Japanese Curry - A Guide

[liuzhou]

I came across this awesome guide to Japanese curry culture and a map of Tokyo curry restaurants. Thought I would share. I like Japanese curry. I like all curries, really.

Edited January 19, 2016 by liuzhou (log)

[Lisa Shock]

That's a pretty good beginner's guide. I think the thing that surprised me most about curry in Tokyo was the rice being served. No matter where I went, the rice was standard Japanese short grain rice. Some places cooked it with saffron, most left it plain, but, no place I found had anything like basmati or jasmine rice. To me, the Japanese rice is fine with a sweet curry, like Golden Curry, but, I prefer the long grain rices with more traditional Indian foods.

 

I even found an obscure Sri Lankan place in Yokohama, run by a crew of big, burly Sri Lankan nationals who had a recorded cricket match showing on the tv behind the bar. (This was the only place where we ran into people speaking English.) They too had Japanese short grain rice on their buffet. I asked why they didn't have basmati and they said they tried to serve it initially, and no one would eat it. We assured them that their food looked great anyway, and it was.

[liuzhou]

5 hours ago, Lisa Shock said:

I asked why they didn't have basmati and they said they tried to serve it initially, and no one would eat it.

 

I suppose that a major rice growing/eating culture sees no need to import different rice from elsewhere.

It also should be remembered that Japan hasn't exactly had great relationships with many Asian countries, which may be another reason for them not importing "foreign" rice. Or other countries not exporting to them

 

I have never seen basmati rice here in China, either. Again not good relations historically and still not now. Although I can get excellent Thai and Cambodian long grain rice.

[Duvel]

Actually, Japan had severe import taxes imposed on foreign grown rice (and beef and other items as well). Not that many Japanese would eat anything else than domestic rice, preferably from their home prefecture ...

[liuzhou]

22 minutes ago, Duvel said:

Actually, Japan had severe import taxes imposed on foreign grown rice (and beef and other items as well).

 

That too

 

22 minutes ago, Duvel said:

Not that many Japanese would eat anything else than domestic rice, preferably from their home prefecture ...

 

Indeed., Same here.

[Shalmanese]

7 hours ago, Lisa Shock said:

They too had Japanese short grain rice on their buffet. I asked why they didn't have basmati and they said they tried to serve it initially, and no one would eat it. We assured them that their food looked great anyway, and it was.

 

What about if you order Chinese Fried Rice in Japan? I can't imagine successful Fried Rice using Japanese short grain rice.

[Lisa Shock]

5 hours ago, Shalmanese said:

 

What about if you order Chinese Fried Rice in Japan? I can't imagine successful Fried Rice using Japanese short grain rice.

 

I don't know. I only ate at one Taiwanese place (It's Vegetable) while I was in Japan and it was a Buddhist vegetarian restaurant that makes all sorts of carefully crafted imitation meat dishes. We must have been served rice, but I have no recollection of it, so it must have been Japanese. We did not order fried rice. I was interested in the mechanics of how they made the more complex items like turning yuba (soy skins) into a mock whole fish on a platter. So we ordered all of the most expensive, whole piece type items rather than chopped mystery stuff.

[Bu Pun Su]

good info

thanks for sharing it (curry in japan)

[Orik]

Hmm.

 

The casual Sri Lankan place in our neighborhood offers a choice of long grain or Japanese rice. Most Indian places of any ambition will serve long grain rice, and Thai places serve the appropriate rice. It's easy to get rice imported from various countries in ethnic groceries or online. It stands to reason that Japanese curry, being a dish adopted into the local cuisine, will usually serve Japanese rice. I can see why idle speculation is appealing, but of course Japanese people travel Asia by the millions and eat the local rice everywhere they go, and of course there are millions of non-Japanese Asians living in Japan and that alone should give you a hint that you could get a wide selection of non-Japanese rice. As for import taxes on rice, they are very high due to the influence of the rice grower lobby, but then Japanese rice is so expensive that imports often still end up being reasonably priced. 

 

554 rice products from outside Japan: http://search.rakuten.co.jp/search/mall/-/555791/?grp=product

Long grain rice at "spicy bistro taprobane":