Magic Curry Kart

San Francisco, United States

3.8

20 reviews

Accepts Credit Cards

Contacts

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Telephone:
+1 415-409-8207
Website:
www.magiccurrykart.com
Address:
19th St & Linda St, San Francisco, CA, 94110
Mission
Nearby public transportation stops & stations:
0.3 miRight of Way & Liberty St‎
0.3 miJ-Church Inbound to Downtown
0.3 miRight of Way & 21st St‎
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Bussiness info

Take-out
No
Accepts Credit Cards
Yes
Parking
Street
Wheelchair Accessible
Yes

Today

Today –
Local time (San Francisco) 07:02 Wednesday, 25 June 2025

Business hours

Monday –
Tuesday –
Wednesday –
Thursday –
Friday –
Saturday –
Sunday –

Description

Specialties

Providing the spice of life to those in need…

Fresh Thai-​Style Curry Paste — Magic Curry Paste

Currently available in Red, Green, & Yellow.

Locations — mag​ic​cur​rykart​.com

History

Established in 2009.

In the spring of 2009 on a back alley in the Mission District of San Francisco a renegade street food cart was born sparking a chain reaction that led to a revival of mobile food in the Bay Area. Armed with smart phones and motivated by a tough economy; the Magic Curry Kart and a handful of entrepreneur mobile food vendors took to the streets serving up delicious food while at the same time spreading the word through digital «word of mouth». A city known for being tech savvy and zealous for delicious food welcomed this new trend with open arms.

Magic Curry Kart has transitioned to local specialty producer. Currently we produce Magic Curry Paste that is available in local markets across the Bay Area including Rainbow Grocery, Whole Foods Market, Bi-​Rite, and Adronicos.

Meet the Business Owner

Brian W.

Business Owner

Originally from Arizona, Brian operated a temporary lemonade stand as a child many moons ago. From this humble lemonade stand operator Brian moved through the following careers before returning to street food; paperboy, swimming instructor, ice cream scooper, landscaper, electricians apprentice, office delivery, surveyor, hydrologist, GIS Analyst, staff therapist…

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20 reviews of Magic Curry Kart

