神田森莉
A rare gem in the history of pork cutlet curry: Ietei, the Daiei Ohara branch at Daitabashi. There is also one in Honancho. According to insider information, the one in Honancho is apparently run by the owner's brother. It is labeled as Indian curry, but given the name Ietei, it seems to be Nepalese. When you think of Nepal, you think of butter tea (although that might be wrong). In cold places, they put butter in everything. No, I might be confusing it with Tibet. Well, this is where it differs from India. This pork cutlet curry also has a large amount of butter. Additionally, it seems like they add quite a bit of tomato ketchup. I ordered the hot version, so it's quite spicy. Another unique feature is that the pork cutlet in the curry is not sliced. It's something I've never seen before. There are suspicions that the chef may have never eaten pork cutlet curry. It's a plausible story. Also, there is no Fukujinzuke. Since the curry lacks ingredients, it becomes a bit monotonous, so having Fukujinzuke or salad would be nice. The taste is a mix of tomato ketchup, butter, and spicy curry. I've never had pork cutlet curry like this before. It seems to be Nepalese style. The taste is strong in tomatoes, which surprisingly resembles the strange pork cutlet curry shop at the Awasima intersection, Gogh (https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1318/A131801/13001427/), that I happened to come across. They seem to be looking in completely different directions, but when it's 360 degrees different, they might be the same. Gourmet enthusiasts might want to avoid this, but I personally like it. The entrance is a bit hard to find, but the interior is surprisingly spacious and comfortable. It's quite cozy even for solo diners. There was another solo customer as well. It's a place where you can casually enjoy a curry set for around 700 yen rather than indulging in luxury. It's a restaurant that humorously incorporates basic Japanese elements into Indian cuisine. It's a bit mysterious, with other items on the menu like octopus wasabi and yakitori (not samosa, I think). This is what makes it an enigmatic place. Upon researching, it seems like they have expanded as a chain restaurant. When it comes to Indian cuisine chain restaurants, some are criticized for exploiting foreign workers with low wages, but this place seems to be run by Nepalese owners. This is because there are too many mistakes (or rather, there are no mistakes). If it were a Japanese owner, they wouldn't make mistakes, so they wouldn't serve izakaya menu items at an Indian restaurant. That makes sense. It's an Indian restaurant, but in Japan, it's like, "Let's serve izakaya menu items too," which is an Indian way of thinking. But it's Nepalese. Serving Japanese menu items actually embodies the Indian chaos in a way. Also, although it may not seem like it in the photos, the portions are surprisingly large. I ended up leaving a bit of my beer unfinished because I got too full while eating. As a big eater, this is quite rare for me. There is no extra-large option, but the regular portion is enough, equivalent to the extra-large portions at other restaurants. It's like, why make it a hearty dish like this, I wonder.
