Sri Balaji Nakameguro — Restaurant in Tokyo

This is a local favorite. Everyone tells me how great it is. Pink interior. Pink chairs. Music playing. Friendly people. It's the second time I visited. Last time, there was one other group here. This time, there's was nobody else. But lots of staff, four guys, quietly talking. My understanding is that it's much busier at lunch time.

And as to be expected, the food is spicy. Even if you order it mild, it will be spicy by American white guy standards.

I ordered the biryani thali special with chicken Chettinand curry, Lamb Madras Curry, and Raita. It was spicy. The basmati rice was perfectly cooked and super flavorful. It's got that authentic fragrant and nutty spiced flavor. And it's not just surface-coated, the seasoning is cooked deep into the rice. Of course, there are big chicken chunks--meaty and tender.

The chicken curry had a little bit of sweetness, and it was silky and creamy. There's a savory toasted cumin and turmeric flavor, some anise and allspice peaking through the heavy spice. The lamb Madras Curry is a salty tomato base. Spicy. But also fragrant with cardamom and coriander. It has a deep meaty flavor and coats the tongue in rich lamb fat. There are lots of braised onions and other fine diced aromatic veggies in the sauce, adding to the slow-braised complexity.

Overall, this place is too spicy for me. I have to cover everything with the Raita to avoid heartburn. But that says more about me than the food here. It's all delicious and I'm mostly disappointed that I can't continue to taste this amazing flavors with total abandon.

It you can handle the spice, definitely give it a try. It's very high quality food. I'll...

First dinner experience: Average south Indian restaurant which have different type of south Indian dishes. I have ordered Rava Dosa,plain dosa and cauliflower fry. The cauliflower fry was very nice. The Rava Dosa and plain dosa size was huge but the taste and texture is not good. Within very minutes the Rava Dosa and plain dosa turned into very hard.

Recently I had lunch, which is very poor. I ordered tomato rice and cauliflower 65. The tomato rice does have an inch flavor of tomato and salt and the cauliflower 65 is too salty and the fried oil tastes little old. Overall the lunch dishes are very poor. They have a buffet for lunch which is for 1500¥ but not worth the money all the dishes are non veg...

Midsize, about 30 seats, South Indian place with kind of an indescribable atmosphere. An interesting electric decoration on the far wall. Dinner a la carte prices are little high, but South Indian tends that way. Location is actually closer to Naka-Meguro, but Google Maps brought me to the back entrance for some reason. Doesn't seem to have Wi-Fi. Didn't ask about the spice level, so I guess it's another default case. The master looks more Northern Indian than South.

The curry was good, but mild, even though there was a hot pepper in it. The naan was unusual, kind of buttery and yeasty and even a bit of salt rather than sweet flavor. Nicely cooked, too. Overall just a...