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Thanks to an increasing number of restaurants in Japan that serve curry from countries other than India, anyone can find a dish from a wide variety of nations, such as Sri Lanka and Nepal. These new dishes are attracting not just foreign residents in Japan who crave a taste of home but are capturing the hearts of Japanese curry lovers.
Sri Lanka
The Yomiuri Shimbun Lahiru Taraka offers the Sri Lanka plate, which includes curry using mackerel, pumpkin and beets along with vegetable dishes at his restaurant Serendib in Taito Ward, Tokyo.
Serendib is a restaurant located in Tokyo’s shitamachi old town area near Kuramae Station in Taito Ward. Lahiru Taraka, 39, from Sri Lanka, and his wife Megumi Kanazawa, 52, opened the eatery in 2020. The restaurant is especially popular among women and has people lining up in front of it on weekends.
Sri Lanka is an island country rich in fish, including mackerel, tuna and bonito that are often used in curry dishes. The restaurant also serves other Sri Lankan dishes that use kale and nanohana field mustard grown in Japan such as sambol, a salad, and a stir-fried dish called mallum.
Serendib has a popular menu, which includes fish and meat curries as well as vegetable dishes. Customers are recommended to mix everything on the plate before eating it. A group of female company employees who visited the restaurant for the first time were content with the dishes, mentioning that “the food looked gorgeous, and I enjoyed the various flavors” and “the dishes were healthy since they used many vegetables.”
Kanazawa said: “We hope customers will maintain their health by eating spices and vegetables that are in season. We use Sri Lankan dried bonito, which adds the flavor of dashi broth to our dishes. I think Japanese people will like how everything tastes.”
Nepal
The Yomiuri Shimbun Nepalese dhido is placed on the center of a plate, surrounded by mutton curry and vegetable side dishes at the restaurant Aangan in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo.
The Shin-Okubo district of Tokyo, known for its many Korean restaurants, is seeing an increase in the number of Nepalese restaurants. Many Nepalese people go to vocational and other schools in the district. The Nepalese restaurant Aangan opened in 2016 and serves spicy mutton curry, a mild bean soup and other dishes. A popular food combo includes dhido, a Nepalese staple made by kneading corn meal, and millet shaped like Japanese sobagaki, curry and side dishes using pickled takana leaves, cauliflower leaves and other ingredients.
“Since Nepal is a cold place, preserved vegetables are delicious. The Japanese people brought to my restaurant by their Nepalese friends are becoming my regulars,” Sabina Bhattachan, the restaurant’s manager, said with a smile.
Bangladesh
The Yomiuri Shimbun A curry using the freshwater fish rui and long-grain rice is served at Eusa in Taito Ward, Tokyo.
Eusa, near Okachimachi Station in Tokyo, specializes in Bangladeshi dishes, including a fish curry using rui. The freshwater fish is deep-fried using mustard oil and cooked with onions, tomatoes and spices. Japanese tastes may be suited to it as the curry comes with rice and uses a lot of fish, vegetables and beans.
Omar Faruk, the 36-year-old owner, opened the restaurant in 2006 to serve meals that conform to Islamic law for Muslims living in Japan. Now, many tourists from Asia visit the restaurant while Japanese people working nearby also eat at the restaurant.
For spice lovers in Japan
Takuya Nakamata is the chairman of the Kanda Curry Town Activation Committee that organizes a curry event called the Kanda Curry Grand Prix in the Kanda district of Tokyo.
“Japanese people have always loved curry dishes,” Nakamata said. “Many people made curry by combining various spices during the COVID-19 pandemic as they spent long hours at home. Through the experience, Japanese people are ready to accept spicy foods.
“Foreigners living in Japan have shown curry dishes from their home countries that draw the attention of Japanese people who have a strong interest in food. And Japanese people have taken a liking to these dishes, which has led to an increasing number of restaurants serving curry from a wider variety of countries. I hope curry will provide opportunities for the Japanese to understand diverse food cultures in Asia.”
