A note on the words: lu rou is Taiwan’s soy-and-star-anise braised pork; achar is a spiced Indian-style pickle; vindaloo a sharp, vinegary curry; korma the creamy court-style curry. Roka’s signature plate sets Taiwanese braised pork and spice curry side by side on one plate of turmeric rice. Prices are as of this writing (August 2026).
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SPICY CURRY Roka on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Curry people, thank you for waiting. It is Hangover Meshi time.
This time, to Okubo and the wildly popular curry shop “SPICY CURRY Roka”! It took me two attempts before I finally managed to eat here.
To eat at lunch, you must sign the book early in the morning! You write your name down for one of the seatings: 10:50, 11:30, 12:10, 13:00 or 13:40 — first six names per seating! Sign-up officially opens at 9:30, but when the queue runs long they sometimes open the book early, and it can be full before 9:30 even arrives.
On my first attempt I arrived around 9:20 — and every slot was already gone! I nearly concluded this was impossible for anyone with a fixed morning at the office. But after some research, a strategy emerged.
A new limited curry drops on Wednesdays, and the professionals come hunting for it. Which means…
Tuesday, with fewer professionals about, is the day to strike!
Better still: the Tuesday right after a long weekend is the quietest of all.
Deploying this tactic on a post-holiday Tuesday: arrived 9:20, slid into the 10:50 seating — safe! (The gap between Wednesday and the rest, and between weekends and weekdays, really is that extreme!)
You reassemble around 10:45 and are called in, in the order you signed!
A first visit means the Roka plate, obviously! And since we were here — the limited petit curry as well.
Orders are taken in entry order, and cooked in that order too. The owner-chef is Eri Saito — nickname, apparently, “Eritsin”. The person first through the door was clearly a regular: they handed over a small gift on arrival and chatted happily with her throughout^^
To be fair, this is exactly the kind of system that breeds regulars!
Ohh! That looks superb!
I wanted the limited curry too, so I asked for less rice. (The first customer ordered an enormous double-meat plate — heroic…!) Half the plate is salad and achar, half is curry, with a small crown of lu rou (Taiwanese braised pork) and half a soft egg on the rice.
The visual is ridiculously charming.
I knew perfectly well the chicken curry is the most popular — but I love lamb…! So: swapped to the lamb vindaloo. Did I just come across as a seasoned curry hand on my first visit?!
Into the curry: spice heat and acidity land on the tongue first, then lamb’s particular savour comes surging after. The spices and vinegar have soaked deep in. None of the oiliness of Indian curry — light-bodied and original — yet the lamb’s meatiness asserts itself completely. Delicacy and wildness at once — masterful.
And its partner: the lu rou. The Taiwanese street-food staple, refined by the chef to sit alongside curry. Pork simmered sweet and savoury, kakuni-style — moist and tender, fragrant with star anise, its deep soy richness seeping into the turmeric rice. Delicious.
Taste each element on its own first — the vivid yellow turmeric rice, the sweet-savoury lu rou, egg, salad, sides. Then in the second half, start folding them together little by little: the crunch of the sides, the spice, the sweetness of the pork all become one. Wonderful! And mixing in the limited petit curry unlocks yet another flavour!
This is what curry is about! The aesthetics of the mix! Delicious!
“Bone-in Pakistani-style beef korma curry”. Korma is the creamy curry family born in India’s royal courts — here given a Pakistani-style reworking!
Bone-in beef simmered slowly, marrow savour and meatiness dissolved thoroughly into the soup. The forceful spicing of the Pakistani style and korma’s mellow richness stand together in one build, and Roka’s fry-not-stew spice technique sends the aromas up fresh.
And — it is properly hot!
A slow sweat sets in. Halfway through, tip it onto the Roka plate and mix — delicious.
Even with less rice I was completely full. Deeply satisfied!
A curry that draws its spice aromas right out into the open. Fresh, forceful flavour and fragrance — that, I now understand, is Roka. A curry worth eating at least once in your life. If signing the book around 9:20 works, it is quite doable; if it ever takes a 5am or 6am start, that is another matter. There were takeaway customers too — if you just want to taste it, takeaway may be the easier door in!
May you meet something good to eat today too.
SPICY CURRY Roka (curry / Okubo Station, Shin-Okubo Station, Seibu-Shinjuku Station)
Tabelog lunch rating ★★★☆☆ 3.7
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
