Roti Corner Roppongi Hills

About Indian food

What most menus label Indian is usually North Indian: wheat breads rather than rice as the staple, dairy used generously, and gravies built on onion and tomato cooked down in fat. It is the style that travelled furthest, because tandoor cooking and rich gravies survive a restaurant kitchen better than the more delicate regional traditions do.

Order one creamy dish, one dry or grilled dish, and one dal, then bread and rice to share. Butter chicken and garlic naan is the safest possible start and there is no shame in it. Resist ordering three gravies — they will taste similar and the meal becomes monotonous. If you are unsure about heat, ask for it mild; a kitchen can always bring chilli on the side, but it cannot take it out.

Eating in Tokyo

Tokyo's South Asian food is dominated by a specific format: a Nepali-run kitchen serving a largely North Indian menu, built around a weekday lunch set of curry, enormous naan and a small salad. It is so consistent that it is effectively its own genre. Underneath it sits a smaller, more interesting layer of genuinely Nepali cooking, and a handful of serious regional Indian restaurants.