains in the states. But it does suck that prices have been going up :(

Best golden curry! Closest to the real thing!

I worked as an English teacher in Nagoya, Japan for a year. I didn't have much of a kitchen and had a work schedule that also mostly got me home late enough that I didn't really want to cook all that often anyway. As I explored my close by options for food I stumbled on a CoCo Ichibanya Curry House and then began what can only be described as an addiction to amazing. It also helped me survive and not starve, so there's a chance I'm carrying some bias ;) If you've had S&B Foods curries, this has a rather similar base character of flavor. Where CoCo Ichibanya departs from that is by cooking pork (pork belly/bacon) into it until it has basically melted and the result is a really deep umami delicious. The spice level for the regular pork curry is somewhere around the hot/very hot level for the previously mentioned S&B Foods equivalent. If you haven't had that brand I would gauge it at a broadly "medium" spice level to most Indian or Thai restaurants I have been to over time. Or more simply, it ain't gonna burn you but it probably doesn't need much added unless you tend toward the spice head spectrum. That said, it is delicious with more spice and CoCo Ichibanya as a brand is well known for offering an additional 10 levels of spice above this product. The packaged product did not disappoint my memory of the real thing being served consistently at every place I hit. If you've lived in Japan in a place that had a CoCo Ichibanya just start throwing your money at the screen, get that flavor back!

Thank goodness Coco's is on Amazon! This curry was my lunch almost every day while stationed in Okinawa back in 2009, and it was always so expensive trying to get my buddies still on the rock to send it to me, or to ship it from some random person on eBay. Now I get it shipped monthly and serve it CoCo's style with steamed jasmine rice and chicken Katsu cutlet. Tastes *almost* just like the real thing, but it's close enough to make you go "mmmmmmmmmm" after every bite! It's still a little expensive for just 4 portions, but it's worth every yenny.

We were on Okinawa for 11 years working. We often went to CoCos for curry. Our teen daughters went at least once a week. When we moved back to Texas, we missed it. Then I found it on Amazon. I ordered it for my wife and I first. A couple weeks later I made it for two of my daughters. Recently, I was visiting our oldest daughter in Germany and surprised her family by cooking pork curry using these easy packs that are just placed in a pot of boiling water. Both times when I opened the pack, the screamed CoCos! Now we have the same great taste in our own kitchen. It feels like we are back in Okinawa, minus the little button for service.

Its decent and easy to make, just don’t expect to feel like you’re eating at Coco’s

Somewhere along the line, this is an abysmal taste of CoCo's curry. But, if you don't have access to a CoCo's location, this is the BEST you can get. You will enjoy it, but it is a pale imatatuon.

Any military member stationed in Okinawa will tell you one of the things they miss most is CoCo’s curry, get yourself some Naan bread makes some rice add some cocos spice and cocos sauce and your tastebuds will travel all the way back to Okinawa and the good old days!!! It’s worth the price and I’ve made it for all of my coworkers too!!! I usually use this one to remake the stewed chicken curry ❤️