On the Bridge - "Bomb-Ass Curry"

Restaurant: On the Bridge
Address: 1581 Webster Street # 206, Japan Center, Pac Heights, SF
Cuisine: Yoshoku-Style Japanese
Date Last Visited: January 19, 2008

Disclaimer: The actual restaurant report is preceded by a story. If you would like to go directly to the report, scroll down until to hit the first image of the “On the Bridge” sign. Thanks.

The first time came here was on St. Patty’s Day of 2001. At that time, there was a Filipino-American movie by the name of “The Debut” that came out and every Fil-Am and their mama were so excited to see it. Since I am a Fil-Am, I was excited, too. I went to the Kabuki in J-Town with my girls “sxy_saladbar” and “swtprincess54” (gotta love the screen names circa 2000) to watch it, and it was an opportune time to do so because March 16th of that year was my 17th birthday and the movie was playing at the Kabuki for the annual San Francisco Asian American Film Festival.

Anyway, imagine three teenage girls (who know nothing about the MUNI lines, mind you) trying to make their way to the Kabuki and finding out that all tickets were sold out. Yeah, every Fil-Am and their mama got tickets before we did. God, was I disappointed. We ended up buying tickets to another movie. Boo.

Before our replacement movie was going to start, sxy_saladbar, swtprincess54 and I snuck up the stairs to the third floor of the theater where the special screening of “The Debut” was going to be take place. We got up there and one of the check-in guys looked real familiar. No seriously, he looked familiar. I only realized later on that he was the old brother of my dear friend Lopes. Anyway, after a little bit of chit-chat, we told him that we did not get tickets but we still wanted to meet the cast. Lopes’ big bro said, “Hey, there’s the producer!” Basically, he hooked us up with meeting the producer and director of the movie. We were given movie posters and took pictures with them. As a 17-year-old, I was beyond happy. So after that, we went to watch the movie. But then again, sxy_saladbar and I snuck away and saw the director as we were trying to sneak back up into the special screening. He proceeded to go down the escalator to the lobby and beckoned us to go down as well. “Great,” I thought, “He’s going to report us to security and we’re going to get kicked out.” And what a surprise I had when we got down there.

He led us straight to the Basco Brothers (the stars of the movie)! Ahhhh! Dante (Rufio from the movie “Hook”), Dion, Derek, and Darion! Hey, I was 17, and those were the hottest Fil-Ams at that time, so I was so so happy. They signed our posters and took pictures with us. Oh, I was so star-struck. What a great thing to bring to school and to show-off to the other girls in class to make them jealous. Ha! I think I still have that autographed poster somewhere in my room. I’m such a pack-rat, I keep everything. Anyway, that made my birthday. The Basco Brothers were the perfect birthday present. *siiiiiiiiiigh*

What the hell does this have anything to do with On the Bridge? Well, after we met the Basco Brothers and watched our replacement movie, we were starving and ended up at On the Bridge. Each of us had curry: I had the chicken, swtprincess54 had beef, and sxy_saladbar had shrimp. I remember enjoying it, so I thought it would be nice to go back and treat myself to some curry!

Fast forward seven years later to today and I am working overtime in Pacific Heights. After a few short hours, I am craving curry. So I hitched a ride with my manager and I was there in under five minutes from my workplace.



On the Bridge is Yoshoku-style, meaning Western-style food cooked by Japanese chefs. So you won’t find sushi, teriyaki, or more traditional Japanese food here. Believe it or not, you are going to get pasta with fish roe, pizzas with Japanese veggies, Hamburg steak, basically things you would find in the Cooking Mama game. Come to think about it, On the Bridge is a real-life version of Cooking Mama. Okay, here is a challenge for you people. Play Cooking Mama and then go to On the Bridge and see how many items in the game are on the restaurant’s menu.



The place is really quirky. There are anime posters on the wall, pink chairs, Japanese stuffed toys by the window, and Manga books along the wall for you to read while you are waiting for you food. If you haven’t gotten it by now, On the Bridge actually is “on the bridge” that crosses Webster Street and connects the two main malls in J-Town. It’s neat to know that cars are passing right under me.



This is the counter where swtprincess54, sxy_saladbar, and I had our curries after watching the movie. And below is the anime poster above the table where I sat during my latest visit.



Now time for kare raisu!!! There are several ways for you to order your curry. First you have to choose your degree of spiciness from “mild” to “XXX-spicy.” I always go for mild because I really do not want to burn off all my taste buds.



You can order it right off the menu (chicken, seafood, beef, veggie, etc.) or you can make your own custom curries (the following was taken from On the Bridge's Website)

Create Your Own Original Curry Dish!
Curry Sauce & Rice $5.95
How Spicy Can You Take It ? Mild, Medium, Spicy
X-Spicy (Add $0.45) XX-Spicy (Add $0.75) XXX-Spicy (Add $0.95)

Each Item $0.50
Cooked Whole Garlic (3 pcs)
(soaked in Virgin olive oil)
Broccoli (1 oz)
Onion (1 oz)
Tomato (1 oz)
Carrot (1 oz)
Bell Pepper (1 oz)
Egg Plant (1 oz)
Grinded Garlic (1 tsp)
Spinach (1 oz)
Shredded Cheese (1/2 oz)
Natto (1 oz)

Each Item $0.99
Mini Sausage (5 pcs)
Chicken (2 oz)
Ham (1 Large Slice)
Mixi Vegie (Broccoli, Carrot, Green Bean, Squash) (1 oz)
Egg (Raw or Cooked)
Tofu (1/4 of a box)
Mushroom (1 oz)

Each Item $1.25
Calamari (1.5 oz)
Scallop (2 pcs)
Green Mussel (1 oz)
Sea Chicken Tuna (1 oz)
Fukujinzuke (1 oz)
Rakyo (2 oz)
Sakura Ebi - Mini Shrimp
Shrimp (2 pcs)
Corn Cream Croquette



I just went for the regular chicken curry right off the menu. I really didn’t need to customize anything because I wanted to have exactly what I had many years ago. It was exactly how I remembered it. The rice was on a regular plate and the curry itself was served in a little gravy boat. The sauce was thick and there were big chunks of chicken. Another reason why I opted not to get the custom curry was that there are already potato and carrots in the sauce. A nice dice of fresh tomato garnished the top to add some vibrancy to an otherwise blah-colored sauce. For me, I would have rather skipped on the tomatoes. If I have to have my tomatoes uncooked, I’d want them cold. They were warm and unappetizing to me. But I dealt with it because the curry was what swtprincess54 said “bomb-ass.”



I really cannot wait to go back to On the Bridge for other Yoshoku specialties. I’ve been there four times already in the last seven years, and I’ve sampled the pizza toast, katsu don bowl, and curry so far. I’ve read that this is the only place in the Bay where you can get Yoshoku-style Japanese, so I feel lucky to have it so close to work. Some of the dishes sound a little weird to me, like pasta with roe, but who knows, maybe it tastes good? We’ll see. =) Cute and quirky this place is. Kinda like me. Hahaha! Sike.