During the holiday I had a chance to try another Indian restaurant that opened up in town. I was at Red Spanky the night before when one of the customers there told me about a new restaurant in northern Okubo. He drew me a map, and so the next day I hiked up there for lunch.
The first problem with this place is the location. It is off the main road (which is itself not quite a “main” road), and then hidden behind a strip of scary-looking snacks. If I didn’t have the map there would be no way of knowing that this place existed unless I walked past the snacks, and even at night few people will do that.
Once past the front door the place is nice enough. They spent a lot of money on the interior, and it shows. I ordered a lunch set, as that was the only choice available, and asked for spicy curry along with some other goodies. Unfortunately it wasn’t very spicy, but it was quite tasty. I had vegetable curry and that was really good. The curry turned out to be the best of the lot, as the rest of the food wasn’t very exciting. The naan bread was huge, but a little too chewy and not enough butter for my taste.
After lunch one of the cooks came over to introduce himself and talk about the restaurant. He was a really friendly guy and nice to talk to. The place is owned by a Japanese guy (who I think was sitting in the back of the restaurant while I was there) and the two cooks are from Nepal. They were trying to drum up business for the future, but I think I’ll wait a while for them to straighten out their menu before I go back. Until then, I’ll stick with Swaad.
