On the evening of 18 August I went to Spice Garden, on Kita 1-jo Street.
It is an Indian restaurant, and since we ate there once soon after moving to Maruyama and remembered it fondly, this was my second visit.
I went in at 18:40.
I tend to order one of those sets that put a curry, naan and salad together, but this time I ordered dishes one by one.
I chose the spice green salad at 580 yen, chicken tikka at 590 yen, pork vindaloo at spice level 2 for 1,090 yen, plain naan at 300 yen, garlic naan at 490 yen and two pieces of samosa at 560 yen.
To drink I had a mango lassi at 400 yen and an iced chai at 300 yen.
The spice green salad came first, sliced cucumber, tomato and lettuce dressed with a spiced dressing.
Cumin and a sourness arrive the moment you eat it, and a firm heat follows behind.
It is quite hot, but the kind of heat that keeps you eating, and the cumin returns once more at the end.
Next came the pork vindaloo with the plain naan and the garlic naan, and by then it was 18:52.
The vindaloo has a faint sourness, and the depth of the tomato sits well with the spices.
The garlic naan was baked very evenly, thin and crisp, and I thought it was skilful work.
The garlic comes through as well, so it goes nicely with the vindaloo.
Then the samosa arrived, an Indian sort of croquette.
It is not quite the size of a fist, but about the size of a child's fist, and larger than I had expected.
Roughly broken potato with cumin and other spices inside, and this was very good.
The last to come was the chicken tikka, thigh meat skewered and baked in the clay oven.
I take it to be meat marinated in spices with tomato or ketchup, and it is salted right through to the centre and cooked soft.
The heat is handled well too, and the cooking felt careful throughout.
The spices and the salt are both judged just right, and everything we ordered was good.
