Nice prawns, shame about the meat at Y Curry House

Bill Blade, Contributor, Jakarta

Back in the big smoke after a month in Europe and having had it up to the gills with potatoes and roasts, I reckoned it was high time to sock the taste buds with some good ol' spicy Asian nosh. And what better to set the tip of the tongue tingling than a steaming bowl of curry, the furnace fuel that's guaranteed to reach the parts other nosh doesn't reach.

But what exactly to go for in this search for oral excruciation? Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian? Or how about the Japanese variant available at the Y Japanese Curry House in Blok M, a place I've often been tempted to visit when shopping in Pasaraya? Well, given that I don't know my bonzai from my banzai as regards the Japanese breed of the fiery food, I decided to gird the loins, chance my arm and give it a go.

Located on the terrace of the Pasaraya department store and sandwiched between a coffee shop and a Brazilian churascaria, Y Curry House is an unassuming little place that's not particularly Japanese in ambience. This may have something to do with the fact that kimono-clad waitresses, rice paper screens and traditional low tables are nowhere to be seen. Or it could also be due to the unhappy reality that the restaurant looks out over the maniacal traffic on Jl. Iskandarsyah as it hurtles along as in some crazed competition to see who can reach oblivion sooner.

But for all that, Y Curry House is a pleasant enough spot and as good a place as any to rest your weary bones after a day laboring under the harness in Pasaraya, that most discombobulating (I love that word!) of stores.

Being far from a gourmet when it comes to the epicurean delights of the land of the rising sun, I decided to be a devil and order a variety of main courses for my partner and myself -- testing the waters, so to speak.

Each entree in the Y Curry House is served with a bowl of rice, mini salad (a rather unadventurous affair: white cabbage, lettuce, tomato and what looked and tasted for all the world like Hellman's mayonnaise), mishoshiro soup, daintily carved and manicured vegetables and a variety of sweet pickles.

To start with, my partner ordered the chicken curry (Rp 26,000), while I decided to go for the beef curry (Rp 29,000). Both, as it turned out, were variations on pretty much the same theme, with the curry sauce being virtually the same for the two dishes. Rich, well-flavored and thick, it couldn't, however, do much to hide the lack of meat that confronted me.

While I'm the first to admit that the Japanese aren't renowned for being big meat guzzlers, still I would have thought they might be able to manage a little more than the two measly chunks of beef I was fobbed off with!

As for the chicken, it appeared to have roosted in slightly more abundance, but still nothing to crow about. Despite these complaints, however, the taste factor was well enough served, although my expectations of "fire in the hold" turned out to be somewhat misplaced. Japanese curry, it would appear, does not go in for the same kind of tongue tickling that its namesake from the Indian subcontinent is wont to do.

Aside from the curry dishes, we also ordered plates of beef teriyaki (beef broiled after being soaked in a seasoned soy sauce marinade), beef shogayaki (beef broiled in ginger) and ebi furai (king prawns served with don katsu sauce).

Unfortunately, both the beef teriyaki (Rp 39,000) and the shogiyaki (Rp 39,000) turned out to be distinctly disappointing. Although in both cases the beef was as tender as one could ask for, the teriyaki turned out to be too salty, virtually briny in fact, while an oversaturation of ginger rendered the shogiyaki well-nigh inedible. I was tempted to return both dishes but in the end put up with scraping as much of the offending sauces off the meat as humanly possible. But, still very disappointing all round.

After our virtual poisoning, the ebi furai (Rp 35,000) turned out to be a saving grace with a perfect don katzu sauce setting off the whopping great king prawns (only two of them unfortunately -- evidently not a dish to be shared).

So, in the end the Y Curry House turned out to be rather a mixed bag. No complaints about the curries taste-wise, although in the quantity stakes more beef would definitely be well in order. Throw the excellent ebi furai into the bargain. Nothing wrong with the service either, and price-wise, you won't often get a restaurant meal in Jakarta today for Rp 197,505 for two (excluding even a whiff of alcohol, of course). But as for the beef teriyaki and shogiyaki, well, what more can I say? Could do better, guys!

Inbox: Y Curry House, Jl. Iskandarsyah No. 2, Kebayoran Baru (it's actually in Pasaraya and you can access it from the second floor). Call them on 72797486 for a reservation.