Akiba Karee-kan

I had to post this — it’s a segment that a Japanese TV show did last spring on Akiba Karee-kan, one of the restaurants I wrote about in this post! It gives you a look at the place, not to mention their food (including a little bit on how nan is made). It also gives some sample prices. Enjoy the silliness that is television in Japan after the jump.

Eating Indian in Tokyo

TheLadyAmalthea

As is the case all over, Indian restaurants are one of the best bets for vegetarians in Tokyo. They’re at least as plentiful as in the U.S., if not more, and the places I’ve been to so far have all been good. Most of the staff have seemed to speak more English than Japanese, and many have bilingual or semi-bilingual menus. If it’s Japanese-only and you don’t read the language, looking for “vegetable curry” is always an easy bet: bejitaburu karee (ベジタブルカレー) or yasai karee (野菜カレー in kanji and やさいカレー in hiragana). Curries are served with either rice or nan, the delicious Indian flatbread that in the States is only a side dish, but here — and in India I would guess — is used to eat your meal. Click here for what a typical meal looks like.

While staying in Azabu-Juuban, south of Roppongi, we ate twice at a little place called Hathi, just steps away from the Azabu-Juuban station. (I’m not sure which exit it is, but it comes out right by a Tully’s coffeeshop and a McDonald’s — Hathi is between the two in a basement-level space.) Pretty good food, including an entire section devoted to vegetarian curries, and dinner set menus starting from ¥1500. The first time we went, I had mango juice to drink, and it was AMAZING; it tasted like they had just squeezed it themselves, which they very well might have. My boyfriend had the iced oolong, which was equally delicious.

We’ve now moved into the apartment in Kanda, Chiyoda-ku (just blocks from Akihabara), and there’s a cramped little place called Ronak just off Sotobori Dori (map) that has great, cheap lunch sets at just ¥750 a person. Only one vegetarian option at lunch, but it’s quite good, and I think they have other vegetarian curries during dinner.

Along the main drag in Akihabara, next to Mos Burger, there is also the two-story Akiba Karee-kan (アキバカレー館) location of a chain called Siddique (シヂーク). We were lured in by the delicious curry smell, and since it turned out to be an Indian rather than Japanese curry joint, I could actually eat there. They’re quite reasonably-priced — dishes starting at ¥550, even during dinner, most being about ¥750 — and their lunch specials go until 5pm. (By total coincidence, I came across a photo of someone’s meal at Akiba Karee at the end of this blog post that was mostly dedicated to Hokkaido cuisine.)

If you have any suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments below!