DISH OF THE WEEK: Pork Katsu Curry at SUKI

Every week, I document another dish that impressed and satiated me during my food adventures around New York City

When you think of a curry house, you generally expect the proprietors to be from India (or maybe Bangladesh) and the menu to feature a wide range of spicy sauces. And you’d right, of course, unless it was a Japanese curry house.

Suki is not the first restaurant in the city to specialize in one of Japan’s most popular dishes, but it is the latest. And the one where I finally truly appreciated the art of Japanese curry.

The curries in Japan are quite different from the ones in India or Thailand. Instead of a bright yellow, they are a deep reddish brown and are not always spicy. You can order it as an addition to noodles, dry with ground meat over rice, or baked into a casserole and topped with cheese. But the base is always the same.

I chose my curry as an accompaniment to fried pork cutlets called katsu.

It was hard to tell which was the leading component here – the breaded pork that had a schnitzel quality with a hint of sweetness, the delicious little sesame-spiked crunchy salad, or the bowl of gravy-like curry.

Doesn’t matter because all components (including the necessary rice) came together to create an outstanding plate of food. The curry is intensely complex with layers of flavor. The base is a flour/butter roux along with onions, tomatoes, apples, and a heady mix of spices (including fenugreek, cayenne, nutmeg, mace, and more).

I’ve often found Japanese curry a little too rich but paired here as an accompaniment to the fried pork, it’s wonderful. It has a hint of sweetness rounded out by some heat and a never-ending explosion of aromatic spices.

This area of the East Village used to be known as Curry Row because of all the Indian restaurants that once lined East 6th Street. Most of them have closed up shop but I think the name is appropriate once again thanks to Suki.. Price: $14.95