A perfectly normal Indian restaurant…just not normal to be out in the middle of nowhere, Iwamotocho. The only things weirder than finding this place out here were that there were a bunch of Indian places in the neighborhood, and there were a bunch of white guys in this one. Seriously, there were eight customers and only 2 were Japanese.
It’s a sign of the great divide between cultures when you can’t tell if the religious items in a shop are genuinely religious or if they’re there for the benefit of ‘authenticity’. Let’s err on the cautious side and figure that these really are objects of devotion for the staff, who were quite solicitous.
It’s been a loooong time since I hit a lunch buffet, so I was sucked in when I rode by and saw the sign (which said ‘Viking’ in Japanese, but that’s what they call it). In retrospect, it hadn’t been long enough.
Gloop. Pretty good gloop though. In particular the keema was fun because it seemed like they had overdone the cardamom. Maybe that’s normal where the chef comes from? The service staff were very fair skinned, a bit Asian-looking, almost Nepali.
Be warned, after you sit down they’ll bring you a plate of naan like this. If you think there’s no bread, and you take too much rice to compensate, and then you feel compelled to eat all the rice, you’ll end up overly full. And they’ll give you more naan any time too. Just a friendly warning.