Hotei Restaurant
Neighborhood: Inner Sunset
1290 9th Avenue
(between Irving St & Lincoln Way)
San Francisco, CA 94122
Rated: ♣♣♣♣
I know what you’re thinking… 2 Japanese curry posts in 1 week?? I totally wasn’t planning on the 2nd instance, but decided last minute to go with a couple friends.
I had been craving Japanese curry for the past week and a friend recommended Hotei on 9th Ave. I’ve come here for sushi once before, and to be honest, I can’t remember if I liked it or not.
The scene:
I was expecting a line to be out the door, but there were only 3 other parties seated in the restaurant. As for the service, the waiters never let me see the bottom of my tea cup.
The food:
I had a tough decision between a hot bowl of udon, soba salad or the curry. My usual choice would’ve been the cold soba salad, but I got the curry since I haven’t had it in a while. They had katsu curry and curry udon, but I opted for the plain curry with rice which only cost me $6.95!
Curry w/rice – The curry was velvety, spicy and rich, and it was packed with hearty chunks of potatoes, carrots and beef, all of which was very tender. The serving was so huge, I took half of it to go and ate it for lunch later that week. Yes, that would mean I had curry 3 times this week. My poor stomach needs to take a break.
I’d have to admit, I think this was better than Muracci’s in FiDi. If you were to order the same dish at Marucci’s, you’d pay $2-3 more for plain curry sauce and rice.
