We love curry in Japan. Most often we make it from scratch, but I do keep pre-cooked curry packs in our home for rainy days. These simply need to be cooked in the pack in hot water – usually for about 5-7 minutes. To cook in the microwave I open the pack and move the…
Tag: curry
Cafe Haiti
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…
The Origins of Katsu Curry
Katsu curry, tonkatsu pork cutlet with curry rice, originated at Grill Swiss in Ginza. Lunch starts with a small salad and an asari clam and bacon soup. The dark brown curry is made with minced pork and beef is rich with spices and is topped with tonkatsu (1,540 JPY or about $12). On this day…
Tachikawa Rainbow Spice Curry
Rainbow Spice, just one minute from Tachikawa station’s South exit, is sliver of a shop. Seven counter seats overlooking an itsy-bitsy kitchen. Rainbow Spice makes the curries from scratch and doesn’t use flour but yogurt as a thickener. This lunch was a double curry of a pork vindaloo, tart from wine vinegar with tender meat,…
Simmered Pork Belly Curry Pan
Ikebukuro Tobu is Tokyo’s largest depachika. While exploring it recently we came across what is one of Tokyo’s great curry pans, bread filled with curry and deep-fried. This one caught my eye as it is called 豚の角煮カレーパン buta no kakuni kare-pan, simmered pork belly curry bread. The bread is studded with shards of bread that when…
Japanese Curry with Some Fried Pork
Tonkatsu on its own is a great dish, as is curry, but combined as katsu curry is a great way to hit two sweet spots in one dish. Ouroji 王ろじ is a tonkatsu shop on a quiet back street near Shinjuku Isetan. Katsu curry here is served in a bowl and is called tondon (tonkatsu donburi). The…
Shibuya Joto Curry
Katsu curry is a great fusion dish of two Japanese classics, tonkatsu and curry. Near Shibuya station is Jōtō Curry, originally from Osaka. When you come into the 2nd floor shop, you’ll find the vending machine for tickets just to your right. There are photos for the main dishes. The signature katsu curry button is…
What to Eat in Tokyo Now
Tokyo summers are hot, humid, and in my opinion, horrible. I don’t know about you, but my appetite wanes and some days it can be hard to get motivated to eat. Here are some things that I look forward to eating this time of year. In this list I am including some dishes or…
Sausage Curry at Tsukiji Pyramid
One of the best curries I have had in a long time was at this German restaurant in Tsukiji. Yes, you read that correctly. A German restaurant at Tsukiji serving curry. But, this wasn’t just any curry. The meat is a German sausage, and for toppings everyone gets a quenelle-shaped German mashed potatoes with house-made…
Kyobashi Domenica Soup Curry
Hokkaido’s soup curry is a great change-up on the regular Japanese curry. I remember the first time a girlfriend served this to me. I thought she had messed up the recipe as the curry was so watery, but she explained to me that this is what soup curry is. Once I got over the mind…
Shibuya Curry House Tiri Tiri
It is hot and humid in Tokyo. A great time to have curry as the spices helps you to sweat, cooling you down. Curry House Tiri Tiri is a popular shop in Shibuya, about a five minute walk from the station along Meiji Dori. While the shop has pork, chicken, or shrimp as options for…
Waseda Rakkyo Brothers Soup Curry
Soup Curry is a Hokkaido dish that is a great twist on the regular Japanese curry that we find throughout most of Tokyo. Japanese curry is made with a roux, the flour makes the curry quite thick. The Hokkaido soup version of curry is a soup, without the roux, that is filled with large cuts…
Shibuya Murgi Curry 印度料理ムルギー
Murugi has been on my Go List for about twenty-five years now. Famous for its curry, and the unusual presentation of the tall rice behind the curry. The popular dish is the tamago-iri curry, curry with a hard-boiled egg (1,050 JPY). It is served with a small portion of a fruit paste, to be mixed into the…
Dakshin “Truly South Indian” Near Tokyo Station
The Kyobashi side of Tokyo Station outside of the Yaesu exit has many restaurants hidden away down narrow streets or in the basement of boring buildings. Dakshin is one of these spots that is worth seeking out. I only happened upon it as my regular Indian spots for dosa, Dhaba, had a long line out the…
Tsukiji Curry – Higashi Indo Curry Shōkai
I love curry. So does Ichiro Suzuki of the New York Yankees. I remember watching a television program on Ichiro that reported that when he has home games that his wife makes him curry for breakfast. I found that so fascinating. Curry for breakfast. While I have lived in Singapore and often had curry for…
Ginza New Castle Curry
New Castle Curry in Ginza was a great little spot for a bowl of spicy curry topped with an over-easy egg. When I last went, while researching my book, Food Sake Tokyo, it was a second-generation shop in an old, wooden building in the glamorous Ginza district. While shiny new buildings were built up around…
Spoon Curry
Japanese curry, one of the country’s comfort food dishes, is something we make at home all of the time. Often using packages of curry roux that now come in a wide variety of flavors and levels of heat. I am a firm believer in not going out to eat food that can be easily made…
Tsukiji Market Cheap Eats – Indo Curry Nakaei 印度カレー中栄
Half and Half (Karakuchi and Tomato Fumi) For over 100 years Indo Curry Nakaei 印度カレー中栄 has been making it’s spicy curry for the market workers. The original shop, in Nihonbashi, opened in 1912. Nihonbashi is where the fish market was before it moved to its current location. The curries here are made from scratch and…
Ginza New Castle Curry ニューキャッスル – CLOSED
So sad to say that this is now closed. We will miss you New Castle. New Castle ニューキャッスル Chuo-ku, Ginza 2-3-1 03-3561-2929 11:00 – 21:00 (Saturdays until 17:00) Closed Sundays and holidays No website An old style curry shop, in an old building in a very modern part of town, catches your eye. The shop…
Food Sake Tokyo 