Hop Won And Jamaican Dutchy’s Curry Dishes Are Worth Trying

Hop Won Okay, I’m addicted to curry chicken. Ever since I had a pretty decent curry chicken over rice from the Fahima Halal cart, I’ve been on the look out for other curry chicken dishes. Even though I know I need to take a long walk over to the West side to try the curry chicken from Trini Paki Boys cart, I just haven’t done it yet. I’ve been too lazy to walk from 3rd Avenue to 6th, so instead I found a few worthy curry dishes on the East side to satisfy my curry craving. After Fahima, I tried a not so spicy curry chicken from NY Biryani Express Cart. Then, most recently, my quest took me to Hop Won, followed by Jamaican Dutchy. How did their curry dishes compare to what I have had so far? Let’s find out.


hop won curry chicken
In my mission to try more dishes from Hop Won’s menu (and not just order from their steamed table), I found that they made a Malaysian curry ($6.50). I’ve never been to Malaysia so I can’t say how authentic this was (probably not very) but oh man was it good. The curry chicken was served with potatoes and with loads of curry sauce (perfect with the white rice). The pieces of chicken were all dark meat and were falling off the bone tender. The flavor of the curry was just right, not too over powering, and the heat was the slow burning type. This is another dish that makes me glad I work so close to Hop Won.

jamaican dutchy curry goat

Another delicious curry dish can be found at the Jamaican Dutchy truck. They had sold out of the curry chicken when I got there, so instead I got the medium curry goat ($9). Chris was right when he said this dish was not for the fainthearted. I wanted to take an immediate nap after I ate the whole box. While it was called curry goat, there wasn’t much curry flavor in the goat and sauce. The curry aroma was there (very noticeable while riding in the elevator), but there was just a slight hint of curry when I was eating it. But it didn’t really matter when the pieces of goat was just so damn good. This whole box of food was delicious. Chunks of tender goat (not gamey at all) — some lean and some fatty — all slathered in the thick sauce. Make sure to eat it with a big spoon because you will want to scoop a big pile of rice and top it with meat.

So far I’m quite happy with the curry dishes I have had. It’s literally the same dish but four totally different ways of cooking it. Right now I would have to say that the curry chicken from Hop Won was my favorite. With its good curry flavor and a good amount of heat, it easily beat out the other three dishes. The quest continues!

Hop Won, 139 E. 45th St. (btw. Lex+3rd), 212-661-4280

Jamaican Dutchy, SW Corner of 43rd St. and 3rd Ave but as always you should check their twitter or the ML twitter tracker for updates. Or call their phone number: 718-737-3836.

2 Comments

  • Hing Won’s Malaysian curry chicken is really great – sounds very similar to Hop Won’s.

    A little cheaper and just as good is Biryani Cart’s chicken curry plate. It comes with dal and veggies, too. Of course it’s Indian curry, not Malaysian.

  • I tried Hop Won’s version a few days ago. They use chopped up chicken with the bone in, so you have to make sure you don’t bite a bone fragment. The curry was on the mild side. I think they were running low on chicken because they added teriyaki chicken to mine after asking. Overall not bad, but I don’t feel like picking through bone fragments during a meal.

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