Japanese-style curry restaurant gaining popularity in India

January 7, 2018

NEW DELHI- A restaurant featuring Japanese-style curry has been faring well in India, attracting an increasing number of customers in the home of curry.

On Dec. 23, the Japanese restaurant, named Tokyo Table, opened at a food court in an emerging business district in New Delhi near Indira Gandhi International Airport. Unlike many other Japanese restaurants in the country, it emphasizes Japanese-style curry dishes.

There are offices of Japanese companies near the restaurant. But about half of its customers are Indian, the restaurant said.

Set menu prices, starting from 250 rupees, are slightly higher than those at local food restaurants. But Tokyo Table has been gaining popularity among Indian people, who have grown interested in foreign cuisine on the back of their country's rapid economic expansion.

"Japanese-style curry features a mild taste as its ingredients include tomatoes and is less oily than Indian curry," said Masanao Takeda, 30, who takes charge of the Indian business of Kuuraku Group, the operator of Tokyo Table, based in Chiba, east of Tokyo.

Another effort to wet Indian customers' appetite is stewing local vegetables to create a taste and flavor as good as those of meat. "There are many vegetarians in India, for religious reasons," he pointed out.

Coming to Tokyo Table for lunch, Diwak Kar, a 42-year-old employee at a foreign-affiliated company, said, "I have often eaten Japanese-style curry (during business trips abroad)." "It's different from Indian curry. Less spicy, sweet and salty," Kar said while expressing his joy in having a Japanese curry restaurant nearby. Jiji Press