Satisfying & tasty - Monster Curry (Orchard Ion)

Among the various Japanese food items I like, curry is one of the more common items I order whenever I eat out. Compared to the curry that we usually eat in Singapore (be it Chinese, Malay or Indian style), Japanese curry tends to be on the sweet side and lacks the punch of the spiciness found in local curries. I'm perfectly fine with this since I'm not someone who really loves spicy stuff but at the same time, I do think that some of the Japanese curries on offer out there tend to be a bit bland at times. That's why when I came across Monster Curry, it was as if I finally found something which I had been searching for i.e. the flavourful curry with a tinge of spiciness.

As seen from the picture, the portion is huge. At first, I thought it was just the plate which was big but it turns out that the portion of the food matches the size of the serving plate. If you do not add any additional toppings to the standard one-item curry, I think it's manageable for one person. You can do mix-and-matches as you wish just like how I combined the pork shabu-shabu set with ebi-fry in the photo. Frankly speaking, I don't really like to eat fried meat e.g. tonkatsu with curry because the taste kinda lingers on and it can get too rich for my own good especially on a hot day when I crave for something lighter. The pork shabu shabu is thinly sliced and yet it's done so nicely that it matches the curry very well. The ebi-fry was also cooked in such a way that the batter didn't taste crunchy or the prawn was overcooked. The colour of the curry turned out to be a bit darker than most of the versions I've tasted so far but I think that's fine because that's how the curry I cook at home looks like when I use those Japanese curry packs from the supermarket. I only asked for a Level 1 spiciness which was fine for me so if I do get adventurous another day, I might go for a higher level of spiciness.

On the whole, it was a pleasant experience to eat at Monster Curry although it can be a tad cramped if you come on a weekend since the place takes up a rather small space on B4. Nonetheless, most people simply eat and go so you won't have to queue for a long time either. Prices are generally a bit higher than what you pay for curry rice in restaurants like Sushi Tei or Watami but given the portion and the quality of the food, I think it's still something worth paying for.