Here's a great idea: curry-rice, that bland yoshoku staple, given a gastronomic twist. Instead of stewing up the ingredients, be it beef, chicken, seafood or vegetables, with the spices, they're presented separately on top of a dainty mound of rice, with the (very mildly) spicy curry roux served on the side. But here's the kicker: each kind of curry has its own special roux — and they're all based on classical French cuisine.
For the Burgundy beef curry, the roux is made a la boeuf bourgignon, with fond de veau and red wine; for the Lyon chicken curry it's a light chicken bouillon; for the Normandy-style seafood curry a seafood and duck-based soup is used; and so on. I had the chicken curry this evening. It was so good I plan to go back and work my way through the whole range.
Take – it's the name of the chef as well as the restaurant – is well off the beaten track in Maruyama-cho, between Shibuya and Yoyogi. But it's a cosy little place with a pretty good wine list to go with a decent selection of hors d'oeuvres.
Update (autumn 2010): Unfortunately Take is now gone — or rather revamped into a tapas bar. It's still serving curries, though, but the atmosphere is very different.
Recent Comments