CoCo Ichibanya     CoCo壹番屋  

waited for almost an hour on a saturday

can't really remember the exact names of food ordered
but here are what we ate:
tuna sald
omelette+pork+curry rice (non spicy)
omelette+chicken+creamy curry rice (spicy)
burger (needed to pay an extra $30)
fried quail egg
onion soup
apple pie + ice cream
drinks

- the spicy curry WAS NOT spicy AT ALL, we were told that we couldnt choose the level of spicyness
it tasted just a bit saltier than the non spicy curry
- didnt like the taste of japanese curry, as my title suggests: jap curry just isnt for me
- onion soup was more like a watered-down GRAVY to me LOL
- burger: quite juicy, but looked nothing like the burger displayed at the entrance of the restaurant
- apple pie with ice cream and some unnecessary strawberry sauce: i have to say, i like apple pie from IKEA much better than this one which costs like twice the price than that from IKEA. ice cream was just ice cream, nothing special about it

overall, yes it was filling
but i was not impressed by it, simply because i dont like the taste of jap curry
and it was expensive

so if u like jap curry, i think u will like this restaurant
it is worth visiting if u havent been, im never coming back to CoCo tho hahahahhhaahaaa
enjoy ur meal!

I had a lovely curry last time at the TST branch, so went to this one as it was located closer to the MTR.

The curry was better but the only let down was the customer service, when I came the restaurant was only 10% full.
There was no one at the reception to lead me to the table, so I just walked in and sat down.

Luckily a waitress saw me so she gave me a menu.

At the TST branch there was water at the table and here you have to request them for it.

The pickles in the glass pot that I reviewed at TST were not on my table either.

fried pork omlette curry rice

pork chop is very cripsy, the flour is not too thick and not much frozen taste~
omelette is quite good, egg is not old and the rice is not too soft, just right!
japanese curry is sweet in taste, not spicy at all, curry sause is too much. just like soup....

i added $15 to have dessert and cold drink

cold lemon tea is not so good, coz tea is a bit bitter, i add so much syrup still quite bitter, have 3 slices of lemon~

dessert is 2 scope of icecream, cookie cream and strawberry, very gd coz have fruit meat inside!!!

nice place, went there yesterday and I was pretty happy with the customer service. I will be back next week. Anyway, was okay and try again next week when free.

As the title, creamy mushroom rice is my best pick, but it is overall a bit over rated in my opinion....
There is around $6x if you order a meal for a unfavourable appetizer, main course and drink.
Right that the course is impressive, it is still necessary to improve the quality of the starter and drink.
Turns out I may give a OK to COCO curry house..................I hv tried it three/ four times............................
However I found no special afterwards........

I don't know how is the food. However, the receptionist is bad.

I was holding queue ticket no. 6. Waited for like 25-30 min. Then she voiced ticket no. 4, 5, 6, 7 at the same time. I was just few steps walked in front the reception counter, the receiptionist disappeared. After she back to the counter, she claimed that my ticket is over and need to wait after ticket no. 7's quest.

It is angry for that. 1. why she said no. 4-7 at the same time, but actually no four tables? 2. It is she away from the reception counter, why she said my no 6 is over and skipped? It is still shown on the queuing no. screen on the top of counter.

After that, she said a table is paying bill and will give me table asap. However, it waited for another 20 min.

Of coz, I was angrily to leave this restaurant. Better not give them $200 expected business for this rediculous receiptionist.

It is my first visit in Hong Kong!
Having dinner alone so it was my own choice.
Therefore, I went to CoCo Ichibanya
as I wanted to try this ‘famous’ curry restaurant for quite some time in HK. I had 'Coco' -吉列豬扒奄列咖喱飯 before but not in HK.
The food model looked so familiar to me.
I thought that it should be a branch so I queued up.
My order is :-
忌廉野菌咖喱蛋包飯
Food is fresh but be aware, it is quite ‘HOT’.
I love the creamy mushroom curry sauce.
For service, there is room to improve.
I would say not bad,but just felt very comfortable on their way, a bit rush and not organized.
It is quite expensive for just a plate of ‘curry rice’ in Kwun Tong. Nice to try but it can’t be my best love.

Recommendation: 吉列豬扒奄列咖喱飯
忌廉野菌咖喱蛋包飯

Date Dined: Weds 1st Sept 2010

Ordered: Curry with cream of mushroom omelette rice- 忌廉野菌咖喱蛋包飯 + Curry Pork Rice

Taste:I have had 'Coco' before in Thailand and fell in love with it. I came across this branch without realizing it is the same restaurant. i only realize when i was standing up queuing and thought it looks familiar. The food model and how they displayed it.
Anyhow, I also ordered the Curry with cream of mushroom omelette rice- 忌廉野菌咖喱蛋包飯 in Thailand, and I must say it taste exactly the same, only difference is there was cream of mushroom soup in Hong kong branch. i love teh contrast of the spicey curry and creamy mushroom. i love this. i have tried making this at home and it is delicious. The omelette is nice and runny, excellent.
Curry Pork Rice- You could choose how spicey you want the curry to be. My companion chose 'Extra Hot' and it it really did came as EXTRA hot. He had to keep on drinking water. He said if it was a level up of spiciness, he couldnt have tolerated it.