No registration required
Place rating: 4
Santa Clara, CA
I got a chance to try the Magic Curry Kart guys at the Eat Real Festival 2013. They were offering satay wings, coconut rice, satay tofu and noodle salad.
For $ 5, we got a whopping plate of about 6 wings laced in their special peanut sauce. The chicken was hot, fresh, and fell right off the bone. The satay sauce was delicious, but was a bit too sweet. It could definitely use some altering to make it more savory, but worked well with the chicken nonetheless.
Guy behind the booth seemed a bit socially awkward, so it was a strange experience. Still got my wing grub on, though, and left very happy.
Place rating: 5
Bay Area
***Review for their curry paste sold at Eat Real Festival ***
Hmmm…something seems odd that a non-​asian guy is making some darn good curry paste. Had a sample of their vegan Magic Curry Paste at the Eat Real Festival and this stuff was too tasty! $ 4 for 1, $ 10 for 3 small jars of red, green, yellow curry paste which can go a long way…1 tablespoon of paste mixed with coconut milk, cooked carrots/​potatoes and a protein… and voila!
Located next to the Jade Chocolate booth at the Eat Real Festival.
Place rating: 3
San Jose, CA
I’ve wanted to try to Magic Curry Kart for years now. I finally got to during Noise Pop. Now, it was not quite what I had in mind. Based on the food truck trend, I was expecting something bigger. In fact, it is quite literally a cart. That was a bit of a twist, but it also reminded me of the street food I’d see in Asia, so it was pretty cool.
The food itself was pretty decent. I tried the half size dish of curry and it was a perfect amount to hold me over for a while. The curry was good, but it wasn’t as flavorful as I had expected and the rice was kind of mushy.
Maybe it was not quite what I hoped for, but it was still good and made for a fun experience.
Place rating: 3
Oakland, CA
magic curry kart in an interesting name for this vendor. they are in a tent. not a cart, curry is present in name only, little curry taste. magic must be the voodoo type implying invisible curry.
locale: eat fest (9/’24)
sampling: curry chicken sliders, $ 3, 2/​$ 5
–schredded chicken with a curry-​lite sauce with no curry taste. little taste of anything. chicken had no taste.
–lots of veggies, cucumbers, sliders crunchy. 2.5 stars
foodnotes:
–friendly service.
–food made to order, seemingly. 5 – 10 minutes.
Place rating: 5
Hayward, CA
The Best Thai curry I’ve ever had from a Kart. Hell with the Kart, the best Thai curry I’ve ever had. Find Brian and try his curry. The man is a genius chef! A Must Try!
Place rating: 2
Los Angeles, CA
Magic curry kart… the words conjure up thoughts of a secret blend of spices that tantalize the taste buds, served up by an elusive cart/​kart. I caught up with the Kart (though I didn’t actually see a cart) at the Mercury Lounge. The menu included chicken or tofu curry over rice ($ 6), curry tacos, and soup.
* Pumpkin Curry Soup: ½ quart $ 3, the saltiest pumpkin/​kabocha soup I’ve ever had, it was thick, medium spicy, seemed to have many spices in it, it was supposed to have coconut but I didn’t notice the coconut, pumpkin curry soup should be sweeter
* Spicy Pork taco with slow roasted pork shoulder, veggies, magic curry paste, magic chili sauce: this was decent, liked the marinade they used on the pork shoulder, the meat was shredded and added to sautéed peppers, onions, mushrooms. Something seemed to be missing (it came with sour cream but I left that off), e.g., cilantro and a stronger sauce. I did not taste the curry.
* VegE taco: had sautéed peppers, onions, mushrooms, and a garlicky magic chili sauce — that’s it, something was missing in the flavor department, it seemed like it needed something more substantive too, like tofu or curried potatoes
Each taco came with one thin tortilla that seemed cold and fell apart. Really annoying. The tacos were not constructed well and seemed unfinished. They were 2 for $ 5 or $ 3 each.
Place rating: 3
San Jose, CA
My Ratings:
Quantity: 3 — Enough to satisfy my hunger but not filling
Quality: 3 — It’s ok but not flavorful
Price: 3 — Not bad for the portions
Location: 3 — Depend where you find him
Parking: 3 — Depend on the location
Service: 3 — ok
Speed: 3 — ok
Overall: I like the concept but curry needs more flavor! Once is enough for me.
My Opinion/​Story:
We drove all the way to Palo Alto to check them out and taste their product. We got both crème brûlée and this curry. It was ok but rice was a little hard (it was rushed), the curry lacks the curry flavor, not enough veggies but shrimp was good. I know he can do better!
Place rating: 1
San Francisco, CA
Presidio Green Grand Opening — Magic Curry Kart
