A note on the words: vindaloo is the sharp, vinegary pork curry of Goa; malai means the cream skimmed from milk, and a tikka is a marinated, grilled piece of meat; shochu is Japan’s distilled spirit, here taken long with soda. Prices are as of this writing (August 2026).
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Katchal Batchal on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Drinkers, thank you for waiting. This is Hangover Meshi!
Hungry, and fancying a solo dinner somewhere, I went looking — and found a curry house in Shin-Otsuka with a very high rating! It looked as though it would be busy, but surely one person can squeeze in! — and off I went on that thread of hope.
There is no flashy signage at the shop, just this one plain sign. Climb the steep staircase to its left and… there it is!
Inside is a small room: a little L-shaped counter and two or three tables for two.
It was of course full, but a counter seat happened to be coming free at that exact moment, so after a short wait I got in! Excellent!! I had come entirely on spec, so if they had turned me away I would have been wandering the streets. Lucky^^
Butter chicken curry — 1,400 yen
North Indian vegetable curry — 1,300 yen
South Indian prawn curry — 1,400 yen
Pork vindaloo curry — 1,300 yen
Spicy mutton curry — 1,400 yen
Chicken achari — 1,300 yen
Chicken biryani — 1,300 yen
Katchal Batchal’s tagline is: the shop that makes you drink shochu with your curry!
So, true to the tagline, let us have two curries as drinking snacks and put away some shochu!
The shochu to go with it: a botanical barley shochu from Kagoshima!
A delicious shochu selling itself on citrus aroma and a sansho-like spiciness, taken with soda. Extremely easy to drink. Rather gin-like.
Pork vindaloo is a great favourite of mine!
A curry originating in Goa in western India! A pork curry, which is unusual in India, and it comes at you hard on three pillars — acidity, sweetness and aroma — which is exactly why I love it. I make it fairly often myself^^
One spoonful and a sharp acidity runs cleanly across the tongue first. Then the mellowness and sweetness of coconut milk come softly after, and finally the heat of the spices and their complex aroma spread through the whole mouth.
Mmm — delicious!
A flavour you do not tire of; the heat is quite restrained, and the various spices raise the fragrance of clove and cardamom while running slowly deep.
The great chunks of Aomori “Apple Pork” shoulder loin inside are also excellent. Tender enough to crumble, thoroughly soaked in that sweet-sour sauce, and with every chew the sweetness of the fat and the vinegar burst out — superb!!
And indeed the citrus aroma of the CHILL GREEN soda highball matches the fragrance of the curry beautifully!
This is a curry built for shochu!
A thick, viscous gravy, with complex spice aromas rising from the surface. Cumin, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon — and something else another layer down that I cannot place.
Scoop with the spoon and great chunks of mutton appear.
One bite and the “mutton” aroma comes up properly. Not funk — the good aroma of mutton!
This is good.
The tender-simmered meat is thoroughly coated in the viscous gravy, and the more you chew the more the savour of the meat and the outline of the spices alternate! This curry is finished slightly hotter, and the shochu soda goes down fast!
Having drunk about two glasses with the curry as my snack…
…I found I wanted one more.
I was going to ask for two pieces of the boneless tandoori chicken, but the staff suggested: shall we do one each of that and the chicken malai tikka? Delightful! Two of each would have meant I could only eat one of them! How kind!
At the back, tandoori chicken seasoned with the house spice blend.
The surface, thoroughly marinated in yoghurt and spices, chars fragrantly, and biting in releases a burst of juices. Being boneless it is easy to eat while drinking, and the aroma of cumin and garam masala keeps the beer moving.
The spicing is properly strong, yet the flavour stays refined.
At the front, chicken malai tikka, seasoned with cream and cashew nuts.
“Malai” refers to the skin that forms on milk; chicken is marinated in yoghurt combined with cream, cashews and cheese, then grilled — a genuinely luxurious thing!
First bite: a soft, gentle dairy aroma rises, with the spice held back. In exchange, the moist texture of the chicken and its depth of richness come through directly. Mild in its own way, and delicious!
“Curry that makes you drink shochu” — I am convinced! I ended up doing a proper solo drinking session^^
The aroma of the spices moves the drink along, and the drink makes you want more curry. I came away with a strong desire to try the other curries too. Finishing work, slipping in alone, three shochu sodas with curry as the snack, and home! It turned into something out of a solo-drinking manga — but drinking alone is a fine thing!
May you meet something good to eat today too.
Katchal Batchal (Indian / Shin-Otsuka Station, Mukohara Station, Otsuka-ekimae 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?
