Curry Flight

Flight 22 Return to Curry Rice in 2023.

For the past 10 years, when people talk about "the latest curry trend" on TV or in magazines, they almost always refer to "spice curry. Curry served in a single dish, with a variety of colorful side dishes, and presented in a way that looks good on SNS, is the synonym for "spiced curry" and is the newest type of curry. This is the newest type of curry. I think everyone is somewhat aware of this, aren't they?

Recently, however, there are signs of a major change in the curry market. In a word, it is a "return to curry and rice. What does this mean? Let's talk about the future of the curry world.

Spiced curry may have been one "era".

To begin with, the term "spiced curry" does not have a definition that everyone is aware of. When the spiced curry movement exploded in Osaka in the early 2000s ,, . It was lumped together under conditions such as, "Spiced curry without ready-made curry powder or flour, made with a proprietary mixture of spices, and made smooth and silky," but that was only a "lumping" and not a "definition.

Rather, inspired by the original curry at "Kashmir" in Kitahama by Akito Goto, former bassist of EGO-WRAPPIN', young people sought a place of expression in curry and began to create a new curry that removed the existing rules of curry. This cultural aspect was more important. The phrase, "made without ready-made curry powder or flour, with a unique spice blend and a silky finish," is the antithesis of existing curries. Spiced curry" was a counterculture to the traditional way of thinking.

Columbia Eight, a representative of the second generation of spiced curries by Ogimir, who was directly influenced by Kashmir.

I believe that the perception of "spice curry" in Osaka would be more accurate if it were viewed as a movement similar to the "hokoten band" boom of around 1990 in the music scene, or the nouvelle vague movement of Godard and Truffaut in the history of film.

Aigake Curry at Spice Salon Babil Tower

Soon, the glamorous and innovative visuals of "spiced curry" became the dream of curry enthusiasts nationwide through SNS, and began to attract media attention. Around 2017, when the representative Osaka spiced curry restaurant "Kyu Yam Residence" entered the Tokyo market, "spiced curry" features began to appear frequently in the national media. These curries were sparked from Osaka, with their novel visuals that I had never seen before. I was interviewed by various media outlets and wrote articles on the topic, and the first question I was asked was, "What is the definition of spiced curry? I was asked. In contrast to the ambiguity of "spiced curry is generally like that," which was probably somewhat common in Osaka, the Tokyo media demanded a "single correct answer.

However, as soon as the term "spice curry" is defined as "a curry that does not use ready-made curry powder or flour, but is made with a unique mixture of spices, and is made smooth and silky" without cultural context, South Indian curry, Sri Lankan curry, Nepalese curry, and even Hokkaido soup curry must be included in the "spice curry" category. . Well, that's the way it goes, isn't it? Well, that's what happens, doesn't it?

So, to repeat, I think it is more natural to think of "spice curry" as a "food counterculture movement that took off in Osaka from the 1990s to the 2000s.

As of 2023, just as a band that became popular from a street performance is not called a "hokoten band," and just as Godard and Truffaut did not continue to follow the style of their early films, I believe that the way "spiced curry" will change in accordance with the times. As a side note, according to the definition of "spiced curry" as "curry made with a unique mixture of spices without using ready-made curry powder or flour," the oldest existing spiced curry in Japan is the murgi ranch of the Nile Restaurant in Ginza (established in 1949).

. seen, a return to curry and rice.

. Rather, what we hear a lot these days is, "There are so many similar spiced curries, it's hard to tell them apart. Now that the number of restaurants has increased, various recipes have been published, and "spice curry" has gained a certain level of citizenship, it is fair to say that its significance as a counterculture has come to the end of its usefulness.

In this context, it is noteworthy that more and more restaurants are focusing on "curry rice" as the antithesis of "spiced curry," which has become in a sense "the norm" in both the Kansai and Kanto regions.

Fennel" in Nishi Ogikubo won the Japanese Curry Awards 2022 Newcomer Award. Chef Garai, who mastered spice cooking techniques at a top hotel in Kerala, South India, utilized his skills while expressing a return to a unique Japanese style of curry rice.

Even in Osaka , the home of spiced curry
Just as Queen brought opera back to the world of rock music with her famous song "Bohemian Rhapsody," curry rice is now, on the contrary, fresh! . This must be the reason why curry rice is so fresh.

A roundabout way, neo curry and rice.

A return to curry and rice, however, is not a mere nostalgia.
It would be more accurate to say that curry, which had achieved a degree of freedom of expression through the spiced curry movement, ended up with curry rice as a result of its search for more freedom.
As mentioned earlier, the early spiced curries were implicitly defined as curries that did not use ready-made curry powder or flour, but instead used a proprietary mixture of spices and a dry, silky finish.
But now that this has become commonplace, commoditized from the counterculture, it has conversely become a "binding" that narrows the range of expression, hasn't it?
As a result, they said, "Why not use curry powder or flour . . or even creamy." ." It would be natural to remove the forbidden.

Dramatic Curry Golden Nakasaki by Tatsuya Mishima . European-style curry with ai or katsu (pork cutlet) on top , or dashi broth poured over it. The forbidden spiced curry of the past no longer exists.

Another thing is that many spice curry restaurants have been focusing on the fusion of spices and dashi as a unique Japanese way of expression, different from that of India. Japanese soup stock" such as kombu, niboshi, mackerel and sea bream, and "Chinese soup stock" such as chicken bones, momiji, pork bones, etc. ... new and original soup stock curries are appearing one after another.

However, when the perspective turned to the West in search of new dashi, fon and bouillon ... what? I thought this was something that the great predecessors of curry had been doing since the Meiji era. . and then you realize, "Well, I've been doing this since the Meiji Era.

European Curry Le Moulin" was born in front of the main gate of the University of Tokyo in 2021. It has the deep richness of European-style curry, but the after-feel is refreshing.

How philosophical it is to travel to a world far, far away and arrive at the destination of that curry and rice that you have loved since childhood.

Entering a new era of Nippon Curry, a world-class cuisine.

. Now, all over the world, Japanese curry and rice is attracting a great deal of attention. . It is called "KATSU CURRY" or "Japanese-style curry rice".
However, the focus there seems to be on so-called "curry rice" and not so much on the various "spice curries" that are popular in Japan today.
Indeed, from a foreign point of view, it is natural that people are not looking for "South Indian style" or "Sri Lankan essence" and value something more "Japanese original".

Therefore, I must say that it is very valuable that the wonderful modern curries that have evolved in a variety of ways in Japan are once again regaining their ties with traditional Japanese curry and rice, and are being redefined as the new "Nippon Curry".

Kathur" is a spiced curry restaurant by Chef Kato, who started his career as an independent chef from "Old Yam Residence", a leading spiced curry restaurant. . It is a spiced curry with a European appearance.

Miyagi "3flavor curry" will focus on "onigiri" rice balls, a blend of Indian and Japanese rice, and will be composed of curry and side dishes.

The Osaka spiced curry movement as a counterculture brought about a liberalization of curry expression.
From there, history is once again connected, and a new Nippon Curry Rice is about to be born.

The year 2023 will be the turning point year. I have a feeling that it will be.

We will continue to discuss this major movement in our next issue.

Stay tuned for the next Flight.