I sampled a vegetable and rice curry dish here and sadly I have to say it was the worst dish I had that day. The dish was watered down and any curry that was there was very little so the dish lacked of taste. =/
Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
First time at Off The Grid and the first stop is Magic Curry Kart!
Woohoo… give me some of that tasty Indian curry… Hmm the curry in this delicious veg taco taste like thai curry. That is because it is thai curry not indian my much adept and PC foodie friend points out later on.
Isn’t that some form of borderline false advertising? Come on you have a food truck called Chairman Bao… another named Señor Sisig… I think I should stop now or I’ll get flamed…
Anyways, I enjoyed the crunchy veges with nice heat to the curry flavor, plus a drizzle of their bottle of sauce was sweet and tasty! Good taco to start!
Place rating: 4
San Francisco, CA
Momentous life moments:
— Birth
— College acceptance
— First job
— First car
— Going without a car
— Moving to San Francisco
— Meeting Tiesto
— Running a half marathon
— Discovering my tailor
I can now add «Eating at the Magic Curry Kart» to the list. Was it mind blowing? It was good, but not that good. Could there have been more prawns in my curry. Sure, though for $ 4 you can’t really complain. But this man start a movement. A street food movement. There are now plenty of imitators, but there is only one original.
Glad I finally made it.
Place rating: 3
San Francisco, CA
Props to this guy for adding ethnic variety to street eats. His outfit is nothing short of impressive, wheeling along a proper cart that houses two rice cookers and two woks enough for feeding a steady stream of ravenous throngs.
While the vegetable medley is a cornucopia of rainbow goodness, he fails in executing a crucial component: the sauce. Tinny coconut milk provides the basis, along with a few scoops of curry paste and dashes of fish sauce. Lemongrass and galangal are nowhere to be seen. The result is a bland version of a Thai curry that wouldn’t even fly at a wee hours joint in the TL.
Place rating: 2
San Francisco, CA
So I’ve been hearing a lot about this Magic Curry Kart. I finally found him at an arts gallery from a friend who follows him on twitter. He literally cooks his curry on a cart and two rice cookers. There are two wok, both filled with the coconut curry and has fish sauce and siracha if you need to add more taste.
$ 6 for a bowl of of choice of either chicken or veggie curry. There wasn’t a line when i went, but the guy told me to write down my name and which type of curry I wanted. I came back about 10 mins later and it was just finished.
To me the rice was a little too mushy, but I think its because the rice sits in the rice cooker until someone orders. There was a good amount of veggies (broccoli, string beans, bell peppers) and little bit of chicken. The chicken was white meat so it was a bit tough for me.
Overall, for a $ 6 curry that has a decent amount of chicken and veggies, I’d rather go to another place to get more authentic curry and rice that’s cooked good. Its a fun and exciting experience but I’ve had better.
Place rating: 4
San Francisco, CA
I can now tell people that I am no longer a cart virgin thanks to the Magic Curry Kart. My cousin has been following a few of the carts on Twitter for a while and found out that a bunch of them will be in Precita Park today filming with Food Network so she asked my sister and I to go cart hopping. We figured what better time to hit up a bunch of carts than today?
There was a good sized crowd when we got there and we knew we had to get the curry first. Luckily, there was no line and we were able to secure two orders of the shrimp curry. The shrimp were cooked beautifully and very succulent. The curry sauce was on the mild side but had a very good curry flavor with tons of veggies. I kind of wish there was more rice to soak up all the sauce but overall pretty decent curry.
Place rating: 4
San Francisco, CA
Looking to earn a little extra cash, proprietor Brian Kimball started his Magic Curry Kart, while moonlighting from his day job as a therapist for children in the Tenderloin. Business has been good enough to Brian that he’s been able to upgrade his cart to a custom-​built bike-​powered model (w/​a DieHard car battery powering the rice cooker!) in order to get to more events. W/​the Kart’s success, along w/​his new Magik Chao joint-​venture w/​Banh Mai’s Mai Le, he is considering giving up his day job.
Brian conceived of his Kart idea in November of 2008 & rolled it out on Linda Street on March 6, 2009 for a trial run. The next week he sent out a Facebook invite to all his friends in San Francisco. Twenty people showed up, & one of them tweeted about the occasion. He then promptly joined Twitter, tweeted & more people started showing up. In the months that his cart has been up and running, he’s collected over 4,000 Twitter followers. At least half a dozen other carts including his brother Curtis’ the Crème Brûlée Cart, have rolled out since.
