Caraway - Japanese Curry House
Kamakura *****

Address - Kamakura-shi, Komachi 2-1220 Opening hours - Closed on Mondays. Open from 11:30 am to 20:00 pm Map - Yes Telephone - 0467-25-0927 Menu - In Japanese CC - No

Caraway is a little restaurant on a side street near Kamakura station that serves six types of Japanese-style curry, and nothing else. It serves practically no alcohol, only umeshu, which is a big disadvantage in my book, and they have no desserts to speak of. It's clearly an eccentricity covering a niche market.

And yet, since I discovered it, I often find myself giving up beer just to eat there rather than in a more substantial restaurants like T-Side or A Riccione. And I am not the only one to be attracted to Caraway: there are often queues in front of it. In that case, since I hate waiting, I immediately go somewhere else, usually T-Side, but Caraway is perfect when you want a quick, but high quality bite.

The place is very small, but homey and warm, so that it's a pleasure to sit down and wait for your stuff, always accompanied by a small salad, rice and three kinds of (excellent) pickles.

The six curries (beef, pork, chicken, cheese, hotate (scallop) and hayashi) are all excellent and a steal at prices from 700 to 800 Yen, but I would definitely recommend cheese. There's something about it that I cannot put into words, but that makes me sure you will like it a lot too.

One last thing: the name of the restaurant is written in Katakana, but if you follow the smell, you can't possibly miss it.

March 2005