Dom Pierre Express Curry, Tokyo

A really odd set of connections on this one. Perignon is an expensive French restaurant in the northernmost wastes of Ginza (east side). They have a cake shop, in fact two if you count the small shop attached to their bakery, in the greater Monzennakacho area (and one in Aoyama). They also have a series of expensive and famous (I’m told) curry shops in greater Tokyo (I thought the Yaesu one was the honten, but I’m not sure from the web). So this is curry inspired by old-school overpriced French food! And it’s all named after a goofy French monk!

The curry is pretty predictable, which is not to say it’s not good – I enjoyed Special Beef Curry quite a lot, and Zone’s White Curry (similar to White Stew or Hokkaido Stew if that helps; a creamy and sorta gluey white sauce standing in for curry, with more veg than meat) was a prime example of its species. Actually the 特製 beef was really good – I think it was brisket, cooked almost into unintelligibility, with the curry itself being extremely dark and fragrant. The old-style French background evidently has some benefits, chief among them being the skill and willingness to cook a curry for a long time to create the deep flavors necessary to make you go ‘mmmm’. And then turn it into a mix that you can buy near the register.

Thus I can recommend this as long as you understand and accept that you’ll be paying Y1600 for a plate of excellent curry rice whereas you can get a lesser example – a far, far lesser example – in Kanda or your favorite Yoshinoya or Matsuya for Y500.

Here’s the group web site, so you can check out the French places too.
Tokyo Station store that we went to: 03-5288-7551