Curry House CoCo Ichibanya

Japan’s largest and best known chain of curry houses, CoCo Ichibanya, has opened near Leicester Square. For a full-on dose of filling comfort food served with fiery heat, a visit to this legendary eatery’s first European outpost is a must.

It wasn’t too long ago I tried – and loved – CoCo Ichibanya for the first time in Japan. To know I now can have it here is delicious news indeed!



The last ‘big’ trip I took in 2018 was to Japan in November. There for a couple of commissions, I split the time between Kobe and Hiroshima. Most of my time in both cities, I was accompanied by reps from local tourism boards and bound to a tight schedule of must-see and must-eat destinations. To be sure, I had a blast, and my hosts were gracious and enjoyable company.

However, one night in Kobe I was on my own for dinner. It was late, and I was hungry and tired. So I set out to find a decent place to eat that was near my hotel and would take a credit card for payment. Viola! CoCo Ichibanya fit the bill. I went with pork cutlet with cheese over rice with a moderate amount of spicy heat applied to the curry sauce. More than fit my perfunctory remit, the food at CoCo rocked my palate. I was really glad to have come across this little gem of an eatery and for having tried what I discovered was one of Japan’s most popular fast casual restaurants.

So imagine my surprise a couple of weeks back when roaming around Covent Garden I came across the new London branch of CoCo Ichibanya.

There are outlets all over Japan, scattered across east Asia and few in the US states of California and Hawaii, but the new Great Newport Street restaurant is the first in Europe. 

There’s been a bit of hype about Ichibanya launching in London. I’ve heard queues can get quite lengthy in the evenings. My experience was satisfactorily streamlined. I was seated immediately as a walk-in for a midweek lunch.

I had the menu “best seller” – Chicken Katsu & Cheese Curry (£13.40). Given a choice of spice level (and basing my judgement on my meal back in Kobe), I opted the highest: Level 5 Crazy Heat. To be sure it was fiery stuff, but manageable with a glass of water. It didn’t kill the umami-riffic flavour of the curry either. 

The chicken was crisp on the outside, succulent within.

Service was swift and polite. Aesthetic was tight but comfy. The restaurant was exceedingly neat and gleamingly clean.

Curry House CoCo Ichibanya is located at 17-18 Great Newport Street, WC2H 7JE. Find out more at ichibanya.uk.