Kicking up the heat

Whenever my husband suggests we go to Indian food for dinner, my son and I stare at him in disbelief.  We are the huge curry fans (specifically saag), not my husband.  But my husband is a sucker for a historic restaurant.  If it has been around forever and a day, he wants to go and find out why.

It turns out that right around the corner from the Kabuki theater in Ginza is the oldest Indian restaurant in Japan.  Since 1949, Nair's Restaurant has been serving Indian food to Japanese people.

As soon as my husband suggested it, my son and I jumped for joy.  We wanted Indian food for dinner!

In true Japanese form, we entered the restaurant and were told to head to the dining room on the second floor.  We traversed the narrow stairs and found a room filled with tables.  We sat in the only empty table and reviewed the menu.  It was simple and to the point.  There were two columns of food and drinks.  No photos, not descriptions, nothing.  We took a gamble and ordered famous murgi lunch, as well as the lesser known kheema curry, and kabab.  The restaurant does not serve naan or saag or tikka masala or any of the other typical Indian dishes that we expect to find at Indian restaurants.

It was okay.  We are always willing to try new things.  My husband had heard about the murgi lunch - a hearty plate featuring rice, mashed potatoes, boiled cabbage, a chicken leg (with the tenderest chicken even made), all topped with a curry sauce.  It is what really put this restaurant on the map.  As we looked around at the other tables, everyone was eating this particular dish.

Our dishes arrived and I looked at them with surprise.  I was expecting the kabab to be skewered meat, but instead it was more like falafel.  Luckily, my son loved it.  So, it was fine.

Both of the curries were quite hot.  Our family typically orders food with zero or 1 stars.  My husband and son don't like heat.  But the restaurant staff didn't ask us how hot we wanted.  Our son quickly decided (after trying everything) that he was going to eat the kabab.  So, my husband and I dug into the murgi lunch and kheema.

The flavors were really amazing.  But it was really hot for our delicate palates.  I looked over at my husband and he was actually sweating.  I asked him why he was still eating it if it was too hot for him and he replied "because it tastes so good!"

We finished our dinner and left the restaurant.  It wasn't the Indian food experience we were expecting, but it was delicious nonetheless.  And my husband got to tick off another landmark restaurant off his list of places to go.