Taj Palace, Tokiwadai タージパレス、常盤台

This small neighborhood Indian restaurant seems not to a do a brisk trade. I can’t recall ever having seen anyone there – except the kitchen staff, of which there are two. One busy the other endlessly preparing tandoori chicken on huge skewers. Another guy waits the floor.

The interior is instantly forgettable. No flock wallpaper, but there is a huge photograph of the Taj Mahal taking up the rear wall.

The menu offers a good range of very reasonably priced dishes. The portions aren’t the best you’ll find, but neither are they the worst. The garlic naan is a good example, being nowhere near as impressive as those from Jau Hai! or Manakamana.

Various starters and salads, then curries, rice (very poor – soft Japanese rice yellowed with saffron powder), breads and deserts are offered. All the curries are available in full or half sets, complete with rice and naan. Most curries have several heat/ strength options, indicated by little caricatures depicting a chubby face in varying expressions of distress.

I asked for my chicken saag to be prepared “very hot,” which in truth was “not ‘f*!@ing hot,’ sir, but a medium-spiced dish.” The flavour was okay, the chicken scant, and the texture thick and creamy.

The shish kebab was, to be honest, a waste of time. The Taj Mahal green salad, was average, too, like those served at cheap izakaya. 

My dining partner opted to have two half sets – the chicken curry and the mushroom keema. Taste-wise reasonable, but overall a bit thin… Lacking “body.” As was the whole experience. No chutnies to accompany the admittedly lacklustre papadums, and no effort whatsoever to create any character or "quirk" for the place. Why bother? 

03-6454-5191

http://r.tabelog.com/tokyo/A1322/A132203/13095091/