Hanaichi

Since I live in the area, and I was craving curry, I decided to try Hanaichi. It’s in a small building across the street from Yoshinoya. Judging by the prices, I wasn’t expecting much, but I was wrong. I’ve been to this place 4 times in the last couple of months. It is open on weekdays for lunch & dinner.
I ordered…
牛すじロースかつカレー Beef Tendon Pork Katsu Curry 690 (first visit) *****++
This is by far the best item on the menu! It is the best curry I’ve had in Shinbashi. The slightly fattier than usual beef curry and the thin pork katsu goes together with the slow-​cooked but somewhat bland chewy beef tendon. The beef tendon has bits of meat too. The curry is flavorful, the beef tendon adds good texture to the pork katsu and soaks a lot of the saltiness and fattiness.
ロースかつカレー 大盛りPork Katsu Curry 620 *** (second visit)
Trying to re-​create the magic of the 牛筋ロースかつカレー 大盛り at a slightly lower price, I tried the ロースかつカレー 大盛り. It was alright, but I felt overall it was a bit on the salty side and I didn’t think the katsu was any bigger than regular size. The 大盛り made it a little bigger than the usual 620 yen curry at other places but otherwise it was pretty average. Halfway through I was getting a bit tired of the fattiness and saltiness and I regretted getting the 大盛り.
牛すじカレー 大盛り 750 *** (third visit)
Thinking the magic must have been the 牛すじ, I ordered the 牛すじ this time. I was so sure that it was the 牛すじ that made my first trip to this place good that I made it an 大盛り. But, again, I was left wanting more. The portion was huge and there was lots of tendon&beef, but overall it wasn’t as tasty or as meaty as when it had the pork katsu. The blandness eventually made it hard to get through the entire plate and I regretted getting the 大盛り.
牛すじロースかつカレー Beef Tendon Pork Katsu Curry 690 (fourth visit) *****++
It was just as good as i remembered! Sure enough, the katsu, curry, 牛すじ, and the rice went together in a perfect harmony of flavor and texture. I will never go to CoCo壱 on a weekday with curry this good in the same neighborhood. It was a month and a half between my first and fourth trips to this place, and I’ve had so many different plates of curry trying to find something that matches this, but this one is by far the best. Nothing comes close. I will go back to this place for sure and now I know not to order anything else.