Albert T.
Yelp
We dropped by Karaage Setsuna for a Saturday lunch, continuing on my quest to find the best Katsu Curry in the city. We arrived a bit after opening to an empty restaurant and were seated immediately. The waitress directed us to a QR code at the table to browse the menu. I found it a little puzzling that the code led to an online ordering system, but we weren't able to pay for the order online. Instead we had to wait for the waitress to bring a check after the meal. One small annoyance - they require online ordering but don't supply wifi in the restaurant. I realize this is probably a non-issue for most people, but it's a bit of a pet peeve of mine.
Poutine ($10.95) - The fries are pretty normal, on the skinnier side but hold up well to the cheese and gravy. There's a pile of melted shredded white and yellow cheddar cheese on top, creating lots of cheese stretch. Unfortunately, no curds are included in this dish. The gravy here is not traditional brown gravy, instead it seems to be a ketchup and Worcestershire based one, complete with a certain acidity and sweetness. Honestly, I thought it was a bit overpowering, almost like eating a pasta dish rather than poutine. It doesn't stick to the fries very well either, so most of the gravy pools on the bottom of the dish. I'm not sure why a lot of reviews state that they put curry on the poutine because it doesn't taste like curry at all. Maybe they've changed the recipe since then? Although, to be honest, I'd probably prefer curry being used since I don't think the gravy is very good on fries. (3/5)
Medium Kara-age ($13.50) - The menu states 8 pieces, but we got 9, so maybe we were lucky? The karaage served at Setsuna has a very fragrant exterior, filled with the scent and aroma of ginger, garlic, and soy. The breading doesn't cover the entire piece of chicken, but the covered parts are fried to a nice crisp, while the bare parts are tender and not leathery. The interior of the karaage is moist and still a little pink, with a bit of fat and skin attached to give richness and moisture. Although it's fried, it's not too oily. I think the karaage is flavorful and moist enough to eat even without being dipped in sauce. This is a very solid karaage and is a must order. (5/5)
Curry Rice w/ Tonkatsu ($23.95) - Since the karaage was excellent, I thought the tonkatsu would be good as well. Not to mention that the menu picture of the tonkatsu looked absolutely divine, showing a perfectly panko breaded piece of pork still exhibiting a trace of pink in the center of the cut. The waitress confirmed that the cut of meat they use is rosu (loin), so I thought the tonkatsu would be fatty and moist. That's unfortunately far from the truth. The meat is completely lean, like the chef trimmed off all of the fat including the side piece that traditionally comes with this cut. This, combined with the fry, results in a katsu that's dried out and tough, making it an unpleasant combination to eat. The breading doesn't help much - it's breaded evenly throughout in a thin layer, giving a delicate crisp to the pork, but for some reason it seems to be quite oil laden, too inundated to allow the pork flavor to shine and instead tasting like grease. I was wondering why it took so long for this to come out (probably 15 minutes after the other two dishes). Perhaps they forgot the tonkatsu in the fryer?
The curry itself doesn't taste like boxed curry. They either make the curry from scratch or take a boxed curry and add their own spin on it. In this case, the spin is a bit acidic tasting, maybe even a tad bitter. I'd think it was dark chocolate added in, but the sweetness doesn't reach chocolate-like levels. It also kind of reminded me of ketchup a little bit, but that could just be because of influence from the poutine gravy.
The rice they use is a proper short grain. I've been to five katsu curry places in the last month or so, and this is the only one out of the five to use short grain rice. That's a huge plus, as long as it's cooked properly. This one is probably 90% of the way there. Most of the rice is good, allowing each grain to be distinct and lending to a good mouthfeel. The last 10% of the rice clumps together and becomes a bit mushy in the center grains. Not a big deal, but it's just something that stood out to me.
I feel like I paid an extra money for a dish that's actively worse than just getting it with the default karaage. Given the poor cook and cut of the pork and how good the karaage is, I'd only get this dish with the karaage in the future. It saves $6 too.
Dine in orders come with miso soup. Quite salty, but filled with umami, with a bit of briny fish notes. Simple in execution, with not much else other than a tiny bit of scallion inside. (Overall 3.5/5)
As the namesake suggests, the karaage served at Karaage Setsuna is solid and I would come here solely for that dish. Everything else? Questionable.
Bathrooms - Two larger ones for each gender