Gurgaon

According to its multitude of fans, Gurgaon – an extremely popular Indian restaurant located on the right-hand-side of the second right past Ginza Ichome intersection (going towards Yurakucho) – is the place to go if you’re looking for a curry in the fiercely competitive, gastronomic battleground of Ginza. They do, of course, offer a menu that includes various set lunches that change daily; however, one of the best dishes they have to offer is their ‘Traditional Butter Chicken’ curry (¥1,470), which is based on a traditional recipe that originates in northern India and includes tandoori chicken pieces, made using meat from domestically reared young chickens, smothered in a rich and creamy tomato-based roux made using a variety of spices in combination with kasoori methi, a dry herb more commonly known as fenugreek. Another favourite here is the restaurant’s ‘Cheese Kulcha’ (available for an extra ¥100 when ordered together with one of the restaurant’s lunch sets or as a separate dish for ¥380), which consists of melted cheese wrapped in a type of garlic-flavoured Indian flatbread that resembles naan and can be enjoyed either simply as it comes or in combination with a curry. Affiliated restaurants include both Khyber, a restaurant that specialises in tandoori cuisine, and Dhaba India, a restaurant that centres on cuisine from southern India. Gurgaon however, focuses on popular cuisine from northern India and, starting with the aforementioned ‘Butter Chicken’, offers its customers, as restaurant manager Nagashima puts it, ‘an opportunity to try a variety of foods from northern India.’