Hinoya Curry has finally opened in Melbourne and I was so keen to get in there! It’s a curry chain from Tokyo that won the Kanda Curry Grand Prix in 2013, it has over 100 stores, mostly in Japan, and plenty of people plan a trip to Japan just to eat at it. I go to the Akihabara one every time I’m in Japan, it’s my favourite curry at the moment, so I walked into the new Little Bourke Street shop with a “let’s just see how it goes” attitude and walked out properly impressed. Here’s everything we ate.
The curry sauce
It’s the classic Japanese sweet and sour style and it’s so addictive, I couldn’t stop! It’s clearly been worked on properly, it’s not one of those curries that hits you with heat on the first spoonful. The first bite is sweet, then the spice creeps up slowly the more you eat, so by the end of the bowl my mouth was nicely warm. I kept finding little chunks of meat in the sauce too, which I wasn’t expecting, and the rice portion is huge. A good curry needs a really strong tonkatsu on top and Hinoya does that as well, so if you like your curry on the sweeter side, go.
The signature pork katsu curry
This is the classic, and it’s the same dish that won them the Grand Prix. The cutlet was so crispy, it crunched the second my fork went in, and the inside was still tender and juicy. One bite of pork, one bite of rice with curry, and then I looked down and the whole bowl was gone, I didn’t even notice! At the Akihabara shop I always order the pork fillet one and ask for extra curry, so if you can do that here, do it.
The chicken nanban curry
This is the one I’d tell anyone to order first. Fried chicken, crispy outside and tender in the middle, coated in sweet and sour nanban sauce with their house-made tartare on top, then the rich curry poured over the lot. Sweet, sour and a little spicy all stacked together, and somehow it ends up less heavy, not more. It’s really well balanced!
The prawn curry
If you love fried food like I do, this one’s for you! The prawns were really big, the coating was crispy, the prawn inside was still soft and tender, and with the thick curry it felt so satisfying.
The minced katsu curry
Not a normal cutlet, it’s a fried patty made from beef and pork mixed in their own ratio. It was softer and juicier than the regular pork katsu, and it had a much stronger meaty flavour.
The pickles and the crunchy bits on the table
Don’t skip the little side of pickles, they taste a bit like sweet pickled garlic and they cut through the richness perfectly, one bite of curry, one bite of pickle, over and over. There’s also a jar of crunchy fried rice crumbs on the table to sprinkle over your bowl, and those were good too!
Where it is and when it’s open
344 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne CBD, on the ground floor. It opened on Saturday 10 October. The City of Melbourne’s What’s On listing has it open 11:30am to 9pm Monday to Friday and 11:30am to 9:30pm on weekends, but it’s a brand new shop so check before you head in.
Is it worth it
Yes! If you like sweeter Japanese curry, huge bowls and really crunchy katsu, go hungry and go soon. For a first visit I’d start with the chicken nanban or the signature pork katsu, then come back for the minced katsu and the prawn.
We’ve got more new openings around the city in our Melbourne cafe and restaurant reviews, and if you like Tokyo imports, we also wrote about a popular matcha cafe from Tokyo that opened in Melbourne.