Curry & Cafe Celan - My First Taste of Hokkaido Soup Curry @ Otaru (Very near to Mt. Tengu Ropeway) [Japan] #celan

While researching on notable food to try in Hokkaido, i came upon this dish known as soup curry. Now, i don't particularly fancy Japanese curry and hence, didn't keep a mental note about its whereabouts.

As fate has its way of mocking humans, we found ourselves undecided on where to have lunch after Mt Tengu at Otaru and a nearby search on google map unveiled a restaurant called Celan (ケラン) that had a high star rating of 4.3.

Located in a building that could have been mistaken as a house, we were caught off guard by how small the place was; including the counter seats, i don't think it can sit more than 20 diners.

Together with the provision of complimentary WiFi, a container of iced water was also placed on every table. That's Japanese service for us and to think that even if the 10% service charge was imposed in Singapore, you might still be required to pay for that cup of plain water.

Windows looked out to the skate park and you might be in luck to catch a few amazing stunts. However, that's only possible before the food arrives because once it's on your table, your focus would be different.

The menu with Japanese characters that none of us was proficient in; as usual, we recognized a few characters and figured there were spice levels from 1 to 10.

Knowing we are foreigners, the operators kindly passed us English menu with nice pictures with clear indication on the type of soup curry, the kind of soup (tomato versus spice), the spicy level and the portion of the rice (free for small and medium).

Pork Curry Soup (Spice) - i am the only person who chose pork curry soup; i figured chicken curry was pretty common in Singapore and since pork is an option, why not give it a try?

I am pretty careful as i am not that well-acquainted with spiciness and decided on spice curry level two with only a small serving of rice! Frankly, i didn't think much of the curry and assumed it would be light and less flavourful than Singapore's version when i took a sip.

Stewed for six hours, the soup curry was thicker than expected with a peppery fragrance that's piquant yet totally manageable for my standard! Equally commendable were the ingredients; the pork belly was tender, juicy and fatty and we can literally taste the freshness in the vegetables!

My only regret - not getting more rice to go with the delicious curry!

Crispy Chicken Soup Curry (Tomato) - Alex's order was spice level one for tomato soup and while the curry had a sweeter tinge, i do feel that my pork curry soup was better than his.

A satisfying meal no doubt! If you ask me to compare between Singapore curry and the soup curry in Hokkaido, i can only say both are good in their own ways but because of the virgin experience at Celan Curry, i actually planned for a meal at a famous soup curry restaurant in Sapporo a few days later!

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