Sweetness ⇦ Spiciness ➡ Taste OUTER ZONE

A story about how a game of tag with my sense of taste led me to step into an unbelievable OUTER ZONE.

Introduction

Everyone, are you familiar with Outer Zone?

I am referring to the manga "Outer Zone" by Shin Kibayashi, which was serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump.

I had a certain curry for lunch today, and right after I started eating, Misery from that Outer Zone appeared, exuding a bewitching allure along with the scent of curry. She stood right next to me while I was eating, rambling on about the curry, which meant that even though I was in the cafeteria, the illusion wouldn't fade away.

#MustBeGoingCrazy

To make matters worse, by the end, I was well and truly taken to the Outer Zone, and I ended up making a fool of myself by being unable to escape it until the person next to me asked, "Are you okay?" even though I had already finished eating. I am Diem, and I will leave a record of that curry today.

The curry in question is"Hinoya's" curry.

Since today's meal was a supervised menu at the cafeteria, I didn't visit the actual restaurant, but I don't think my impressions will be too far off, so there is no need to worry about any discrepancies in this report. I plan to visit the actual restaurant soon to verify my findings.

Today's Menu

Hinoya's Katsu Curry, miso soup, Mr. Worcester, that's all. Too simple (lol). Yeah, always simple 😋.

The reason I chose miso soup wasn't because I wanted to imitate how Matsuya always includes miso soup with their curry, but rather because I had a lingering sense of déjà vu—a feeling that I had eaten this Hinoya curry somewhere before—and I wasn't confident in that feeling, so I acted out of a sense of insurance in case I was wrong.

Fortunately, today's miso soup was the usual strong miso soup, so it should fulfill its role as a helper properly. And when you hear the word curry, you almost certainly have to have Mr. Worcester by your side. If it were a spice-centered curry, Mr. Worcester wouldn't have much of a role, but based on the look of today's curry, that didn't seem to be the case, so I think he will be useful too.

The amazing sensation of spiciness following sweetness

I had heard it was Japanese-style curry, but they claimed it was a curry centered on sweetness, using chutney? effectively. Since it was centered on sweetness, I thought it might be cloying, but they said the spiciness comes after the sweetness. Huh~ I've experienced many tastes that attack in that way, but I recall that I've rarely experienced it with curry.

I took a mouthful with a little expectation. Yeah, it's good 😋. This is nice. It's to a Japanese person's taste. But it's sweet. It's certainly sweet. Just as I was thinking that, wow, what is this! It's curry!!!! 🤣.

It is true that the spiciness chases after the sweetness. Hmm, I wonder how they make it turn out like that. Simply making a spicy curry sweet wouldn't result in this. Moreover, the speed at which the spiciness chases is slow. It's like, slowly... here it comes, here it comes, here it comes! (laughs). It's not like the spiciness hits you all at once. This was also a fresh experience.

Only a miso soup reset allows me to taste the next sweetness.

I couldn't figure out why this happened, but once the chasing spiciness settled in my mouth, I was also struck by the phenomenon where everything I ate afterward tasted spicy. Since it goes sweetness➡spiciness, I thought I would be able to start from sweetness again with another bite, but it kept starting from spiciness.

Wait, can that really happen? (@v@?

While wondering about this, I tried using Mr. Miso Soup to reset my mouth, which had only tasted the sweetness on the very first bite of curry. As I thought, the taste reset was complete. I was able to start from sweetness again. Mr. Miso Soup really does a good job (^^.

Even if miso soup doesn't go well with all curries, at least for Japanese-style sweet curries, you'll be happier if you have it on the side. I don't know if Hinoya has miso soup, though (laughs).

Entering the OUTER ZONE with sweetness➡spiciness

From here on, it was a delusional experience😅, but as I repeated the "chased by spiciness➡reset" cycle in my mouth with sweetness←spiciness➡reset, I started to lose track of things (laughs). And then, that Misery appeared...

Wearing a bewitching, skin-tight leotard, with an expression like she was about to say the line the Slit-Mouthed Woman says, "Am I pretty?", she said, "This curry is good, isn't it?", "I want to eat it too!", "Feed me!"

My head was spinning over and over, wondering what world you are from, but she wouldn't let me go (laughs); that's how deep into the OUTER ZONE I had entered. If someone had been watching from the outside, I probably looked like I was spacing out while eating curry.

A young woman asked me with a serious face, "Are you okay?", which snapped me back to reality, and I was finally released from Misery (laughs). Thank goodness (*'▽'). Seriously. Oh, but the curry was good.

Oh, I didn't talk about the cutlet. The cutlet was average😋. And Mr. Worcestershire sauce. He was also helpful. Mr. Worcestershire sauce did a good job with the sweet curry; the moderate acidity and punchy umami gave a double return to the spiciness that comes after the sweetness, and it was a very good collaboration.

#WhatAreYouTalkingAbout

Afterword

Hinoya's curry. When I looked it up, it seems there are stores nationwide, so if you happen to find one, please feel free to drop in. You might meet the Misery I met (laughs).

And, she might take you to the OUTER ZONE of sweetness←spiciness➡taste 😅.

Now, what shall I try tomorrow?

#Hinoya #KatsuCurry #SweetAndSpicy #Taste #Spiciness #Meal #Life #StressRelief #LifeTips #Essay #15DayWritingChallenge #66DayWritingChallenge #33DayWritingChallenge