During my research for this trip to Japan, one particular restaurant came up several times as a must-try: CoCo Curry.

After a busy day exploring the magical Fushimi Inari-taisha shrine and hiking up Mt. Inari in the cool, fall rain of Japan, Erica and I head back to our hotel near Sanjo Station to get a dry change of clothes and momentarily rest our aching feet. With a dry pair of socks and an extra coat on, we now required one last thing: food. We set out into the sprinkling rain in search of dinner.

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CoCo Curry: My Experience

If you love YouTube, Japan, and watching fun and interesting videos then you’ve probably heard of Simon and Martina. Their silly personalities and informational content make them one of my favorite YouTubers. Well, Simon and Martina live in Japan and absolutely rave about the wonders of the Japanese food chain, CoCo Curry. They even published a video titled “We Love CoCo Curry“. So as Erica and I wandered the streets of Kyoto in search of our dinner and stumbled across a CoCo Curry shop, we knew we had to try it.

One might traditionally associate curry with being an Indian food, but curry has a very special place in Japanese culture and food. Here at CoCo Curry, you can get Japanese curry created specifically for your taste and preferences. CoCo Curry allows you to customize your curry, starting from the base curry flavor, choice of meat, toppings, and spice level. Note: Take the spice levels seriously, I got a level 4 out of 10 and my mouth was on fire!

The restaurant itself was what you might imagine from any chain – clean, nothing too special with booths lining either side. The menu offered english descriptions and was extensive, each option accompanied by a picture. Ordering was simple as the menu laid out each step in creating your custom curry with a wide variety of options. The waiter was kind and welcoming and helped us with ordering despite the language barrier. And we didn’t have long to wait before our steaming plates of CoCo Curry were set in front of us!

The curry isn’t particularly good looking or instagram worthy, but don’t let its appearance fool you. The curry was very flavorful and packed with the ingredients I ordered. The pork cutlet I had chosen was covered in a crispy breading, laid atop a hearty portion of white rice. Simon and Martina recommended stirring the curry and rice altogether so that you get some in every bite, but I later learned from the comments on my video that it is actually looked down upon in Japanese culture to stir together your curry and rice. It’s thought to be better to enjoy the two separately. Who knew! So, keep this in mind if you end up trying CoCo Curry in Japan. But however you enjoy it, one thing is certain – it was delicious!

Erica and I tried a lot of amazing food during our time in Japan, so I can’t say that CoCo Curry was my favorite from the trip. Unlike Simon and Martina, I also don’t think that I can qualify CoCo Curry as being “better than pizza” (which is an unfair comparison to begin with as I am obsessed with pizza). But CoCo Curry was certainly delicious and I would recommend trying it if you have the opportunity to. It even helped to warm our cold, rain-soaked bones and reenergize us for the remainder of our night. For those who can’t make it over to Japan to try it, I found out that a location was actually opened in Los Angeles, California!

Bonus: The Elephant Cafe

I was planning on focusing on my experience trying CoCo Curry for the first time, but I just had to tell you about the cool hipster cafe we visited later that night… After we were warmed up with full bellies from CoCo Curry, we set back out into the misting rain to explore a bit more of Kyoto. We stopped in a few of the huge, multi-story shops looking for souvenirs until they closed around 9pm. Most things were closing for the night, but we weren’t ready to head in just yet. In another one of Simon and Martina’s videos, “What to Eat in Kyoto“, they share their experience at an adorable, tucked away cafe called The Elephant Cafe. We saw that it was open late and set out to try it ourselves.

Down an alley and on the second floor of a building, we found the cafe. It was the epitome of a hipster cafe. And I definitely mean that in a good way! The cafe was small and well decorated. A few patrons sat at tables working and studying while enjoying their drinks, melodic music playing in the background. The menu was all in Japanese so we decided to pick something random and see what we got! We each ordered a coffee and a dessert to share. The shop was cash only.

We ended up receiving black coffees and a small square of cheesecake. Both were wonderful – not bad for picking randomly! At a table near a window looking down into the rainy alley below, we sat and sipped on our coffees while working on our travel journals. It was a beautiful, nostalgic moment and a perfect way to end our night in Kyoto.