Gold Curry sells a variety of classic Japanese comfort foods, from gyoza (dumplings) and takoyaki (squid balls) to omelets, but the real highlight is that homiest of homey Japanese dishes, curry rice.

The bright orange Silom branch of this Kanazawa import (there’s another on Sukhumvit Soi 39) sits amid the bustle of the Japanese hostess bars on Soi Thaniya. The interior is equally busy, with a distinct take away vibe courtesy of the bright menus and promotions plastered all over the walls, as well as countless photos of beaming customers posing with comically super-sized dishes.

A large part of Gold Curry’s draw is evidently its special “challenge” menu. It’s pretty simple: finish their 2kg katsu curry (B699) in 30 minutes, and it’s free; polish off their whopping 10kg katsu curry (B2,899) in one hour and they’ll pay you B40,000 for your trouble. Bizarrely, while you dine, you can even watch people attempting this (mostly futile) act on the TV that hangs in a corner.

Served on slightly medical looking oval-shaped stainless steel bowls, the signature curry poured over rice does come in normal portions (B130-170), too, though even these are extremely generous. Aside from tonkatsu (pork cutlet), you can also have it with hot dogs, fried chicken or the decently meaty hamburger (from B50).

We’re fans of the tonkatsu—a thick-cut, nicely breaded, crispy pork cutlet covered with a drizzling of tonkatsu sauce. The Japanese rice, too, is evidently top quality, though you do get rather a lot of it, plus a massive heaping of shredded cabbage. The problem is with the thick gravy-like curry. It’s far from the most exciting we’ve tried in town; light on the curry powder with an overly peppery finish, it really requires that you make the most of the condiments like Habanero Tabasco and Japanese red pickled radish to give it any kind of substance.

The sides are hit and miss: the vegetable salad (B40) is tasty as you’d expect, with a not-too-sweet dressing, but the mashed potato (B40), served almost ice-cold, is definitely an acquired taste. (It also suffered from a heavy hand with the pepper and featured big chunks of egg.) Equally lackluster are the gyoza. Though very cheap at B60 for five pieces, there’s not much satisfaction to be found in the overly crisp shell encasing unidentifiable mush. You’re better off heading to Osaka Ohsho a couple of doors down. 

The complimentary self-service miso soup is a nice touch, and if it’s a no-frills, filling bowl you’re after, you could certainly do worse. Ultimately, though, Gold Curry’s flavors fail to really shine.