Café Haiti has been serving dry curry since 1974. The shop is located in a basement mall near Shinjuku Station called Subnade. Cafe Haiti specializes in coffee and this dry curry dish. The curry is made with minced meat and finely chopped vegetables and is rich with spices. It is served over a bed of rice. We also tried the curry toast, a nice contrast to rice.

The café is a mix of 70s Showa interior and art that maybe came from Haiti but is transporting. On this day the auntie of the shop was working by herself so she limited the number of customers who could dine to what she could manage. Turning away a few customers. Smart lady. It was a mix of young and old, many ordering the curry with coffee, but a few diners just getting coffee.

The most popular menu item is dry curry with coffee. The beans are sourced from Haiti. The coffee that comes with an order of curry includes a bottle of rum. Auntie recommended just two or three drops of rum just to add an aroma to the coffee. She also advised not adding milk to the coffee but that sugar would be ok.

I told her that Café Haiti has been on my radar for a long time from curry books, magazines, and even television. I mentioned one program that I saw her dry curry on and she was delighted.

Cafe Haiti

Shinjuku-ku, Kabukicho 1, Shinjuku Subnade Basement 1