Lunch Break: Curry Deals, Lunch Menus and Sweet Treats

Curry rice straight from Japan, a lunch menu that ducks under the $10 lunch budget, and a bakery to feed your sweets addiction for your NYC lunch break. By Yvo Sin.

Go Go Curry

273 W. 38th Street
New York, NY 10018
(212) 730-5555
gogocurryusa-ny.com

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The garishly colored awning may make you think twice, but don't hesitate to go into this Japanese imported chain. The draw here is, of course, the curry dishes, all served over rice with your choice of 'topping': boiled egg, cheese, pork sausages, katsu (breaded and fried cutlets of meat; here, you can pick from pork or chicken). Feeling hungry? Order the Grand Slam (pictured) which, for $12.50, gives you a huge mound of rice and curry sauce, along with both pork and chicken katsu, hard boiled egg, fried shrimp, and pork sausages. Bonus: on Thursday, May 5th, Go Go Curry's anniversary, any single-sized-curry will cost only $5.

Rice-n-Beans

744 9th Avenue
New York, NY 10019
(212) 265-4444
ricebeansnyc.com

With a lunch menu where every single item clocks in at just under $10 ($9.99, to be exact), Rice-n-Beans is worth checking out if you work in the area. Choose from 1/4 chickens, one of two ways: simply roasted or pollo loco, which has been basted in hot sauce before roasting. Brazilian risotto, beef stew, ropa vieja, fried tilapia, and even a glorious pork chop in garlic wine sauce are all available on the lunch menu, and everything is served with yellow or white rice, black or red beans and fried sweet plantains. If that's not enough deliciousness for you, check out the pao de queijo (pictured) - light, airy puffs of cheese-scented chewiness that will have you reaching for them again and again, until you come up empty-handed, a little dazed and confused where they all went. The answer, my friend, is in your happy belly.

Takahachi Bakery

25 Murray Street
New York, NY 10007
(212) 791-5550

See Also: NYC's Best Bakeries

There's a certain amount of pleasure derived from walking into any good bakery and inhaling the aromas of baked goods. At Takahichi, the olfactory pleasure is only enhanced by the visual: bakery cases filled with brightly colored pastries, stacks of sandwiches and many items waiting to fill you up for lunch, inexpensively. Curry-pan (baked buns filled with curry), an pan (filled with red bean paste), sandwiches of all sorts, and almond cookies to make even the most sane beg, are all included here for the taking. This month, in honor of Sakura Matsuri (cherry blossom festivals), try their cherry blossom macaron. Light in flavor, sweetly pink, it's sure to bring a smile to any face.

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Yvo Sin is the founder and head writer of The Feisty Foodie.