curry shudh Rikugien

A few minutes from Komagome Station, along Rikugien — a gluten-free curry shop. It won Curry Hyakumeiten 2022 and 2023, and seems to have moved and reopened from 2024. Lunch-only operations — entry by 14:00 OK. The lamb curry seems well-reviewed, but I'm not great with lamb, and the menu shows "HOT" — I'm not great with spicy either — so I had beef keema curry. (Later staff told me others say "HOT" isn't that spicy, just regular curry spice.) I was surprised by the gentle flavor. Reminded me of famous Kansai-area Japanese-dashi curries. I privately guessed maybe katsuobushi is in there?? Lol. Not spicy yet not sweet, with spice presence — an exquisite balance. And it's not just gentle in taste, but on digestion too. Beyond gluten-free, it's additive-free, so even after eating there's no burden — light and easy. Forgot to photograph, but a tiny salad comes with it. The dressing — you can tell at one bite it's not commercial, no additives. Furthermore, the drink at lunch-set price felt unremarkable at iced coffee 300 yen, no lunch-deal feel — but this turned out to be the old long-established coffee shop's authentic bean flavor, again surprising! Not originally a coffee lover, I can only drink my-taste delicious coffee, and recent stylish-cafe brown coffees don't taste good to me. So-called popular delicious coffees are mostly good only from roast aroma — I realized. This was authentic — set 300 yen was unbelievable cost-performance. Going to the actual long-established coffee shop, the staff said you can't get it for 300 yen. Interior is L-shaped counter seats only. Many curry shops are unfortunately not great inside, but this one is calm with piano BGM — relaxed enough to enter without putting on airs. Weekday visit. Staff were a slightly elder woman and what seemed to be a Japanese-fluent Indian-system woman — two people. Upon seating, salad is served immediately (lol), and curry served minutes after the curry is portioned. So fast. The stamp card — 1 stamp per curry meal, 10 stamps = 1 free curry — said "a wellness Indian-style yakuzen curry using plenty of onions and 19+ kinds of spices." Payment: cash and PayPay only.