Delica rf-1 serves great food. It also serves Japanese-style curry. You might like or even love their unique take on it. But if you're looking for a traditional Japanese curry experience, this isn't the place you're looking for.

San Francisco's Ferry Building is hard to miss if you're downtown -- just look down Market Street towards the bay, and you'll see its clock tower pointing towards the sky. Inside is one of the city's favorite tourist spots, a collection of gourmet specialty food shops, wine bars and light eateries.

One of them is Delica rf-1, a "Japanese delicatessen." What is a Japanese delicatessen, anyway? Beats me, but what's on offer here is a somewhat pricey selection of light, fresh soups, salads, and bite-sized fried foods, all influenced by Japanese cuisine but decidedly Californian in their execution -- note the steak nigiri sushi made with hormone-free Meyer Ranch beef, or the vegan asparagus salad.

Anyway, we're here for the curry. As of this writing, Delica offered two different sauces, made with lamb and shrimp. If you're in love with the tastes of either of these two animals, you're in luck. If you prefer your curry pure, no dice. The taste of lamb or seafood permeates both sauces. When it was clear I was having trouble choosing, they offered me generous sample tastes of both.

I went with the lamb, and it was a gamy kind of curry that I hadn't tasted ever since the first and last time I tried Indian lamb curry, at an international food fair in the 8th grade. (To its credit, Delica's version did not take its horrific revenge on me later that evening.) It was actually pretty good -- so hot that copious amounts of steam rose out of the takeout bowl that all Delica's food is served in, and very flavorful.

It's just not Japanese curry as we understand it. Delica, of course, doesn't offer varying spiciness levels, or toppings. However, if you want to fake it, I recommend buying a few of their aforementioned bite-sized fried foods. Illustrated in the bowl of curry above, left to right, are their miniature tonkatsu with house-made sauce ($1.50), sweet and spicy chicken karaage ($1.50), and their creamy, delicious potato croquette made with Russet and Yukon Gold and sauteed onions ($1.75).

Of course, added to their already-expensive curry bowls ($8.50 for small, pictured, and $10 for large), eating katsu curry at Delica rf-1 could get expensive.