Curry shop highlights local Fukushima ingredients

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:25 JST, August 23, 2022

FUKUSHIMA — A member of the Minami-Soma City community development cooperative team opened a pop-up curry restaurant in Minami-Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, on Aug. 2 to promote the local community.

Curry Tsubo, which was opened by Kazunori Hotta in Odaka Ward in the city, only serves 20 dishes a day and is only open on Tuesdays and Wednesdays through Sept. 28.

“I want to promote Odaka,” Hotta said.

Hotta, a Kyoto native, worked as a company employee in the Kansai region before joining the cooperative team in April last year.

This fiscal year, he is focusing on commercializing the hospitality and restaurant industries.

Hotta has enjoyed making curry since he was a company employee. He said when he served his curry to his friends in May, they said it was delicious.

Gaining confidence, he opened the pop-up restaurant at Haccoba, a sake brewery he was familiar with through his work with the cooperative.

The shop offers two different curries every week. Hotta is particular about the ingredients he uses and tries to include vegetables, such as onions and potatoes, grown in Odaka as much as possible.

As for drinks, Curry Tsubo serves lassi made with blueberries from Blueberry Park Pipopa, a tourist farm in Minami-Soma.

“The curry was created through the relationships I’ve built after moving to Odaka,” Hotta said. “I really want people to try it.”

Curry Tsubo is open from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.