The Magic Curry Kart offers a choice of chicken or tofu curry & lots of veggies (broccoli, string beans, & carrots), served w/​rice for $ 5.00 a serving. His brother Curtis’ Crème Brulee Cart can often be found nearby.
Santa’s Unilocaler sez: «Chicken Curry rocks!» Actually almost anything w/​chicken rock, SY.
Place rating: 5
San Lorenzo, CA
Renegade cook-​to-​order food cart.
Much props to the Magic Curry guy for being a pioneer in the SF food cart scene and for maintaining a food cart that requires cooking each individual order right in front of you. I’m too lazy to even microwave food sometimes and here he is cooking curry for dozens and dozens on the spot.
He normally offers the curries in 3 choices; tofu, prawns, and chicken. I had the green curry tofu and it was awesome. There’s major heat to the curry so it’s not for the weak tongued. A big plus was the fresh veggies that he used and a bigger plus was the yellow squash he used. It was a pleasant surprise and not an ingredient you would normally see in a Thai curry.
For $ 5 an order, it’s definitely a steal. Follow him on Twitter @
BTW — His brother is the Crème Brulee Guy. It’s not 1 dude doing 2 carts though they do look alike.
Place rating: 4
San Francisco, CA
MCK 2.0 is in the works…
Gentlemen we can rebuild it,
We have the technology,
We have the capability to make the world’s first bionic curry cart,
MCK will be the one,
Better than it was before,
Better, stronger, faster…
Da-​na-​na-​na-​na-​na-​na-​na-​na-​na-​na…
(low budget bionic sound effect… hey, just roll with it)
The hush-​hush construction work is being conducted in southern California. What will it look like?
We’ll find out in a few days.
MCK 2.0 pics revealed — ta da!
Place rating: 5
Hong Kong
Went to an event at Sports Basement last night, and I saw the Magic Curry Cart there! They were raising money to go to Burning Man. Got another curry to share with my sis and her bf. And it was still really good. A little spicier than before, but I enjoyed it. No line, had seats to sit on in the basement of Sports Basement, and not in the freezing SF cold. YUM!
If I start getting cravings, I’m gonna have to go a-​searchin’ for the cart each week and seriously track him on Twitter…
Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
Date & Time: Thursday June 11, 2009 @ 7pm
Mission: To Locate The Magic Curry Cart
Company: Michael on Our 7th Anniversary
Crowd: After-​Work 20 – 30 Somethings, Hipsters & Peeps in North Face
Vibe: Fun
Décor: Curry Cart & Buffet Table w/​Complimentary Party Foods & Beer. Comfy Sofas, Make-​Shift Communal Table & Coffee Tables
Service: Nice Friendly Cool Brian
Imbibe: Beer
Devour: Thai Style Tofu & Chicken Curry– $ 5
Mission: Success! The Most Challenging & Tasty Mission Yet
Look-​Out Burning Man;)
Place rating: 4
San Francisco, CA
At 7 o’clock I stood at the corner of 19th and Linda, I kept checking twitter to make sure that he would be there this Friday. I was sure I was at the right when I noticed cars slowing down at Linda looking towards the dead end.
Finally around 7:30pm the magic curry man was done setting up and passed a clipboard for everyone to place their orders. I was the fourth name on the list for his tofu curry and still had to wait 30 minutes. Which goes by pretty quickly when you’re trying the other stalls. It’s VERY IMPORTANT that you SIGN THE LIST, or you could be like some who those who weren’t aware of the list and probably waited more than an hour for their food.
I thought the curry was pretty decent, I wasn’t expecting anything spectacular but I still thought he did a pretty good job although the rice was a bit too mushy, but for $ 5 dollars I can’t complain.
It’s definitely a fun experience that one should everyone should try. Be prepared to wait around because that’s what’s it all about, but it’s worth the wait.
Place rating: 4
San Francisco, CA
Made to order, with the perfect amount of spicy kick. Rich flavor (a bit on the sweet side), a big mix of veggies, and your choice of chicken or tofu (and the tofu version is even made with vegetarian fish sauce). Served up on some very sticky rice (which absorbs the curry sauce wonderfully), it’s a remarkably filling meal for a paltry $ 5! And try not to think about how much coconut milk goes into it — trust me, you’ll be happier.
Follow him on twitter — @magiccurrykart — to find out where & when he’ll be, but he’s most often found on Linda near 19th st on Friday evenings, in the company of the equally delicious Crème Brulee cart!
You’ll want to get there early, though, because the line can get pretty long…