Vegetarian Menu at Coco Curry Ichibanya, Japan

Vegetarian Curry at Coco Ichibanya

Coco Curry is a popular Japanese curry chain in Japan serving katsu curry. It’s a must-eat for me on every visit to Japan – especially as a late breakfast after a night of karaoke!

There are branches everywhere, it’s a delicious, satisfying meal and you get a large serving for a very reasonable price. But the best thing is how you can customise your curry and choose your spice level and toppings! And if you go for a spicy level, it’s actually spicy…

Coco Curry Vegetarian Menu

Vegetarian options can be difficult to find in Japan, so it’s fantastic that Coco Curry offers a completely vegetarian curry sauce.

There’s even a whole, separate vegetarian menu, with CHOICES (a novelty for vegetarians eating out, especially in Japan!).

You can add toppings and when you order, you can choose your spice level, just like with the regular menu.

The menu has several different languages including English, with photos of each dish so you know what you’re getting. If you don’t speak Japanese, you can point to order! To double-check you’re getting the veggie curry, you could say the Japanese work for vegetarian: “begetarian” – basically the same but with a b sound instead of v – easy! It’s not understood everywhere but at Coco Curry they’ll know what you’re talking about.

There’s a special menu just for vegetarians!

You can choose curry with:

• Mixed vegetables
• Vegetables and aubergine (eggplant)
• Tomato and asparagus
• Aubergine, spinach and tomato
• Spinach
• Mushroom, okra and yam
• Aubergine, tomato and asparagus
• Mushrooms
• Plain (just sauce and rice)

UPDATE: In March 2022, Coco Curry added a vegan soy meat hamburger steak to their menu! I tried it on my recent trip to Japan. There’ll be a video coming up on my YouTube channel so you can see what it’s like! 

They’re all under 1000 yen (£6.70, $8.79) and you get A LOT – I couldn’t manage all the rice, so it’s excellent value.

Be warned: there are several meals on the menu that look vegetarian, but they aren’t. The regular curry sauce contains meat stock or even chunks of hashed meat. To get the vegetarian sauce, the safest way is to pick one of the curries from the menu that says “vegetarian” and customise it by adding the toppings you want.

Special vegetarian menu (click to enlarge)

What’s it Like?

I’ve tried the mixed vegetable curry and the tomato and asparagus curry. Both were delicious – I probably preferred the mixed vegetables because of the potato. I’m curious to see if the aubergine curries really come out with the aubergine arranged so neatly in a row like on the picture menu!

I had cheese as a topping. It’s really stringy and makes it quite tricky to eat but adds to the texture. Phil’s not a fan but I like it!

The rice is really fluffy and delicious – it’s that magic Japanese style rice that sticks together without being sticky or the least bit stodgy – and you get a lot of it.

Vegetarian curry with tomato and asparagus – and cheese as a topping

The vegetarian sauce has a slightly different colour to the regular sauce:

Regular meat curry with pork katsu

Here’s what it was like in my video:

And here’s the first time I went to Coco Curry a few years ago – I messed up when ordering and ended up with just sauce and rice! This is the Akihabara Showa Dori branch:

Is Coco Curry Spicy?

I asked for “regular” spice level because I wasn’t bothered about it being spicy, and you could tell it had a little spicy kick, which was actually pretty satisfying.

Phil went for level 3 – he enjoys spicy food and doesn’t usually find spicy curry sauce in the UK particularly hot. He found it pretty spicy and said he probably wouldn’t go above level 3! My friend who won the chilli eating competition managed a level 5. To “unlock” the higher levels, you have to finish a level 5 first. I always wonder how they know – is there a special card or something??

Is it Vegan?

I checked the allergy information on Coco Curry’s website and it doesn’t contain dairy products or eggs! Although it’s produced in a place that also handles milk. I also read that it contains a small amount of honey, so whether it’s vegan it depends on your individual dietary preferences.