A note on the words: kulcha is a round Indian flatbread; here the cheese kulcha is the restaurant’s signature item, said to combine Gouda and mozzarella, its surface glossy with butter. Methi is fenugreek, an aromatic herb and spice with a faintly bitter, sweet aroma used here to tighten and perfume the mutton curry. Ghee is clarified butter used in Indian cooking to add richness, nigella refers to small black seeds floating whole on the curry’s surface, and fennel seeds are the aromatic whole seeds scattered alongside them.
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GURGAON on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
To all you curry lovers out there, thank you for waiting! It is time for Hangover Meshi (meshi = meal)!
Ginza-itchome, a two-minute walk from the station. This time, I headed to GURGAON, a restaurant specializing in North Indian cuisine. Apparently it keeps making the Asian & Ethnic TOKYO Top 100 list. While it is a curry shop that draws a line at lunchtime, at night it shows a different side. In the tandoor dishes section of the menu, there is a note saying, “Before the curry! Goes great with beer or wine.” There are also four kinds of Indian beer. Which means this must be a curry shop where you can drink!
Head down the stairs of the multi-tenant building, and it is already India ^^
The restaurant was about 80% full, but since I was alone, I was able to walk right in ^^
Seeing Indian beers listed on the menu. There were quite a few I didn’t know, so I really wanted to try them!
The first beer is the BEST!
An Indian lager with a white-bearded man raising a glass on the label. It had a star mark next to it on the menu as the shop’s recommendation, so I decided to order it. Just as you would expect from a hot climate, the aftertaste fades quickly in a clean, refreshing finish.
Now, normally when I drink with curry I don’t really eat naan or things like that, but… ha
This cheese kulcha is the restaurant’s signature dish, so I went ahead and ordered it! A round baked bread cut radially into four, its surface glossy with butter.
When you tear it open, the cheese stretches out thick and gooey. It is fun just to look at, ha. Apparently it combines Gouda and mozzarella, and the aroma of garlic goes amazingly well with it. The chewy dough and the saltiness of the cheese make it complete on its own, so it is delicious just as it is, even without dipping it into curry.
This was also an Indian beer I had never seen before. A king on a vermilion label. This one is a pilsner at 4.9% ABV. In contrast to the flashy name, the taste is crisp and dry, very easy to drink!
To tell the truth, apparently this shop is famous for its butter chicken…
But I just LOVE mutton curry!
A generous mound of julienned ginger right on top.
Rising from the dish is the scent of methi — fenugreek — with its faintly bitter and sweet aroma. I often use it at home when making curry too ^^. Whole fennel seeds and black nigella float on the surface, and just from the aroma alone, it smells like serious, carefully made cooking!
Taking a bite, what hits you first is the acidity of tomato and the sweetness of onion. Then the rich depth of ghee builds gently, and after that the bitterness of methi tightens everything up. Just as the menu states that it uses methi, ginger, and ghee, the aroma is carefully built, and it is delicious!!
The mutton is cooked until it falls apart tenderly. While keeping the distinct aroma of mutton, the spices and ginger round off the sharp edges. It was listed as spicy on the menu, but the heat stops at “mildly spicy,” I would say.
At this point, I dipped the little bit of cheese kulcha I had left into the curry, and combined with the mellowness of the cheese, it was incredibly delicious! I thought to myself that ordering naan-style bread once in a while is actually really nice.
This one I already knew, but since I was here, I ordered it to compare. When you think of India, it is that familiar green bottle marked by a jade-colored kingfisher. It is the premium lager you see most often in India. Low bitterness, sharp finish. It had just the right lightness to finish off the night!
A curry shop where you can drink — exactly that! Even though I drank three Indian beers, most of them new to me, all by myself, I was thoroughly satisfied. For next time, I am daydreaming about skipping the cheese kulcha and having drinks with two kinds of curry, ha. After all, there are apparently 18 more curries to explore. Ginza-itchome is also relatively easy to get to, so I kind of want to become a regular ^^
May you meet something delicious today too!
GURGAON (Indian / Ginza-itchome Station, Kyobashi Station, Yurakucho Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★★☆ 4.0
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
