Curry House-a ch-ch-ch-chain...and, no rules- we didn't order curry!

Curry House has closed.

mmm-yoso!!!, the blog.  About food.  Cathy still blogging about food eaten around San Diego.  Ed eating but not documenting in Yuma.  Kirk eating and eventually documenting from Peru.

Hi. Cathy here with maybe some better photos of this meal. Lunch at Curry House. It says 'Curry and spaghetti' on the front signage.

There are plastic bowls of plastic food in the front window, and menus displayed.

There has been a coupon in the papers lately- buy one and two beverages and get the other menu item free. With a week of meals eaten out, as well as trying to have something interesting to blog about, a coupon was a nice deal. We got a hot tea, which came with a just right size pot of water to make three cups and high quality Japanese green tea bag and a coffee, which happened to be fresh brewed since The Mister apparently was the only person drinking coffee in a Japanese restaurant, and it was served with a little pitcher of real cream (each $1.75).

Then we got the menu and I wanted to try all the other items on the menu and not the curries, mainly because Kirk has already blogged (and so has Guest Commenter Vicky, who blogged a bit and moved North earlier this year) about Curry House and they must do that well, right? The restaurant is owned and run by House Foods, a major supplier of all kinds of goodies,  from curries and sauces to tofu 'noodles'. So, the menu items are kind of all made from Asian Grocery Store staples, and are a selling point for the restaurant...but wow: excellent.

So, we decided to try out a bowl of corn potage($2.60)

...this is not corn chowder, but corn soup. Excellent corn soup. Whole corn niblets are in it and it is ...oh...more like corn pudding in richness of flavor, but not too thick.

Then there was a hand out that came with the regular menu-  a single page with new stuff on it-and photos-...

So anyhow, Seafood with yam noodles. ($9.50)

Sort of in an Alfredo sauce- but not. Thinner sauce, hint of curry heat under, but white.  Excellent rich flavor.  The yam 'noodles' were wide- we have had skinnier yam 'noodles' that fell apart, but these 'noodles' held up. There were squid rings, fish, mussels, shrimp and broccoli and onions in this *large* bowl. Excellent flavor, unexpected high quality of seafood. I don't know why we thought it would be not great, but this was *really* good. Not Italian seafood fettuccine, but a nice Japanese version and the menu said lower in calories that regular pasta (550 calories versus 900).  Like I care about calories.  It is flavor I care about.

I decided to splurge and get the crab and shrimp salad($12.75).

We had to wait a bit because they were cooking and peeling the crab and shrimp to put on top of this salad.  Yes, they were warm (and sweet/fresh tasting) on top of the mixed greens, cabbage, tomatoes and radish sprouts served on the icy cold plate.  While we waited, we noticed the advertising set on the table and the House salad dressing was available for sale for $3.50 and the sign said "no preservatives".  We asked and the waitress said it lasts only abut 10 days.  Fresh made...oh my.  It was rich soy sauce, garlic and ginger flavored, deep and wonderful.  I am definitely going to buy some when I hit one of my "daily must eat greens" phases, which happens every few months.  The combination of flavors was really good.

I saw some side dishes that you could order, ostensibly with a curry dish, on the menu and asked if I could get a potato croquette($1.50).  I usually get fresh made croquettes at Nijiya Market, in the same parking lot, but  I wanted to try this one. It was a nice, plump, moist potato, lightly breaded with panko and with a light fry- delicate, yet crusty.  Kind of a nice side to go with the salad, although I could have added on a cup of potage and bread for $1.50.

Also, even though Red Berry is in the same parking lot, it was dessert time and, since it was still a week-o-birthday meal,

we shared a red bean ice cream ($2.95-which was comped by the Manager once He knew it was our birthdays, via an inadvertent mention to our waitress; unexpectedly nice).

All in all, excellent non-curry food.  I didn't follow my own rules to 'order what the name of the restaurant is about' and was not at all disappointed.  Very pleasantly surprised.  They make tasty food.  There are daily lunch specials noted at the front of the building and lunch prices range from $7-$14.  Not bad at all for the quality and attentive service.

Curry House San Diego 3860 Convoy (in Nijiya Center) San Diego 92111 (858)278-2454 M-F 11:30-2:30, 5:30-9:00  S-S 11:30-9:00

Comments

[Sandy]

I had a longing for katsu curry a couple of weeks ago, so off to Curry House I went. Finished up with Red Berry frozen yogurt for dessert, too.

I'm inspired to try other things on the menu now.

[Cathy]

It was unusual for us to not have curry here, Sandy, but surprisingly excellent. We were very impressed with everything here. I will go back to try some of the daily specials...and for that salad dressing to take home.