Hareruya

Rating: OK
Meal: Dinner
Price: 1000 yen
Payment: Cash only
Dishes: Curry tsukemen
English Menu: No
Smoking: No

Who doesn't love a good pun?  Hareruya (i.e. Hallelujah) is a little restaurant specializing in curry dishes.  The name uses the verb "hareru" which means "to clear up" (as in, the weather) and "ya" which means store or shop.  Cute!  And the place itself is too.  I believe this is the same spot that housed the lunch only 106 Cafe that I reviewed a while back.  Not sure if this is just the evening restaurant or if 106 Cafe is now defunct, but regardless I had not yet reviewed it in this incarnation, so I decided to try it out last night.

Interestingly, it is a vending machine place, kind of like a ramen shop.  But there is only one really ramen like item on the menu, the curry tsukemen, which is what I ended up ordering, along with a deep fried chicken drumstick.  I was asked if I wanted cold or hot noodles I believe, and I said whichever was fine with me.  I believe I got cold.  The dish of noodles is topped with some pork and cabbage, and the curry sauce is in a small bowl to the side for dipping the noodles into.  It was pretty, good, just ok really.  I'm not a huge Japanese curry fan these days, so there's that.  They did have some tasty toppings, including garlic olive oil, pickled garlic and the usual curry pickles.  The chicken was interesting...very much coated in something...maybe rice crispies?  Not sure...kind of cereal like.  Tasted ok too.

Overall, a nice little spot, but for me the food was just ok.