Donut or do not?

Nadai Fujisoba is a noodle restaurant that frequently makes waves, both with its unorthodox menu items like noodles & toast as well as its simple recipes for dishes like katsudon that it shares on social media.

Fujisoba’s recent offering seems to fall somewhere in between the two, with a meal suggestion that’s neither on their menu nor explained as a recipe, but intriguing nonetheless…

▼ “Are you listening… We’re speaking directly to your heart… Put it atop rice and bind it with egg… Curry pan and rice go together surprisingly well… The curry pan is bound with egg…”

Creepy wording aside, the idea of serving curry pan on rice is rather novel. By the way, curry pan – where “pan” is the Japanese word for bread – is like a donut, only instead of using sweet stuff like powdered sugar and jelly, it’s served extra greasy and filled with curry.

▼ Curry pan

It’s also generally considered a stand-alone snack rather than a meal’s key ingredient, and this unconventional use of curry pan inspired our reporter Mr. Sato to try making it himself. However, the tweet didn’t explain how to make it, so he winged it and gathered a pack of pre-cooked rice, six-pack of eggs, dried-fish soup stock for seasoning, and curry pan from 7-Eleven because it was his favorite.

Going by the photo in the tweet, this dish appears to be curry pan sitting on top of a bowl of rice and covered in creamy egg. So, first Mr. Sato simmered some soup stock in a pot.

He then added some beaten egg and stirred until the mixture reached a boil.

In the meantime, he heated the rice and curry pan and got them nicely arranged in a bowl.

Finally, he added the egg on top.

All in all, it was really simple, and Mr. Sato was quite proud of his work.

▼ Mr. Sato: “Ta-daaaa!”

It certainly looked promising, but our reporter had never eaten anything quite like this.

Upon closer inspection, he felt he overcooked the egg too much, making it lumpy in places.

A smoother consistency would have been ideal, but there was no turning back now. Mr. Sato got a tray for some reason and went in for a taste.

As you might have guessed from the start, there were some logistical issues with eating such a thing. His first bite was mostly curry pan and egg.

It would have to do for a first impression though…

Mr. Sato’s inner conflict was written across his face. He explained that it wasn’t quite as delicious as he imagined, but it wasn’t bad either. The fried coating around the curry pan is the biggest problem. If it were a light breading like on a croquette or pork cutlet it would be fine but the leathery donut-like thickness just got in the way.

To get a clearer sense of it, he then took a more balanced bite that included a heartier portion of rice.

Fujisoba insisted that curry pan and rice go together surprisingly well, so maybe that was the key…

Or not…

Of course, it’s well established that curry and rice go great together, but that breading just kept interfering with our writer’s enjoyment of it all. It was as if the curry and rice were lovers awash in a sea of savory egg, but the breading was the curry’s jealous friend that constantly tried to sabotage the relationship.

It wasn’t terrible by any means, but that’s what made it all the more frustrating. It was just on the edge of glory but jerked back at the last minute by breading.

That being said, this might have been caused by several factors in Mr. Sato’s cooking. A more flavorfully seasoned egg might have helped balance things out, and while 7-Eleven curry pan is delicious, it might not have had the suitable properties to be eaten this way.

So, if you’re a super fan of curry pan and rice bowls, this might be a dish worth trying out. Just learn from Mr. Sato’s mistakes and chose your ingredients very carefully!

Source: Twitter/@fujisobar
Photos ©SoraNews24
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