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Matsuya's Chunky Chicken Curry Is Way Too Good

Restaurant Published

Translated from my original Japanese post (2019). 日本語の原文を読む →

Salut! It's Yoko, the food blogger!

One day in May I was craving curry for dinner,

but I had zero energy to cook, and CoCo Ichibanya (a curry chain) was closed, so I didn't know what to do.

While I was scrolling on my phone wondering what to do,

I came across a rumor that Matsuya's "Chunky Stewed Chicken Curry" is insanely good!

And apparently it's a limited-time menu item... (I can't resist the word "limited.")

I've only been to Matsuya once in my life.
I'm not a fan of beef fat...

I hesitated a little, but the reviews online were great, so I decided to give it a try.

Trying the Chunky Stewed Chicken Curry

Here's the Chunky Stewed Chicken Curry I brought home from Matsuya.

Unlike at CoCo Ichi, the rice and the curry come in separate containers.

The curry is a deep dark brown.

When I tasted it, the spices just burst across my whole mouth!!

The heat is moderate, and even I, who'm not great with spicy food, could enjoy it.

It's clearly made with plenty of spices.

It's like a garam masala, but no single spice stands out. The whole thing is nicely balanced.

The onions are cut into thick wedges about 1.5 cm wide and have real presence.

And the star, the "chunky stewed chicken": the amount and size of the chicken is amazing!!

It's about as much as a pack of chicken thigh for karaage (fried chicken) at the supermarket (one whole thigh).

I counted eight pieces...

Here's one on a spoon, so you can see how big it is.

Taken with rice in one bite... it's moist and tender!!

Chicken doesn't easily dry out even when stewed for a long time, but I think they've clearly thought about the heat level too.

I was eating at home, so I enjoyed it with wine.

It's a Shiraz-based red wine from Maverick Breechens.

I was worried it might not go with the spiciness of the curry,

but Shiraz is a spicy grape variety, so the pairing was excellent!

It has concentrated fruit like prunes and smooth tannins, and it tastes far better than you'd expect for the ¥2,000 range.

It's a favorite everyday wine of mine that keeps for a few days after opening.

The Chunky Stewed Chicken Curry Is a Limited Item Every Spring

According to my research, the Chunky Stewed Chicken Curry is sold as a limited-time item around April every year.

This year it went on sale on April 16,

and for the past three years it started on April 12, 2016, June 6, 2017 and April 3, 2018.

It looks like in 2018 they also sold a Chunky Chicken Tomato Curry on August 7!

I love tomatoes, so I'm intrigued.

Every year when the Chunky Stewed Chicken Curry comes back, Twitter starts buzzing,

so keep an eye out so you don't miss it!

How Long Can You Eat It?

According to Matsuya's official Twitter, sales end at 10:00 on May 22 this year.
(Some stores have already stopped selling it.)

It's this popular and they only sell it for about a month... With that much chicken in it, the cost must be pretty high.

If it were a regular menu item, I think a lot of people would become regulars.

But maybe the hype exists precisely because it's limited.

Calories and Nutrition of the Chunky Stewed Chicken Curry

Here are the calories and nutrition for the Chunky Stewed Chicken Curry, as listed on Matsuya's official website.

With all that chicken, it has over 45 g of protein...!

According to Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare dietary reference intakes, the recommended daily protein for women aged 10 and over is 50 g,

so you get almost a full day's worth of protein.

Regular size
Calories: 910 kcal
Protein: 45.2 g
Fat: 27.1 g
Carbohydrates: 117.8 g
Sodium: 2422 mg
Salt equivalent: 6.2 g

Large size
Calories: 1126 kcal
Protein: 48.7 g
Fat: 30.3 g
Carbohydrates: 159.5 g
Sodium: 2720 mg
Salt equivalent: 6.9 g

The protein barely differs between regular and large, so the extra volume is probably mostly curry and rice.

If you work out and take protein, you'll know it's really hard to get this much protein in one sitting,

so it might be good to eat this in place of a protein drink.

There's only about a week left before the Chunky Stewed Chicken Curry goes off the menu,

so if you haven't tried it yet, definitely give it a go!

See you next time. Au revoir!

Yoko Born and raised in Tokyo, eaten my way through 58 countries. About me · Instagram

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