Taito Ward Office celebrates twin pandas with curry

The Yomiuri Shimbun

11:27 JST, March 4, 2022

Tokyo’s Taito Ward Office is offering a popular “Twin panda vegetable curry” at its cafeteria called Chikashoku Sakura. The curry is a celebration of twin pandas — male cub Xiao Xiao and female cub Lei Lei — born at the Ueno Zoo in the ward last June.

Two panda faces are made using 100 grams of rice each, with seaweed creating the eyes and noses. Snap peas are used to make a bamboo stalk in the curry, with tofu meat substitute used in place of real meat.

There are only ten dishes of the curry made each day, with one plate selling for ¥580. People who do not work at the ward office can also use the cafeteria, meaning the curry sells out fast each day.

The cafeteria is open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays only.