Service: Maybe this was newly open so they all seemed abit lost. You can tell they are abit disorganized, like 2 to 3 people doing one job, or theres one person running around doing everything and a few chatting, not being productive. But there were very polite.

Conclusion: Although it is abit expensive for just a plate of curry, it certainly taste good. You gotta love that you can choose the weight of your rice, if you increase the amount, ofc you increase the price, but if you choose to have less rice, money would be taken off too!!!. One thing i really dont like is the curry does not come with any vegetable at all. you would expect theres potatoes, carrots or onions. But there are non.

A week or so after my Japan trip, I suddenly found Coco Ichibanya's name appeared on Openrice.com! I immediately clicked into the link and read a few reviews before ensuring it was the same Coco Ichibanya that I had in Japan. Since I had this sudden mood in trying my mum's new car out, I suggested driving there for lunch.

We parked our car in APM, and went a long way through the MTR to find out we could literally walked to the Crocodile Center through APM. By the time we arrived, there wasn't a lot of people in Coco Ichibanya, (which was already 4pm.) so there was no queue outside the restaurant. The setting was a bit different from the ones in Japan. I guess it was because the restaurants in Kwun Tong was more spaceous, so bar seating which could be found in most Coco Ichibanya Japan, was unnecessary . The colour theme was still the same vivid yellow and black. The menu was also exactly the same as the one in Japan, except every word is now in a more familar language, Chinese and English.

1) Pork Cutlet Omelette Curry $70
I had no memory of omelette curry in Japan, but the photos uploaded online looked appetizing, so I decided to try one out. The dish looked exactly the same as the menu, or even more appetizing. For omelette dish, you could not choose the level of spiciness nor the portion of the rice. The curry taste was not strong, and was rather flat when compared to the original curry they offers.

The Omelette was halfy fried in a state between solid and liquid, which created this extremely smooth, light and silky texture that could literally slide through your throat. The omelette had a strong taste of egg and a bit of cream taste. However I was a bit disappointed by the fact that the omelette was laid on top of the rice instead of wrapping around it.

The pork cutlet was scrumptious and tasted like the ones I had in Japan! It was encased in breadcrumbs and was well deep-fried. The breadcrumbs coating was very flaky and the pork flesh was soft and tender. The pork was at the right portions but I do not mind a bigger one.

2) Hamburger Curry $65, Spiciness Lv. 2
My boyfriend had his all time favourite Hamburger Curry yet again in Coco Ichibanya. When the dish arrived, we were amazed by the portion of the beef patty. It was extremely small, around 8cm in diameter! It wasn't at all thick either. Fortunately the patty were delicious. The patty was very soft and tender, it was quite juicy and the juice was withhold by the crispy coating at the outside. The patty also had a strong and lovely beef taste which paired so well with the spicy curry. In Coco Ichibanya, if you do not specify the level of spiciness for your curry, it was presumably a bit spicy. Adding on the spiciness put on a richer taste to your curry and made your dish even more delicious than ever! I love eating spicy and Lv.2 to me is at medium spiciness. I would like to challenge Lv.3 or higher next time!

3) Cream Croquettes $20
In Japan, there were two cream croquettes available, one was Crab Croquettes, the other one was potato croquettes. I tried both in Japan and I personally prefer crab croquettes than potato croquettes. The cream croquettes in Hong Kong did not specify what kind of croquettes it was in. I am not 100% sure but I think the one that I had was potato croquettes. The filling should be mashed potatoes, cheese and milk, encased in breadcrumbs then deep-fried to give a golden brown crusting. When it was served hot, the inside melted and gave a soft and creamy texture. The taste was not strong, just like eating melted cheese, but less rich in texture,

4) Salad & Coffee in a Combo
The salad - came with 2 choices of dressings, and I chose Sesame sauce. When the salad was delivered to table, the little bowl was covered with several large salad leaves. The simply green made me lose interest in the bowl, but I tried it anyway. Upon mixing the bowl, I found sweet corns and tomatoes at the bottom of the bowl. Who on earth would put this embellishing at the bottom?

The regular coffee - from the set were really nice! Once again, I have no expertise in coffee, but the aroma and the coffee taste were both nice. The coffee was freshly brewed and the taste was neither bitter or sour. There wasn't need to add any cream or sugar to the coffee to give any unnecessary taste. Nice coffee.

One criticism I want to make was about the pickles. It was very moist and soft which did not give the sense of freshness at all. The taste was bad as well. It was so bad that it was not even worth to be compared with the fresh, chewy pink pickles in Japan. I was solely disappointed in the pickles, it partially ruins my experience with Coco Ichibanya's curry.

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