Just been inside a cute ittle Indian, near my home.

It was an interesting experience. Not as creamy as I would have expected. My image of Indians, being expensive and extravagant in Japan has now been changed.
This Indian I have never seen before opened up, near my home. This little Indian seemed cute, colorful and rather inviting, so I went inside this Indian and tried the Indian out.
This Indian I was just inside was not at all large but rather cosy and nice and warm inside. I was half expecting my eyes to water or the intense flavors to go to my head. I had to blow my nose, near the end.
I was left feeling satisfied after about 30minutes.
I was told to 'come again', and indeed I may. But not tonight.

The Indian I'm talking about is a new restaurant, opened up near my home.
It's name is the Raj Laxmi.

It's a tiny place, with seating for about 14 (at a squeeze). 3 people seem to work there. An Indian cook, waiter and a Japanese looking lady with a nice Sari.

Nice staff. Friendly and polite. Service is prompt, friendly and not too pushy.

The second thing you notice (after the size of the place) are the prices.
Not expensive. Very reasonable, especially for Japan.
A dinner set of a curry with rice or naan , with a salad and drink (oolong tea) for 1000yen. Not bad. Draft beer is 300yen a glass or 500yen for a big glass. They have Maharaja and Kingfisher (both very good Indian pilsners) for 500yen. Not bad at all.

Here is a photo of the menu. It's in Japanese and English. There are, of crouse, the obligatory mistakes. You can see the famiLLy set choice.
You can choose two curry (curries) from bellow (does the chef scream out the choices?).
What I liked the best is that with this meal, you get a glass of bear! I've never had a bear in a glass before. Come to think of it, I've never had a bear. Great stuff.
This was the most expensive thing on the menu. a family set, 2500yen, for at least 2 people.

The meal I choose was the 2nd most expensive thing, set B.

For 1500yen, I got:

A drink of oolong tea and a salad. The salad was very basic. Just cabbage, a slice of cucumber and some corn and dressing. Not even a tomato. But it tasted okay.





Next came the chicken tandoori. Very nice it was. too. Plenty of meat on it. Very good. Not too spicy but still it had plenty of flavor.



Then it was... something else. I can't remember what this was called. I was too scared to ask, in case it was a bear's appendage or something. But it tasted good. It came with a little of the strange salad, too (I got another slice of cucumber).



Then the main course arrived. But what?
Where's my curry?
Have the naan and rice been served, without the curry?
What's going on?




A quick inspection under the naan revealed my curries! Hello, boys!!!
The green one was the special curry. It was a saag chicken curry (with spinach). A little different to most saags I've had before. Not very think and creamy. Slightly 'soup'ish. But it grew on me. No pun intended. Not very spicy. A hint of garlic, perhaps? The chicken was good and soft.

The curry to the left was the mutton curry. This was my favourite of the two. Slighlty more flavor and spicier. Went well with the naan. The naan was an ample size (as they always are) but a little plain tasting. Not the most flavoursome naan I've ever had.

Flavour was a little lacking.
Not as thick or creamy as I would have liked.
Simple salad but it tasted fine.
Plain naan was just that.
Service was good and friendly.
Price is very reasonable.
Nice selections. Maybe next time I will try their mango lassie for 450yen or perhaps a few beers.

All in all a nice meal for only 1500yen.
Not bad for Japan.
I will come again, but not tonight. I need to recover.

Verdict: 7/10.

Can't argue with value for money: 8/10
Food: Not great, not bad. 6/10

Overall: 7/10

HuaHua - Vietnamese restaurant, Hiyoshi

I went to this new restaurant this evening, to check it out.
It's on Mail road, about 200m from Hiyoshi station , Toyoko line.
It's on the 2nd floor, where the reasonably sized portions and priced Capricciosa used to be (alas).

First impression - nice.
They seemed to do a nice job with the interior.
Had a defenite 'ethnic' feel to it.
The main window was nicely designed with plants outside and soft lighting lending it that jungle feel.
Excuse me if my typing is wierd, the old guy next door is snoring. Hate snoring.

Well, here are some pics of the place. My battery was low (didn't use my LCD screen to check on picture quality) on my camera and I didn't want to be too rude to the other customers, so the pics may not be so great.

Okay, ready to order.

I ordered gou cuon (raw spring rolls), ran muog zao toi (vegetables cooked with garlic and perhaps oyster sauce), ga luang na chauh (chicken something - damn, I was doing fine until then), canh ga chien muoe man (fried chicken, more or less) and of course, a beer. The beer on tap is Carslberg.

First to arrive were the spring rolls. They were very quick to arrive, which leads me to wonder if they were in fact freshly made or made that morning and just pulled out of the fridge.

They looked nice.
Not very big. They came with 2 sauces. one sweet and one peanut sauce. Neither at all spicy. Quite bland, actually. Not much flavor.
I was worried that they were doing the 'Japanese version' on us. Quite a few places over here adjust the food so it is more suitable for 'Japanese tastes'. Indian food is less spicy, McDonalds hamburgers are different. Even CocaCola has a slightly different drink for this country!
The price was 600yen for 2. Not cheap. 3 mouthfuls and they were gone.
2.5-3/5
The beer tasted a little strange at first but got better on the second taste.

Next to arrive were the vegetables.

These were nice at first, with the garlic flavor enigorating to the senses. But then the saltiness prevailed. Too salty. Think maybe too much oyster sauce or soemthing. They were still ok to eat. Not bad, but just a little too salty. Pity. At 800yen, a lot to pay but the portion was not too bad. Enough for 2.

2.5-3/5

Next were the fried chicken wings.

I'm not a fan of these. Tricky to eat and not much meat. But they tasted okay, after letting them cool down (they were so hot!). Lemon taste. Nicely lightly fried. Not bad.
Little oily.

2.5/5

Then we got the rice dish thingy...well, just look at the picture.

This was not as big as I'd hoped, but it was quite good. THe pot is still hot, so the rice is burning slightly at the bottom (adds to the flavor). Mixed in with some mushrooms and perhaps some nuts or something. It was tasty. At 900yen, it should be! Would have expected more.

3/5.


Then we had the chicken breast.

This was perhaps the best course. Nice sized breast, cut into strips. Served on a bed of lettuce. Gentle taste to it. soft texture. Lemony taste to it. Not at all spicy. 800yen.

3/5.

By now my hands were very greasy. I couldn't help noticing my wet towel was gone. I thought perhaps the waitress took it with one of the plates. It was then that I noticed I'd stuffed the towel between my legs, whilst I was taking pictures.
Damn.

Now I looked like I just pissed myself.
And this was exactly whenI wanted to get up and pay the bill.
5 minutes later, I got up and paid the bill.

Overall, nice enough interior (though a little tacky in places).
Bad choice of music (they had some whacky jazz playing. something softer would have suited the place better).
Bland food - more spicy, please!
Not so reasonable prices, but then this is Japan.
Convenient location.
Reasonable beer (no place can beat the 500yen, 500ml Lowenbrau steiners I can get at the pizzeria place close by). At 400yen for a 300ml or so glass. Not too bad. And I like Carlsberg. Better than Asahi super shite or Kirin ichiban happoushu, in my book.

Overall: Almost 3/5.

Reviews coming soon!

Gonna put reviews here of bars, restaurants, cafes, etc in Japan. mostly in the Tokyo/Yokohama area. Check it out.