Crazy-big 'Bam!' Hunk of Meat Curry returns to Japan's favorite curry rice chain, price still rising
This curry rice has so much meat it gets its own sound effect.
Prices have been going up and up for just about everything in Japan, and that includes the food at Cocoichibanya, Japan's biggest curry rice restaurant chain. Cocoichi, as it's also known, has seen its customer numbers slipping after a series of recent price hikes, with those customers who are still showing up paying, on average, more for their meals than they used to.
It's with that background that Cocoichi has brought back its Nikukai/'Hunk of Meat' curry. Released for the first time in April of 2023, the exact name of this massive meaty dish has changed a few times, but it's always something impactful. At one point it was called the 'Bam! Hearty Tender Meat Curry,' and its newest iteration, being served at Cocoichi right now, is the 'Bam! Tender Meat with Garlic and Pepper Curry' (or the Horoniku Dokan with Garlic and Pepper Curry).
As with previous Nikukai curries, the newest version, which is the fifth generation, is available in a variety of 'levels,' each one upping the amount of meat you get, with prices ranging from 1,690 yen (US$11.65) to 3,280 yen.
Even as our mouths watered, though, we couldn't help noticing that all of these prices are higher than the last time around. Cocoichi releases a new Nikukai Curry version roughly every six months on a limited-time basis, and the newest dish is 40 yen more expensive, for each level, than its predecessor from last November. As a matter of fact, every single time the Nikukai Curry comes back, it's gotten more expensive, with a Level 3 now costing 379 yen more than the first-gen dish of the same size did in spring of 2023.
However, with our boss picking up the tab for this taste test, we were able to temporarily set aside any concerns about the cost, and bask in the beauty of the Bam! Tender Meat with Garlic and Pepper Curry.
Our ace reporter Mr. Sato, who'd drawn taste-testing duties, opted for the 2,220-yen Level 2, and even though it's the second-smallest of the current Nikukai curry quartet, it was still a veritable meat mountain of steamed pork shoulder loin.
With his expectations rising as high as the pork pile, Mr. Sato picked up a piece of meat in his spoon. Visually, it reminded him of a boulder, but the pork is incredibly tender, so much so that you can easily slice it with just the side of your spoon.
The roux has rich soy sauce notes to it, and is seasoned with four different types of coarse-ground pepper (black, white, green, and pink), plus a sprinkling of fried garlic chips. This is a very aromatic plate of curry rice, and the pepper and garlic shine through stronger than any other flavors in the roux, for a result akin to what's sometimes called 'spice curry' (not to be confused with spicy curry) in Japan.
It's an invigorating mix of flavors and juices, and Mr. Sato thinks it'd be a great plate to charge yourself up on an otherwise stamina-sapping hot summer's day, a sentiment you also get from the rocking-out promotional video Cocoichi has for the new Nikukai curry.
However, we're not sure if the Bam! Tender Meat with Garlic and Pepper Curry will still be around when we get to the hottest part of the year, since it's a limited-time menu item with no specified end-of-availability date. Because of that, we'd advise finding a slot for it in your meal plans sooner rather than later…or maybe two slots, considering how huge it is.
Related: Cocoichibanya location list
Photos ©SoraNews24
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SoraNews24
7 hours ago
- SoraNews24
Crazy-big 'Bam!' Hunk of Meat Curry returns to Japan's favorite curry rice chain, price still rising
This curry rice has so much meat it gets its own sound effect. Prices have been going up and up for just about everything in Japan, and that includes the food at Cocoichibanya, Japan's biggest curry rice restaurant chain. Cocoichi, as it's also known, has seen its customer numbers slipping after a series of recent price hikes, with those customers who are still showing up paying, on average, more for their meals than they used to. It's with that background that Cocoichi has brought back its Nikukai/'Hunk of Meat' curry. Released for the first time in April of 2023, the exact name of this massive meaty dish has changed a few times, but it's always something impactful. At one point it was called the 'Bam! Hearty Tender Meat Curry,' and its newest iteration, being served at Cocoichi right now, is the 'Bam! Tender Meat with Garlic and Pepper Curry' (or the Horoniku Dokan with Garlic and Pepper Curry). As with previous Nikukai curries, the newest version, which is the fifth generation, is available in a variety of 'levels,' each one upping the amount of meat you get, with prices ranging from 1,690 yen (US$11.65) to 3,280 yen. Even as our mouths watered, though, we couldn't help noticing that all of these prices are higher than the last time around. Cocoichi releases a new Nikukai Curry version roughly every six months on a limited-time basis, and the newest dish is 40 yen more expensive, for each level, than its predecessor from last November. As a matter of fact, every single time the Nikukai Curry comes back, it's gotten more expensive, with a Level 3 now costing 379 yen more than the first-gen dish of the same