Deep Kyoto

good places - good people

Chakra Indian Restaurant

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We found another great curry place! Mewby and I stumbled across Chakra last night while out for an evening stroll, and although we hadn’t intended to eat out, we were tempted in at the thought of Bengal curry goodness…
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There are a lot of choices on the menu, and everything seems pretty reasonably priced. There are also a lot of vegetarian/vegan options: 8 different veggie curries to choose from! Mewby being carnivorous chose a chicken korma (1,200 yen):

chicken korma

And I had a Shaee vegetable korma (1100 yen). Both of our meals were delicious.

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The sweet naan (500 yen) we ordered to accompany our meals was the star attraction though. Packed with dried fruits and coconut, we both loved it.

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Chakra is on the corner of Gojo and Higashioji at the bottom of the Kiyomizu slope – an area that basically shuts down in the evenings, so I think this restaurant gets most of its business at lunchtime. If you go in the evening, it’s nice and quiet, and the background ethnic music is gentle on ears the too. Bento lunch boxes (700 yen) and takeaway meals are also available. All in all, we were very happy with our Chakra experience and will definitely be back to try more items on the menu.

godfather
Godfather & Cobra Indian beers available!
Open: Monday – Sunday: 11:00 – 22:00
TEL:  075-525-1260
Email: ashishich@hotmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chakra.kyoto
Location: On the west side of Higashioji Street just north of Gojo at the bottom of Gojozaka. The Gojo Zaka bus stop is right outside. Here is a MAP.

Namaste Taj Mahal

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The quest for good Indian curry continues! Namaste Taj Mahal in Fushimi is certainly a contender; lovely creamy curries, giant naan breads, super friendly staff and some of the tastiest samosas I have ever devoured.

And devour them I did. I’m not kidding about those samosas. You might think, “Oh come on! It’s just a bit of pastry with potato, onion and peas in it.” However,  these deep-fried tetrahedral delights really do surpass expectation! Seriously. It is worth visiting this restaurant just to order their samosas.

They don’t mess about with their naan bread either. Below is a cheese naan (left), and Mewby cradling a plain naan. As you can see, it’s massive.

And here are their wonderful curries, in order; Butter Chicken, Vegetable Curry, Mutton Korma, Fish Masala and Prawn Palak.

To give you an idea of the price range, on our last visit we had two curries, a plain & cheese naan, samosas, two lassis and three beers and it came to 6,290 yen. I think that’s a pretty good deal for top quality (and plentiful!) Indian food. If you go at lunchtime it’s even cheaper with a variety of lunchtime sets from 650 yen up.

Namaste Taj Mahal is a short walk west of the Keihan Fushimi Inari station. Here is a map. They are open seven days a week.

Lunchtime opening: 11:00 – 14:30 (last orders)
Dinner: 17:00 – 22:30 (last orders)

Tel: 075-643-2530

See also:
Kerala
Thilaga

Kerala Indian Restaurant

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Mewby and I ventured over to this fine establishment one evening when Sharma was closed and we were badly in need of a curry fix. Hands down this is the best Indian food I’ve eaten in Kyoto. The service is excellent too. The waiter (a charming, soft spoken chap) actually took the time to talk us through the various items on the menu and give his own recommendations. Here’s what we got.

Vegetable Samosas ~ I can’t eat Indian without them!
Machli Tikka – delicious grilled pieces of spicy white fish!
Mewby’s choice ~ Mutton Saagwala ~ Mutton cooked in spinach.
My choice ~ Vegetable Jalfry ~ mixed veggies cooked in onion & tomato sauce.
All served with delicious herb naan bread.

Kerala isn’t cheap, but you get what you pay for and I think it was worth every yen I spent in there. If you feel like paying a little bit extra and spoiling yourself to the very best curry in town, this is the place for it. You can check the menu and prices for yourself here. How satisfied were we? Just take a look at that happy smiling face!

Kerala is situated on the second floor of the KUS building a short walk south of Oike on the west side of Kawaramachi. Click here for a map and coupons!

Open: “almost every day” (best to call ahead to be sure) 11:30～14:00, 17:00～21:00
Tel: 075-251-0141

Text and photographs by Michael Lambe. All rights reserved.

Other Indian Restaurants in Kyoto:
Raju
Sharma
Thilaga



Sharma Indian Restaurant

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UPDATE February 2012: Sharma has now closed!

Since moving into the city centre last year, Mewby and I have been searching for an Indian curry restaurant to take the place in our culinary affections of the Raju restaurant up on Imadegawa. We had high hopes for the new branch of Raju on Shichijo that opened up late last year, until upon our second visit some twit put chicken in my Vegetarian Dinner Set and then made the worst apology ever; grinning and constantly repeating “Don’t mind”. Thilaga near Oomiya station was in the running too for a while, but eating their admittedly tasty curries is like playing a game of Indian curry roulette; sometimes disappointingly mild and on other occasions hell-fire spicy. Now perhaps, though we have only visited once so far, the Sharma restaurant on Sanjo will turn out to be a favorite.

We ordered a couple of starters to begin with. I cannot eat Indian food without eating samosas and these did not disappoint.

This Fish Tikka (made with Sea Bass) though, was really delicious.

I followed this up with a sweet tasting Shitafal, Sharma’s very own original pumpkin curry.

The Kaju Nan (with cashew nuts) accompanied it nicely.

Mewby went for a Mugal Chicken. Curiously she reported that it tasted very much like the pumpkin curry above… It kind of looks like it too, eh?

After that feast we went home and had a bit of a lie down. To sum up, after only one visit it’s hard to judge, but the food seems nice (the fish tikka being a highlight) and the staff most courteous and professional. We shall definitely be giving Sharma another try.

Sharma sits on the north side of Sanjo between Kiyamachi and Kawaramachi. Here is a handy map.

Opening hours: 11：00～15：00 & 17：00～23：00 (Last orders at 22：00）
Closed: Wednesdays.
Tel: 075-231-3677

Thilaga Indian Restaurant

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Mewby found this place one night on the net when she was really craving curry. The first thing that struck me was “They can’t spell Indian”. But somehow that only made me like them all the more. It gave the place an air of earnest innocence and besides spelling is not important in an Indian restaurant. Curry is. Curry is everything.

However, I’m not quite sure what to say about Thilaga‘s curry. The food is obviously excellent tastewise (or I wouldn’t bother blogging it) but the spice levels are dramatically inconsistent. [Read more…]