Masala Art – written in Gothic script calligraphy, admittedly is an interesting choice of style to use on a sign for an Indian restaurant. I suppose I shouldn't find is so unusual given the colonial history of India and the fact that many British Imperial remnants persist to this day in a country of one point one billion. What really did surprise me however, was the recent recognition and fame this restaurant has received in the past months.
Scarcely a week goes by when people, both Japanese and Western don't bring up “that new Indian place on Heiwa Dori near the McDonalds and south of Route 20.” A lot of that, I'm sure has to do with the Yomiuri Newspaper (Japanese edition's) May 17th, 2008 Leisure section review, and a television crew filming a segment there a while back as well. Both, copies of the newspaper article, neatly framed, and photographs of the filming session are proudly displayed inside the sparsely decorated interior.
Once again, fame aside, I wanted to present as impartial a review as I could, given that it truly seems as though I'm the last person in Yamanashi to visit this restaurant... Everyone else has already been there at least once, commenting on everything from the inexpensive lunchtime all-you-can-eat buffet (￥880 on weekdays, ￥980 on weekends) to the extreme spiciness of the curry dishes. In fact, friends of ours went recently and in recounting the experience of their visit, pointed out that they asked for just a little bit of extra spice but ended up with something they could barely eat.
Undeterred by such comments, I was committed to set my mouth on fire. ( If you haven't already realized, there is an ongoing poll at the bottom of this web page where you can vote for your preferred level of spiciness. I encourage all my readers to give it a go). I made this visit with two other people once again, my wife Bonnie and another friend. It's really invaluable, for the sake of restaurant reviews to have three or four people who each order different dishes, allowing for a much wider cross-section to make their way into my reviews. We made our sojourn to Masala Art on a Tuesday evening, thus avoiding the crowds as well as the lunch buffet. Something I've realized about many of the local buffet restaurants – their lunch buffet and dinner menus tend to be as different as day and night and judging the merit of a restaurant on its buffet would be most unfair as it does nothing to reflect the true flavour and quality of their dishes.
Getting a table was no problem. There were plenty of green and white vinyl tableclothed tables to had. We requested the “non-smoking section” if there were one, and got directed to the far corner of the dining room. There was a low wall separating two halves of the restaurant, presumably for this very purpose, but as I'm so fond of pointing out – having a non-smoking section in a restaurant is akin to having a non-peeing section of a swimming pool... Nevertheless, I didn't see any ashtrays on any of the tables in either section. I was glad for the incandescent lighting, even though it was turned up far brighter than it need have been for the evening crowd. They would benefit from more subtle lighting, though a a reviewer it really helps me when I can see exactly what it is that I'm eating and I get an accurate idea of the colours, textures, presentation and other nuances that I might otherwise miss if the room were dimly lit. I can understand the need for vinyl tablecloths given the fact that many of the spices used in curry-making tend to stain rather severely, making cloth an impractical choice. For that reason too, dimming the lights would really work in their favour.
From the time we were seated to the time the waitress arrived with water, menus and napkins I felt we waited an uncomfortably long time – and despite our overall positive experience and enjoyable evening, this was a minor aberration. The menus are actually very attractively put together with nice, professionally photographed pictures of dishes and explanations that appear both in English and Japanese. I won't get into the details in this review, as one has only to hop over to the restaurant's website: http://www.masala-art.jp and click on “menu” to see for themselves the selection and prices.
Saving me the trouble of expounding on the various menu selections, I'll get straight into what we ordered. I ca lled the waitress over when we were ready and ordered: the Indian Spice Salad (￥500), Vegetable Pakora (￥530), Sag Chicken (￥1050) with a spice levell of “medium” out of a 3-level scale, Aloo Began (￥900), which is a curry made with potatoes and eggplant, also at the medium level of spiciness, Butter Chicken Curry (￥1,200) at a mild spiciness level, Naan (￥330), Kashmiri Naan (￥530), which is naan stuffed with coconut, raisins and dried fruits, Kirin draft (￥550) and Lassi (￥400).
When the waitress arrived, I did ask her what the house special was in the way of curry.
“Do you like your curry spicy?” she asked.
“Absolutely,” I replied.
“I mean, do you REALLY like your curry spicy?” she asked again.
“Sure do,” I said with confidence.
