Curry House

Before watching opening night of the Prince of Persia movie, we had dinner at the Curry House in Little Tokyo. We arrived at 7pm Friday night and we didn't have to wait to get seated.



I had the Tofu and minced meat curry with a side of potato croquet and soft boiled egg. The egg was just the way I like it, truly like a golden nugget.

It came with a cup of soup and I chose the creamed corn which was very good, nice and buttery all over. I can't say enough nice things about the soup. Get it!

The potato croquet was definitely worth the extra cost, better than Genki Living (which is frozen, takes forever to come out, and comes with nasty tartar sauce). It was crispy and has that extra flaky texture on the outside, but so nice and warm and soft on the inside. It was like eating real food! Somehow taking a bite of it was like a memory of childhood when everything you ate was made with an extra touch of love instead of artificial flavors and preservatives like at most modern establishments.

Service was good. Waiters/ waitresses were fast and efficient. I especially like how my friend was trying to order iced coffee and was telling the waiter it wasn't the normal kind, it was the special kind but he didn't remember what it was called and the waiter said "ah yes I know...you want the fatty kind." Isn't it great when the waiter can read your mind?

There wasn't a wide variety of deserts to choose from but I think if I hadn't been so full, I would have liked to try a little something.

This is my 2nd time at the Curry House at this location and enjoyed it both times. The Little Tokyo location is much better than the Rowland Heights one, though it's hard to say whether or not it was really the quality of the Rowland Heights restaurant that's at fault or the quality of the company at the time that ruined the eating experience. One thing I noticed was there seemed to be more Japanese people serving at the Little Tokyo location than at the Rowland Heights one, so that may have been one factor that helped make it appear more "genuine". The staff at the Little Tokyo location appear more knowledgeable and professional.

Lunchtime on the weekends require a fairly long wait. I think I waited half an hour last time. It is in a great location and after you're done eating, one can stroll downstairs to the Marukai Japanese market in search of Hello Kitty goods. For example, this time the greatest find was the Hello Kitty macaroni product which I first read about here.

The Curry House at the Little Tokyo location is a must for the novice connoisseur while I give the Rowland Heights one a thumbs down.

The only downfall would be looking for and paying for parking in the area. However, be sure to get your parking card validated to reduce the parking cost or to park for free. If the servers are good, they will ask you for the card when you pay.

Haiku Kitchen

Haiku Kitchen provides a variety of different dishes (as opposed to just chicken) for those who like to choose instead of being influenced by a condensed menu with only one type of meat (like KFC). It has a good selection of appetizers, ramen, salads, sandwiches, curries, and rice bowls. The only type of soup is the traditional Japanese miso soup.


Sesame chicken wings (4) and chicken ramen

On this occasion, I went for the seaweed ramen with a side of musobi. My dinner partner had the chicken ramen with a side of sesame chicken (ahh not chicken my mind couldn't help silently scream- I had KFC's double down and 10 piece hot wings the day before).


Seaweed ramen

The seaweed ramen tasted ok. The broth wasn't particularly flavorful, compared to that of ramen I had at other places. Their website says the broth is made from homemade chicken stock (not chicken!) That may be why; my gustatory sensation is numbed by too much chicken for the week! The noodles were good, tender and elastic or al dente as the Italians would say. The bowl is topped off with red ginger, green onions and of course pieces of kelp seaweed.


musobi (2)

The musobi was good. I had it just once in Hawaii. Someone had brought in a homemade kind on a Friday at work. Again, like most of my comments, it wouldn't have hurt if they had made it bigger, because the homemade version I had was larger than the one at this place. But it was tasty with spam and lightly seasoned with Furikake and what looked like either light soysauce or terryaki sauce.

As for the sesame chicken wings- it was a bit sweet and tangy, like they had marinated it in honey or sugar to it, topped with sesame seeds. I wasn't thoroughly impressed with it.

I saw an ad for Japanese tacos. They had salmon, steak and chicken topped with onions, tomatos and cilantro. It looked pretty good, but I will have to come back for that next time. I also noticed Thai Iced Tea on the menu, but I don't like ingesting hot and cold liquids in one sitting so I didn't order it.

It is a small place with just a few tables. A family of four were the only other people eating there. It is clean with friendly staff.

Overall, the place is not bad and is worth another trip for a quick snack.