A spice curry shop offering body-friendly curries that are easy to eat, with the heat of chili peppers kept mild, has opened at Mochimune Minato Yokocho! True to its name, which means "whim," enjoy the spice curries born from the owner's free and spontaneous ideas!
What kind of curry will it be today? Whim, the spice curry shop with a whimsical menu
Owner Mr. Miyanaga became hooked on making spice curry during the self-restraint period of the COVID-19 pandemic, and opened his long-awaited shop inside Mochimune's Minato Yokocho. While searching for a small property he could run single-handedly, he came across the property in Minato Yokocho and decided to open up there.
The interior is a compact space with six counter seats. The shop's name, "Whim," means "a sudden, spontaneous idea," and each day the owner serves spice curries made on a whim.
Choose a combination plate of 1 to 3 kinds
For today's whim curry, you can choose anything from a single serving to a combination of three kinds. Whim's curries use a unique blend of several spices, resulting in richly flavored, healthy curries. No commercial roux or wheat flour is used. To draw out the flavor of the spices to the fullest, the curries are served not piping hot, but at a comfortably warm temperature. The whim curries on the day of our visit were this lineup.
This time, we enjoyed a combination plate of three spice curries, each with a different main ingredient: pork, chicken, and bamboo shoot.
The three-curry combination plate at spice curry Whim
The three curries are arranged around the turmeric rice at the center of the plate, with side dishes and achar (pickled vegetables) adding vivid color. The curries on this day were three kinds: a smoked pork belly curry with a refreshing tomato flavor that stands out, a mellow and deeply flavored fall-apart-tender chicken, and a bamboo shoot keema with a pleasant bamboo shoot texture.
Every curry has a strong, fragrant aroma of spices, yet there is almost no stinging heat from chili peppers--the deliciousness of the ingredients is drawn out to the fullest, and it's so tasty! All three have their own distinct character, coming together as a well-balanced curry on a single plate. If you'd like to add some heat, chili powder is available on the table, so you can adjust it to your taste.
What spice curry Whim cares about
Mr. Miyanaga: "I try not to just serve the curry and be done with it--I make a point of saying a few words to each customer. No matter how busy I am, I never forget that. I'm simply happy that they came, and I want to hear what brought them in. At the same time, I'd be glad if it became a chance for them to get to know what kind of person I am."
Just as he values his spices, owner Mr. Miyanaga also cherishes communication with his customers. Going forward, he hopes that the spice curry shops he loves so much will continue to grow in number, and that the spice curry population will increase... And he told us he would be happy if spice curry Whim could be one of the catalysts for that.
Spice curry made by an owner whose love for curry runs deep. Be sure to try this gentle spice curry with mild impact, loved by a wide range of generations, at least once.