i-kitchen

What do you usually look for when you are scouting for a new restaurant to try? Sometimes, it is a good price and a good looking value meal that hooks us in. This is the case with i-kitchen, an Indian restaurant in the Yushima area in Bunkyo-ku. Their cheapest lunch set (set A, priced at ¥723 + tax) according to the photos outside the restaurant consists of a naan, curry of your choice, salad, and iced tea. An even better value is set D (¥955 + tax) which consists of the same items in set A plus a mutton kebab and (note, not or) a piece of tandoori chicken. As my partner and I were looking at the photos outside, a friendly waiter popped his head out and welcomed us in. That sealed the deal.

Inside, the restaurant is simply laid out, clean, and in the far back, you can see the staff shaping fresh naan and kebabs in the open kitchen. We were seated and provided with hot towels and cold water to freshen ourselves. My partner and I ordered sets A and D to share. There were six curries to choose from (chicken, mutton, keema, spinach chicken, vegetarian, and dal) and you can customize the spice level (all for the same price). We chose to try the spinach chicken curry (normal spice) and keema curry (a little spicy). After ordering, the salad came quickly. As soon as we finished the salad, we were served piping hot naan with our curries in little silver dishes typical of Indian restaurants. The curries were delicious and we were glad we didn't order beyond "a little spicy". The naan was a bit on the sweet side but the sweetness helped offset the spiciness of the curries. Next came our iced tea, unsweetened and refreshing. Finally, the mutton kebab and the tandoori chicken came. Now I don't normally like mutton because of its strong gamey odor but this kebab blew me away with its savory spices. The tandoori chicken was very tender and tasty (I've had pretty dry tandoori before). We were stuffed.

Good food, great price and value, friendly and fast service all put i-kitchen up there in our list of restaurants to repeat.