size did in spring of 2023. However, with our boss picking up the tab for this taste test, we were able to temporarily set aside any concerns about the cost, and bask in the beauty of the Bam! Tender Meat with Garlic and Pepper Curry. Our ace reporter Mr. Sato, who'd drawn taste-testing duties, opted for the 2,220-yen Level 2, and even though it's the second-smallest of the current Nikukai curry quartet, it was still a veritable meat mountain of steamed pork shoulder loin. With his expectations rising as high as the pork pile, Mr. Sato picked up a piece of meat in his spoon. Visually, it reminded him of a boulder, but the pork is incredibly tender, so much so that you can easily slice it with just the side of your spoon. The roux has rich soy sauce notes to it, and is seasoned with four different types of coarse-ground pepper (black, white, green, and pink), plus a sprinkling of fried garlic chips. This is a very aromatic plate of curry rice, and the pepper and garlic shine through stronger than any other flavors in the roux, for a result akin to what's sometimes called 'spice curry' (not to be confused with spicy curry) in Japan. It's an invigorating mix of flavors and juices, and Mr. Sato thinks it'd be a great plate to charge yourself up on an otherwise stamina-sapping hot summer's day, a sentiment you also get from the rocking-out promotional video Cocoichi has for the new Nikukai curry. However, we're not sure if the Bam! Tender Meat with Garlic and Pepper Curry will still be around when we get to the hottest part of the year, since it's a limited-time menu item with no specified end-of-availability date. Because of that, we'd advise finding a slot for it in your meal plans sooner rather than later…or maybe two slots, considering how huge it is. Related: Cocoichibanya location list Photos ©SoraNews24 ● Want to hear about SoraNews24's latest articles as soon as they're published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter! [ Read in Japanese ]
Japan Today
10 hours ago
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Japan's most popular curry rice restaurant chain losing customers as it raises prices
By Casey Baseel, SoraNews24 Curry rice is one of Japan's favorite things to eat, and its favorite restaurant to eat it at is Cocoichibanya. Also known as Cocoichi, the chain, which was founded in 1978, has over 1,200 branches in Japan, making it the country's most prominent curry specialty restaurant by far. But while the taste of Cocoichi's curry remains as beloved as ever, the chain has experienced a substantial drop in its number of customers, and the reason why appears, pretty clearly, to be its rising prices. Cocoichi has a semi-customizable menu, in that customers can choose the type and spiciness of roux, amount of rice, and toppings for their curry rice. The prices for all of them, though, have been creeping higher and higher. The chain raised its prices twice in 2022, increasing prices for roux/rice and toppings by an average of 5.9 and 3.8 percent, respectively, in June of that year, and then again by 7.4 and 5.4 percent in December. Customers proved largely willing to eat those increased costs, but another round of price hikes came in August of 2024, raising curry/roux by an average of 10.5 percent and toppings by 13.5 percent, and those seem to be too much for many diners to swallow. Between September of 2024 and February of 2025, the chain recorded a 5.2-percent drop in its number of total customers, compared to that period in the previous year. Customer numbers for this fiscal year, which started in March, are even worse so far, with 7.5 percent fewer customers in March and 6 percent fewer customers in April (compared to those months in 2024). Image: SoraNews24 It's not surprising that Cocoichi has raised its prices. Inflation has been accelerating in Japan over the past year, especially for foodstuffs. The country is also in the middle of a rice shortage, with prices for the grain having roughly doubled compared to a year ago, and when the price of rice goes up, so too, naturally will the price of curry rice. However, for generations curry rice has been seen as a hearty but also inexpensive meal in Japanese culinary culture, a favorite of hungry students, hard-working blue-collar employees, and others looking to leave a restaurant with both their stomach and their wallet comfortably full. To many, curry rice is the sort of thing you should be able to order without being concerned about the cost at all, but with wage increases not keeping pace with rising prices in Japan, and many workers not seeing their wages increase at all, Cocoichi's repeated price increases seem to have brought its curry rice to a point that an increasing number of prospective customers are balking at. So how much does a Cocoichi meal cost these days? Again, as mentioned above, there's a lot of customization that can be done in ordering, all of which affects the price. A basic plate of just rice and roux, though, now costs 646 yen for pork-based curry, and 794 yen for beef-based curry. Just about everyone, though, adds some sort of meat and/or vegetables as toppings, though, and the average amount spent by a single diner at Cocoichi is now 1,208 yen. With the smallest denomination of yen bill being the 1,000-yen bill, for many consumers 1,000 yen is a significant tipping point, and while 1,208 