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#FastFoodFriday: Long John Silver’s Japanese Curry Review: Too Authentic For S’poreans

Boon Hun

2019-06-14 , 6:00 pm

If there’s one thing that Long John Silver’s is known for?

It’s their consistency.

Sure, they never, ever, have breakout food that makes Singaporeans go wild like the Nasi Lemak burger.

But, at the same time, they’ve not had any food mishap that could cause a person’s head to roll like salted egg fries.

Yes, I’m going to keep harping on that cuz #superdisappointed, yeah?

So when my boss threw his credit card (with a daily limit of $20) to me? I knew what to go for.

This.

The Japanified version of Long John Silver’s.

Called the Authentic Japanese Curry food items, you can now get Tokyo Seafood Curry, Tokyo Chicken Curry and not just any crazy potatoes, but Osaka’s crazy potatoes.

Here are their prices for your reference:

Tokyo Seafood Curry: $7.50

It consists of deep-fried calamari (5 pieces), a huge piece of dory fish (1 piece), rice and Japanese Curry.

And a cup of drink, of course.

Tokyo Chicken Curry: $7.00

Now, don’t be misled by the name. While there are two pieces of chicken, they have two pieces of shrimp as well, coupled with rice and Japanese Curry.

Osaka Crazy Potatoes: $3.90

If you’re as familiar with Long John Silver’s as I am, you’d know crazy potatoes isn’t a new thing.

They’re a mixture of fries and potato chips, and usually topped with cheese. But not this time. This time, it’s topped with takoyaki sauce.

Although you can add cheese for $1.20.

So, How Did It Go?

I ordered the Tokyo Seafood Curry (obviously, since my boss’s paying for it) and the Osaka crazy potatoes.

I mean, it’s free food. Why go for one when you can go for two, right?

And this is what I get.

The Osaka Crazy Potatoes

And the main lead of the show, the Tokyo Seafood Curry

I’ll say, the portion looks generous enough. But appetising, sorry, no.

So if you’re someone who prioritises feeding your IG feed over feeding your stomach? This isn’t for you.

But as a wise old man once said, it’s not how it looks. It’s how it tastes that’s important.

So Dig In, I Did

And disappointed, I was.

Let’s start with the main lead.

The curry.

Does it taste like Japanese curry? Yes. Authentic ones? Yes.

Unfortunately, authentic Japanese food, just like ramen, is a tad bit too salty for Singaporeans. That’s why they typically adjust the taste to the country they’re in.

So the curry’s salty like my boss if you eat it alone.

But, if you take it with rice? It’s perfect. Not with anything else though because the calamari ring and the dory fillet’s salty too.

Although I’ll say the pickles add a refreshing bite to the plate.

So, overall rating? 2.5/5

The curry’s disappointing but hey, if you eat for quantity and not quality, it’s not that bad.

How’s The Potato Though?

So, the potatoes, how did it do?

Well, it proves true to its name: it drove me crazy. And not in a good way.

For the uninitiated, think of Long John Silver’s usual potato-crazy goodness: it’s a good mix of crispy fries and potato crisps. And drenched with nacho cheese.

Now, remove the nacho cheese and replace it with takoyaki sauce and bonito flakes.

So far so good?

Okay, now reduce the amount of takoyaki sauce by three-quarters.

Yes, they’re emulating McDonald’s cheesy loaded fries debacle all over again.

What little sauce there is with the potatoes tasted pretty okay. It’s like eating a crispy takoyaki (without the squid).

But the rest had to be taken with good, old chilli sauce.

Like my colleague, BuffLord95, put it succinctly, he wouldn’t feed that to his girlfriend. And let’s face it, he feeds his gf everything that he doesn’t eat. I.E. anything but chicken breasts. #JustKidding

So my rating for the potatoes? Sorry (not really), 1.5/5

There’s just not enough Japanese in it for me.