Cult hit Nippon Curry brings Japanese-style curry to Berkeley

Tokyo-based chain Hinoya Curry, which opened a rabidly popular location in San Francisco a few years ago called Nippon Curry, has debuted a second spot across from the university campus in Berkeley.

Nippon Curry Berkeley is located at 2512 Bancroft Way in the former space of soup specialists Ladle and Leaf. It had its soft opening on May 22 and is running a limited menu featuring its trademark Japanese curries, which are quite different from Indian curries — subtly spiced, sweeter, and more savory and calorific, in a good way. The curries come with a side of rice and punchy, firetruck-red Japanese pickles.

During its soft opening, the restaurant is only doing lunch service for take-out orders. Available at the moment is beef curry, pork katsu curry, karaage (fried chicken) curry and Japanese potato-croquettes curry. The beef curry is $9 and the rest are $12.

There are plentiful Hinoya Curry operations around Tokyo, all using a proprietary curry formula that has drawn a cult fanbase. The company has won in Japan’s Kanda Curry Grand Prix — yes, that’s a thing, celebrating this specific type of dish.

The San Francisco location’s owners, Barry Louie and Thomas Uehara, have said in the past that they “want to make Japanese curry more mainstream — like ramen or sushi or wonton noodles.” The Berkeley restaurant is just one more step on the restaurant chain’s quest to put more spots in America, according to Berkeleyside’s Nosh.

Details: Soft-opening hours are 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday (closed Sunday-Tuesday) at 2512 Bancroft Way, Berkeley; nipponcurry.com