Another specialty Japanese brand recently opened its doors in Singapore - Giraffa Curry Bread Specialist. Its signature item is the Curry Cheese Bread. Unlike other breads, this one is deep fried. Furthermore, as if a layer of bread wasn't enough, it is also breaded... which makes it a breaded bread, incidentally. Apart from that, its curry and cheese are reportedly quite special too, so I was curious to see if it lived up to the hype.
The first thing I observed was that they seemed made-to-order. I had to take a queue number and waited around 5 or 10 minutes, and it was served fresh and hot, so I couldn't eat it immediately and had to wait 10-20 minutes for it to cool down. I also loved how clear the plastic bag was, so I could see them clearly while waiting for them to cool haha.
It was an absolutely hearty treat that I thoroughly enjoyed, although I wish I had waited for the first one I ate to cool down a bit more.
First, the bread - the breaded bits were quite solid and crunchy, totally different from other fried buns or donuts I had tried before. Even more crunchy and crispy than a fried mantou. I would liken it to a breaded croquette in fact, and I feel like the bread itself mainly functions as a wrapper for the croquette to contain the liquid curry and melty cheese. According to the website, the bread was also slightly sweet with a milky taste, but that felt drowned out by the curry and cheese, so it didn't make a difference to me.
The cheese was the next special factor. It was extremely stringy and was almost impossible to separate by pulling - I would minimally have to pull 4 to 6 times haha. I had to bite through the cheese bits or else use a knife to cut it. You can probably see some of that in the picture and video below, where it was stretching even within the small confines of the bread.
The cheese flavour was not very salty, probably so that it did not clash with the rich curry. But the creamy milkiness of the cheese was prominent, even through all the flavour, which was a great complement to the savoury curry. It was similar to the reduced salt mozzarella string cheese you get from the supermarket, although possibly stringier.
Finally, the curry was also quite noteworthy. It is a combination of pork and beef, but the beefy flavour stood out to me, and it was also on the sweet side, which I loved. The sweetness was due to a combination of apple, honey and tomato. There were apparently also some "fragrant wild vegetables" according to its site, but I did not really notice them as they were probably blended into the curry. 30 spices were used, and they no doubt contributed to the overall complexity of the taste, but I felt the peppery taste was more prominent out of the various spices. Finally, they also added wine to fill out the tomato's acidity. I did not notice it separately, but the interesting medley of hearty beefiness, sweetness and spice made for a very rich, umami and complex sauce.
It was selling at a promotional rate of 50% off, with the full price at around S$5.20. It is the same price as some meals, but given the amount of cheese, meat and vegetables in it, it probably counts as a meal in and of itself, even if a sinful one. I would definitely go for it again if I'm feeling like indulging in a sinful meal replacement!
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