A note on the words: kasei is the Japanese for Mars, and kusa means grass — the shop’s name for the version topped with buttered spinach. Beni-shoga is the bright red pickled ginger kept on the table.
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Kasei Curry on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Drinkers, thank you for waiting. It is Hangover Meshi time.
This time, to a famous curry shop in Ikebukuro: Kasei Curry — kasei meaning Mars. It seems to have been featured on television a lot lately, and one often hears both the story that the owner is a well-known game creator and the story that the name comes from the idea of a flavour not found on Earth. But this is my first time actually going to eat there. On a stressful day, eat a good curry and revive.
There is a base Kasei curry, and the name changes according to what goes on top.
Chicken curry, kusa (grass) curry, bean curry, duck curry, kangaroo curry, and so on. They say grass, but the kusa curry is topped with spinach sauteed in butter — that sounds good.
Kusa curry it is.
Now, the curry looks good — but first, surely, this.
Beeer.
You can choose between Heineken, Budweiser, Kirin and others. This time, a clean Budweiser.
Right in front of me, someone is going at something with a blowtorch. That must be mine.
And so, arriving with a toasted fragrance, the kusa curry, with grilled cheese added on top. I asked for it very hot, and a small portion of rice.
Oh, that looks good.
The grilled cheese covers the surface so completely that you can barely see the rice or the sauce. From under the browned, blistered cheese, the scent of spice drifts up.
Put a spoon in and the base is not so much a thin sauce as a dense dry curry, with minced meat and stewed vegetables dissolved into it. The first mouthful sends a bright spice fragrance up through the nose, and then the savour of the vegetables and meat spreads slowly. The heat builds gradually as you eat, the sort that raises a faint sweat on the forehead. The fragrance first, the heat later, perhaps.
The grilled cheese. Crisp at the browned edges, stretching and molten inside, and it wraps the sting of the spice in something mellow. With the salt and richness of cheese added, the corners of the heat round off considerably and the flavour gains depth.
And the generous pile of spinach, sauteed in butter, has real body, a crisp bite, a green fragrance and a faint acidity. The gentleness of the greens catches the strength of the spice, and the buttered spinach is definitely worth having.
Mix the whole thing together and spice, butter, cheese and spinach become one. Before mixing you get each element on its own; after mixing, a mellow unity — and that change of face is itself a pleasure. With each mouthful the prickle of heat and the mellow richness go back and forth, and you do not tire of it.
And later on, adding this pickled red ginger: the acidity and salt loosen the density of the spice, and the crisp texture makes a good accent. It does indeed give another face, and it works.
So — this time, Ikebukuro’s famous curry, Kasei Curry. It is certainly very strong on spice, a new sort of flavour. Rice, dry curry and sauteed spinach, then cheese on top, grilled until it melts — that might be worth copying at home. I shall try it. Next time I want to attempt the kusa with game on top as well, venison or kangaroo.
May you meet something good to eat today too.
Kasei Curry (curry / Ikebukuro Station, Kanamecho Station)
Tabelog evening rating ★★★★☆ 4.0
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
