North Indian Delights and More at Satkar Kiyosumi-shirakawa
Published: November 16, 2020
The Satkar chain of Indian restaurants now boasts three establishments in Koto-ku. After visiting the Toyocho site on Eitai Street in September, we recently dropped into the original restaurant near Kiyosumi-shirakawa station.
Located on well-known Shiryokan Street, home of the Fukagawa Edo Museum, the bright-red restaurant with a massive Indian flag painted on the facade is an unmissable riot of colour.
The spick and span interior was neat and tidy as the busy staff prepared for the day’s business.
Like many Indian restaurants in Japan, Satkar is owned and run by Nepalese. The menu is largely North Indian dishes. As Chief Executive Officer Mr. KC Ran Bahadur explained, “All of our spices and many other ingredients, such as peanuts, are imported from India.”
The lunch menu is extensive and features all the traditional favourites such as butter chicken, mutton curry and sag chicken. There are dal and vegetable curries for vegetarians. Prices for the Simple Lunch sets are very reasonable, ranging from 790 yen for the dal curry to 1,040 yen for the butter chicken. Various combinations are available for the hungrier customers, such as the Ladies Set, the Satkar BBQ set or the Special Set. The latter features two curries, shish kebab, tandoori chicken, sesame nan and rice, salad, a soft drink and dessert for just 1,350 yen. A bargain!
The Simple Lunch sets come with one curry, rice or nan, salad, and a drink. Extra rice or nan is free!
Featured here is the Ladies Dinner set. Consisting of two curries, plain or cheese nan, saffron rice, salad, dessert and drink, it’s a very reasonable 1,150 yen. Today’s curries were butter chicken and mutton.
While the menus at the different Satkar restaurants aren’t identical, they are almost the same. The dinner menu features a panoply of dinner sets, with something to suit every customers’ needs. Fancy a quick beer/drink and something spicy? The Happy Set is for you then: a drink, spicy masala papad snack, tandoori chicken, edamame and salad for just 1,050 yen. Vegetarian? The vegetable set includes two curries (vegetable, dal, sag mushroom or chana masala), garlic or cheese nan, salad, saffron rice, dessert and a soft drink for 1,350 yen. Really like tandoori? The tandoori set contains two curries, four kinds of tandoori, rice, nan, salad, pickles and a soft drink for 2,350 yen.
Satkar offers a total of 26 different curries. The top seller? This mild and creamy tomato-based butter chicken is number one, and all yours for just 1,040 yen.
Nearly as popular is this coconut-based seafood curry at 1,030 yen. Customers can select the strength of their curries, from level one (normal) to level six (mega hot).
Together with the extensive range of curries there are seven varieties of nan, from plain at 290 yen, sesame at 400 yen, potato naan at 430 yen, cheese at 450 yen, and bacon cheese at 500 yen. There are also two sweet naans, honey cheese and chocolate, together with three kinds of rice, saffron, Jeera, and spicy fried rice.
The menu also features eight types of tandoori and a host of spicy treats, both Indian and Japanese, that are best enjoyed with a drink, of either the alcoholic or soft kind.
Momo, the Nepalese steamed gyoza, are the most ordered, along with deep-fried camembert and the spicy deep-fried chicken. As in the Toyocho store, many people enjoy drinks and snacks in the evening, before finishing off with a curry. Nice!
Satkar also offers three take away lunch boxes at very reasonable prices. The lunch set menu is also short and sweet, with the Simple Set of curry, rice or nan, salad and a soft drink just 790 yen. Lunch boxes and the lunch menu are available from 11:00~15:00.
Dinner takeaways are also available from 17:00 – 22:30.
Customers can choose from four curries (butter chicken, pork, mutton, dal) tandoori, and rice or nan, or even both. Prices are again very reasonable, from 1,030 to 1,230 yen.
Satkar has cleverly combined two of the currently most popular beverages into one by mixing tapioca with lassi. Nine lassi-based tapioca drinks are available, alongside eight with a milk base. All are just 320 yen each.
There’s also an extensive drinks menu. Kirin Ichiban Shibori is the draft beer, with Ocean Lucky Gold whiskey highballs aplenty, sake, shochu and a lengthy cocktail menu. All-you-can-drink deals are also on the menu, and the whole restaurant is rentable for a private party.
Whatever your needs may be, from a lunch takeout to post-work snacks and reviving drinks or a full-blown banquet, the staff at Satkar are always ready to serve. There’s plenty to see and do in the Kiyosumi-shirakawa area, from the tranquil delights of Kiyosumi Gardens, the Edo Shiryokan Museum and cutting-edge art at The Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo; as autumn draws on, why not finish off with a hearty Indian meal at Satkar? Mr. Giri Indra, Ms. Khadka Sabitna and Mr. Reshamlal Qaytam will be waiting for you!
Story and photographs by Stephen Spencer