“Then I recommend the Chicken Hyidrabadi, (￥1,200)” she said, pointing at a line in the menu. “This one isn't available in mild or medium – it's hot only,” she explained further.
At this point I was a little leery so I opted for the Sag Chicken in the end, but vowed to myself that if I were happy with my meal this time around, I would definitely come back to give the Chicken Hyidrabadi a whirl.
When the Indian Spice Salad arrived, it looked dangerous. All red, looking much like Korean kimchi, you could almost feel the spicy heat emanating from the dish. I was not disappointed. After the first few mouthfuls I realized that this was, in fact not Indian at all, but rather, something concocted damned kitchens of the 9th level of Hell, with Satan's own atomic breath infused in with the spices; the restaurant chefs obviously having made a contract of souls with the Dark Lord himself. In other words, it was wonderful! Certainly not a dish for the feint-hearted, but yet very flavourful.
The following dish, Vegetable Pakora, was essentially assorted vegetables, breaded and deep fried in a cardamom curry-flavoured batter, much like Japanese tempura, but served with ketchup as the dipping sauce. It was the right contrast to the preceding salad, though while not hot, was just as spicy.
The main course curries followed soon after, and just like the preceding appetizers, plenty of Indian spices were recognizable and appropriately blended into a mouth-pleasing, thick stew, which, when used as a dip for the naan, was divine.
A special note of the Kashmiri Naan should be made, however. Even though I would not normally order it as an accompaniment to a spinach-based chicken curry, was very interesting in its sweetness, coconut flavour and bright orange colour. Almost a desert in its own right, made for an interesting diversion from the otherwise usual offerings seen in an Indian restaurant.
Having ordered “medium” spiciness for my Sag Chicken however, I was very surprised that it had nowhere near the same heat as the first salad we ate. In fact, when I got a free moment I called the waitress over and asked her if it weren't too much trouble, to see if they could make it spicier for me. She was more than happy to oblige, and whisking my dish away back to the kitchen, she disappeared, only to reappear moments later with a question from the chef, “Exactly HOW much hotter should we make it?” To which I told them that on their “mild, medium, hot” scale of spiciness, they could definitely go ahead and make it “hot.” When I got my dish back, it had indeed been turned up a couple of notches, but was still nowhere near the level of the salad. That was fine too though, because the heat of the curry was a different kind of heat – it was a slow burn that built up over time and had a delayed action. It was clear to me that they didn't just dump a fistful of hot peppers and mix it up, as this would kill a lot of the flavour. No, this increased level of spiciness also increased the potency of the other flavours as well. The Butter Chicken naan, despite it's fairly high price, is very nice. I would recommend this dish to anyone who might be a little apprehensive about ordering something spicy or hot. It's a very relaxing, laid back dish – sweet and mellow, and of course, with naan, is a great meal.
At the end of it all, I was very happy, very full and eager to try some of the other menu selections the next time we decide to go Indian... Ultimately, the bill came in at ￥6,310 for three people, which included two drinks (Lassi and a beer). Certainly average in the grand scheme of things and compared with other local restaurants. Somehow, I don't think my review will make its way onto Masala Art's walls, but if it did, I'd probably be there to read it!
Summary:
The Good: Very tasty food. Want to burn a tastebud or two? This is your place! Authentic, Indian dishes, friendly staff, English menus.
The Bad: Bright lights, vinyl tablecloths give the impression of a cheap diner. Not the best place to take a date if you are looking for a romantic atmosphere. Come here to get your spice on.
Menu: Available online, but a large selection of curries, appetizers, salads, tandoori chicken, deserts, limited bar selection, including draft beer.
Price Range: Barring the all-you-can-eat buffet, roughly ￥1,000 for a bowl of curry, not including naan or other side dishes. High end of average in my books.
Smoking: Presumably so. The restaurant is subdivided into two sections but no one was smoking when we were there and I saw no ashtrays on any of the tables.
Recommended?: Definitely. Especially if you want to burn something inside your mouth.
Details:
Masala Art
Tel. 055-241-3311
Address: Kofu City, Nakakogawara 575-1
Website: http://www.masala-art.jp
E-mail: gpmirai@yahoo.co.jp
Hours: Lunch: 11:30am – 3:00 pm ; dinner: 5:30 pm – 11:00 pm
Languages spoken: Japanese, some English (bilingual menus)
Parking: yes
