Restaurant of the Month: CoCo Ichibanya

South Bay Events presents its pick of the month for April 2012!

Cheap eats, a little heat, and some signature brown-gravy like curry sauce hallmark this Japanese style curry house in Torrance. Curry comes in a rainbow of flavors, usually red, yellow, or green which draw lineage from its South East Asian origins, but at CoCo Ichibanya it’s brown with various shades of hot. It’s no surprise to find out that the first ever main-land version of CoCo Ichibanya opened for business in Torrance circa 2011, a city well known for its cross section of Pacific Rim cultures and a host of Asian foodie treasures.

Curry in Japan is built to satisfy the fast food customer and the global import in Torrance is no different. To maximize efficiency at CoCo Ichibanya, every table comes equipped with a button to call a server. The experience is clean and quick but the food is comforting. There are over 40 combo plates to chose from like pork katsu (panko-crusted cutlets fried to golden brown), chicken cutlet, tofu, stewed pork, gyoza, and a vegetable croquette that all get a healthy dose of brown curry.

The curry and the ten levels of heat one can incrementally add to a combo plate make CoCo Ichibanya different from other curry houses in the South Bay. The brown curry flavor is tempered compared to Thai and Indian curries with hints of smoke and sweetness. For most, the bare minimum level of heat that comes with every meal is sufficient enough, add an additional level of heat and sweat beads begin to appear. Ordering a meal with a level 4 or 5 heat is like asking for a numb mouth.

CoCo Ichibanya is located at 2455 Sepulveda Blvd, Torrance, CA..