Cafe Hiro

There's a place where I highly recommend. A place that cannot be missed. A restaurant that you should know, write the name down, put it on your refrigerator. Bookmark it. Whatever.







You need to know Cafe Hiro in Orange County - Cypress, CA. So here's how this story goes: my own boss worked at a restaurant right out of high school with the owner of this Cafe. Both being from Japan (and sharing the same first names), they quickly became friends while at work washing dishes at a Korean restaurant.







Chef Hiro ended up travelling the world and learning a few techniques that really separated himself from others. Cafe Hiro is definitely an Asian Fusion restaurant, but not "fusion" like California Pizza Kitchen or Teriyaki Bowls from Jack In The Crack, nooo. I would personally consider it Japanese-Italian (which many of you may not have heard of but this type of cross-cultured cooking has been around for decades).
One afternoon, Dustin aka The Nator showed up at my office by chance knowing I take late lunches. This day, my homey the Flyin' Hawaiian was in for a treat. We made our way over to the corner of Valley View and Cerritos in the city of Cypress. By the looks of the joint, one would never know what delights are inside. Most of the lunch menu will start you off with a leafy green salad and their own house salad dressing which is quite gingery good:
Then it comes with soup (pumpkin soup that day but I forgot to take a photo). Pastas, salads, cutlets, all kindsa great selections on their menu. The one thing I crave at this place is their curry. This isn't no regular curry. This is Cafe Hiro Curry. Their levels of spicyness have 3 varying degrees. Mild, medium and hot. They just don't add more chili pepper powder to make it hotter though, no way. That's bullshit. Every level of curry has it's own distinct flavor. He also uses finely smashed potatoes to thicken his curries, which makes a world of difference.
I had the mild chicken cutlet curry (aka chicken katsu curry) and The Nator had the hot "black pig" pork cutlet curry (aka tonkatsu curry). Oh, I forgot to mention that you should take your wifey or chick-a-dee here. It'll make you seem all cultured and shit. Excellent for dates. Probably bad for kids, not that I have any. Great service. I love it.
I quote The Nator, "god dammit Nelson, this is the best fucking curry I ever ate in my entire life". Word.