yen may not qualify Cocoichi as luxury dining, it also means that, in many people's minds, it's no longer an inexpensive meal either. It's worth noting that Cocoichi's customer numbers slipping hasn't hurt its bottom line, at least not yet, since in 2024 the chain's operating profits were up 4.5 percent compared to 2023. However, that figure includes the profits from the first half of 2024, before the latest price increase and subsequent customer losses, and with curry rice's image as good, honest (and affordable) food, plus Cocoichi's casual restaurant ambiance, there's likely a limit to how much success the chain can have chasing a bigger-spending yet numerically smaller clientele. Source: Nikkan Spa via Itai News, Cocoichibanya Read more stories from SoraNews24. -- Japan's favorite curry rice restaurant chain also runs a bakery with more than just curry bread -- Japan's most popular curry chain now has vegan soup curry, and it's delicious【Taste test】 -- Curry rice king Coco Ichi removes 80 percent of rice, replaces it with something else in new dish © SoraNews24
SoraNews24
a day ago
- SoraNews24
Japan's most popular curry rice restaurant chain losing customers as it raises prices
Ordinarily Japan can't get enough Cocoichi, but some are saying enough is enough with the price hikes. Curry rice is one of Japan's favorite things to eat, and its favorite restaurant to eat it at is Cocoichibanya. Also known as Cocoichi, the chain, which was founded in 1978, has over 1,200 branches in Japan, making it the country's most prominent curry specialty restaurant by far. But while the taste of Cocoichi's curry remains as beloved as ever, the chain has experienced a substantial drop in its number of customers, and the reason why appears, pretty clearly, to be its rising prices. Cocoichi has a semi-customizable menu, in that customers can choose the type and spiciness of roux, amount of rice, and toppings for their curry rice. The prices for all of them, though, have been creeping higher and higher. The chain raised its prices twice in 2022, increasing prices for roux/rice and toppings by an average of 5.9 and 3.8 percent, respectively, in June of that year, and then again by 7.4 and 5.4 percent in December. Customers proved largely willing to eat those increased costs, but another round of price hikes came in August of 2024, raising curry/roux by an average of 10.5 percent and toppings by 13.5 percent, and those seem to be too much for many diners to swallow. Between September of 2024 and February of 2025, the chain recorded a 5.2-percent drop in its number of total customers, compared to that period in the previous year. Customer numbers for this fiscal year, which started in March, are even worse so far, with 7.5 percent fewer customers in March and 6 percent fewer customers in April (compared to those months in 2024). It's not surprising that Cocoichi has raised its prices. Inflation has been accelerating in Japan over the past year, especially for foodstuffs. The country is also in the middle of a rice shortage, with prices for the grain having roughly doubled compared to a year ago, and when the price of rice goes up, so too, naturally will the price of curry rice. However, for generations curry rice has been seen as a hearty but also inexpensive meal in Japanese culinary culture, a favorite of hungry students, hard-working blue-collar employees, and others looking to leave a restaurant with both their stomach and their wallet comfortably full. To many, curry rice is the sort of thing you should be able to order without being concerned about the cost at all, but with wage increases not keeping pace with rising prices in Japan, and many workers not seeing their wages increase at all, Cocoichi's repeated price increases seem to have brought its curry rice to a point that an increasing number of prospective customers are balking at. So how much does a Cocoichi meal cost these days? Again, as mentioned above, there's a lot of customization that can be done in ordering, all of which affects the price. A basic plate of just rice and roux, though, now costs 646 yen (US$4.50) for pork-based curry, and 794 yen for beef-based curry. Just about everyone, though, adds some sort of meat and/or vegetables as toppings, though, and the average amount spent by a single diner at Cocoichi is now 1,208 yen. With the smallest denomination of yen bill being the 1,000-yen bill, for many consumers 1,000 yen is a significant tipping point, and while 1,208 yen may not qualify Cocoichi as luxury dining, it also means that, in many people's minds, it's no longer an inexpensive meal either. It's worth noting that Cocoichi's customer numbers slipping hasn't hurt its bottom line, at least not yet, since in 2024 the chain's operating profits were up 4.5 percent compared to 2023. However, that figure includes the profits from the first half of 2024, before the latest price increase and subsequent customer losses, and with curry rice's image as good, honest (and affordable) grub, plus Cocoichi's casual restaurant ambiance, there's likely a limit to how much success the chain can have chasing a bigger-spending yet numerically smaller clientele. Source: Nikkan Spa via Itai News, Cocoichibanya Photos ©SoraNews24 ● Want to hear about SoraNews24's latest articles as soon as they're published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
