“旧ヤム邸 シモキタ荘” or freely translated “Shimokita’s former yam house” is a Restaurant our Japanese friend has been meaning to bring us to for a while, as this is her favorite “spice curry” restaurant in Tokyo. According to her; if she could, she would eat here every day!
Now if you are wondering what is this “spice curry”? We think the name is slightly misleading as it is NOT a spicy curry. In fact, it could not be more the opposite. Think about a Japanese curry, but with the addition of Indian flavors. So expect a sweetish, very flavourful tick curry sauce, often accompanied by a salsa, pickles and some Dahl. It tastes exactly as it sounds: delicious!
The restaurant is on the far end of Shimokitazawa, about a 10 min walk from the south exit. It’s small, with a few counter seats as well as tables. It can maybe seat about 20 people max. Because of this and its reputation in the area, you will often find a queue. But it’s not one of these restaurants we’re people linger for hours, so the queue moves on fairly quickly.
They don’t have a menu. We kinda like that. Only a blackboard and only in Japanese. From the look of it, they change this quite regularly too. We know it might be a turn off for some, but if you are adventurous and not too picky we dare you to try!
Because the moment you step through the door the smell is just divine. Once the food arrives it does not just smell beautiful, but also looks the part. Hello Instagram. But don’t snap for too long as it might get cold…
We ordered two curries; The potato and beef curry, with extra cheese topping for ¥1400 and the squid curry for ¥1400. We also got some pickles to share for ¥200. If you fancy a beer to go along with it, add another ¥500 per person. We think it’s rather great value, especially with the portion size being pretty big. And as an extra bonus, you get to choose your rice; whole-grain, turmeric or Jasmin, a nice touch we think. Also, their vegetable curry is vegetarian-friendly for any of you not eating meat or fish.
Our conclusion? We probably could eat here every day too! But what about all the other great places we would miss out on???? With that in mind, we will definitely come back 🙂
https://twitter.com/kyuyamshimokita
Address
〒155-0032 Tōkyō-to, Setagaya City, Daizawa, 5-chōme−29−9 ナイスビル
Opening hours
- 11.30am-3pm and 6pm-10pm
- Closed on Tuesday
