European Curry Tomato

The curry here is phenomenal, although the overall experience may not be for everyone. This was my first time here, so I had to try the famous tongue curry. It came with one huge slab of beef tongue, which was unexpectedly tender and juicy, unlike any other beef tongue I'd had before. The curry itself was rich and extremely flavorful (with a slight bitterness), what with the 36 different spices simmered together for a whole week, to the point that it might be overwhelming for some with more sensitive taste buds. They give you plenty of pickles though, which were perfect for clearing the palate between bites.

I arrived at 10:30AM and was told to put my name down and return at 1:30PM, so I fortunately did not have to wait outside in the summer heat. 5 groups in total were seated together at once and orders were taken in the order in which people had put their names down. The entire operation in this small restaurant is run by a couple, with the wife taking care of everything FOH. As expected, service was at a more relaxed pace, but very attentive and warm. The food here is not cheap, but I thought the tongue curry was excellent value for the high quality and how much meat and sauce I was given. Unfortunately, the seasonal vegetables were sold out by the time I went. I would absolutely love to come back again!

I highly recommend this place for people who like European curry enough to wait hours for it. Do not come here if you are impatient or have unrealistic expectations from all the hype this restaurant gets.

2nd time dining at Tomato. The first time I had Wagyu Java Curry and 2nd time I had the Wagyu Tongue Curry. Both were exceptional. You can taste the subtleties and not-so-subtleties of each of the unique spices used in the curry. The Wagyu Tongue was incredibly tender and slow cooked to perfection. The first time I dined here, the seasonal vegetables were sold out. The 2nd time I was able to try out the veggies and they were wonderful. A great mix from broccoli to shishito to mushrooms. Be sure to arrive at least an hour before opening to secure a spot, perhaps even 2 hours if going on a weekend. It is a bit out there from central Tokyo but worth the voyage for Japan’s best rated curry. Also worth mentioning the gentlemen and lady that run this small place are wonderful, friendly, warm folks that are truly passionate about what they do.

I’ve been wanting to go to this place ever since I saw the chef spotlighted on NHK World’s The Professionals back in 2018/2019. I finally had the opportunity on a Monday evening and arrived at 4:30 PM. There was no line (yet). A few people stood in line for a bit but left and came back. By the time the restaurant opened, there were ~10 in line. As others have mentioned, only 3 to 4 parties are seated upon opening.

I ordered the beef tongue curry. It was so tasty and good. The taste is very different from an everyday curry as the different spices were bold and linger on the palate. The pickled ginger and onion partner very well with the curry.

I was very fortunate to have experienced this. Many thanks to the chef and his wife for continuing their dedication.

READ THIS IF YOU’RE A FOREIGNER/TOURIST

tl;dr The food is good, but not good enough to warrant a 3-hr wait. Queue at your own risk.

There’s probably a cultural/taste difference between locals and tourists, so I’m writing this review for the non-Japanese foreigners who are in the process of being lured to tales of “the best curry in Japan” (spoiler: cap).

Here’s the breakdown:

Food: 3/5

The curry was clearly made with love and stewed for hours. The beef was extremely tender. The issues I have with it are: 1) the spices weren’t blended very well and left a bunch of hard pieces in the curry, which took away from the taste and texture; 2) there was about 3 cubes of beef in the curry and nothing else. I felt like I was eating purely just sauce and rice; 3) it literally looks like slop. The presentation is awful; 4) the flavor profile made it seem more like Indian curry. I realized later that “European curry” is a subgenre of Japanese curry that takes more from the Indian spice profile, so it actually fits the categorization here, but it’s still missing the toppings that are typically offered in European curry. So for all of that I’m docking 2 stars.

Service: 2/5

The lady running the restaurant was very nice, but I think there is something severely wrong with restaurant management when people are queueing for 3 hours in the hot summer sun in the street in front. On top of that, if the curry runs out, you don’t get a bowl no matter how long you’ve queued. Thankfully we were able to get our food, but that’s ridiculous. For context, we started queueing at 11am (restaurant opens at 11:30am). We were already 18th in line. We weren’t seated until a bit past 2pm. Imagine going to the restaurant 30 minutes before it opens and still needing to queue for 3 hours. At the very least we should be able to leave our name and phone numbers down and be given a 2 minute grace period once we’re next. Or if you can’t manage that, then do reservations. The store itself also only seats 12 people total, which makes the turnaround incredibly slow. Four more people were seated after us, and then everyone else was sent away because they ran out of curry. There were 6 people after us, so the last 2 people had to wait for hours before then being turned away. Ridiculous.

Atmosphere: 4/5

Cute shop playing calm classical music. Everything was a bit old but clean. All the diners were just sweaty and hungry, as expected.

Conclusion: I’m happy I came to see what the fuss was about, but sorely disappointed with what I tasted and experienced. Until they switch their ancient queueing system or add the elixir of life to their curries, I will never come here again and will be warning anyone else about this place.

Your adventure starts with waiting in a line as there are exactly 15 seats in this bistro. Once you get in after 30 minutes you will realize it's one of those twee places with Miles Davis on the background. If your date listens to vinyl then this is the place to go to if you wanna get lucky.

Food's all right - real mellow stuff! But expensive, over 2000 yen without drink. Double that if you are paying for your date as well!