Tokyo: C&C Curry Shop, Shinjuku Train Station

The sister recommended C&C Curry Rice at Shinjuku station since the husband was a fan, but neither of us were very hopeful about finding C&C Curry Shop at - of all places - Shinjuku Station with like a zillion lines and exits. But very surprisingly, we somehow managed to!

You need to buy a coupon from the vending machine outside the shop, before heading in to pass it to the shop attendant.

The seating area consists solely of bar stools - clearly not a place you want to linger around. They serve you iced water, and you can help yourself to the picked radish and onions to your heart's delight.

Sides available for order -and you can also specify whether you want the curry mild or spicy.

I had the chicken katsu, while the husband had the pork katsu. Our orders arrived within 2 minutes of us sitting down.

It was so wonderfully crispy and not at all oily. And still moist on the inside!

The photo looks better with a bit of colour.

We examined the set-up carefully, and it appeared to be the perfect franchise deal. All this chap has to do is pour the pre-made curry from the packs into a pot to heat it up, cook the rice, and fry the pork/chicken/potato croquettes. There's another server who collects the dockets, pours out the water, serves the food, and retrieves the plates. And better yet, they've manage to eliminate the use of forks, and only give you spoons by successfully:

a) using plates with curved edges so you get an edge for your spoon; and

b) making the meat tender enough so you don't need another piece of cutlery to do the cutting.

And by doing so, they save on half the cutlery cost! They are really brainy. The staff don't need to handle any money since the vending machine does all that. Plus the turnover was so fast - people sit down, eat quickly (and quietly), and leave. And interestingly enough, I happened to be the only female in the shop - the rest of the customers were all men (eating very silently).

Now, just to bring it to Singapore....

It's located near the Oedo Line entrance, if anyone's interested to go find it. A really good value-for-money satisfying meal.