Cha Ra

Rating: Very good
Meal:  Lunch
Price:  880 yen
Payment:  Cash only
Dishes:  Chicken katsu curry
English Menu:Yes
Smoking:Yes

Cha Ra is an izakaya very close to our apartment and just within walking distance for lunch.  However, they are usually closed, but I was pleased to see recently a sign out front indicating they would be open for lunch from Wed - Friday (and weekends).  So I stopped in today to check it out.

It's a nice bar, with a huge wide natural wood counter top.  The vibe is Okinawan, but not oppressively so.  It is a bar, so smoking might happen.

The menu is limited to curry dishes, ranging from plain curry, to spam curry, chicken/pork katsu curry and finally steak curry!  The curry is the same of course (Japanese Navy Curry), but the toppings are the difference.  I went with the chicken katsu curry and was very pleasantly surprised.  The curry itself was excellent, flavorful and full of meat and veggies, no potatoes (a good thing in my opnion).  The chicken katsu was great too, fresh and hand made.  You can tell after a while if a katsu has been pulled from the freezer and dropped into the fryer or if it was hand made, and this was the good stuff.  At first I thought it would be way too much food, but it was artfully piled to give that impression and I was done before I realized it.  They price was excellent too...usually something like this on Dobuita Street would cost over 1000 yen.

So, a nice surprise for lunch!  I might meet my wife for lunch there now and then.