DOiT -

I have a way of testing Indian and Pakistani restaurants: it they serve Podina Chutney (a mint and yoghurt concotion) with meat dishes, they are close or at the top. Most Indian restaurants don't bother teaching foreigners about this beautiful aspect of their national cuisine, and this is why I found it to be such a good indicator of quality: so far, the system has always worked, and indeed the few places places like Marhaba that have this or any other Chutney are invariably among the best.

Gandhara is one of the very few Pakistani restaurants in town (why is it that there is such an inflation of Indian restaurants, but Pakistani ones are so rare?), passes the test with flying colors, is a good venue for vegetarians (dishes like channa masala and dahl abound) and carnivores (the grilled meat section has a shocking number of entries) alike, is halal and offers great value for the money.

I guarantee you are going to get lost in its menu, but trust the pictures and your instinct and try to order what you don't know, because much of what's available here you won't find anywhere else. Just to give you an idea of what I mean, they prepare nine different kinds of bread, including naan, roti and pratha, offer sheep brain curry (if you are not afraid of BSE) and you can choose the spiciness of your food.

What else ... ? Drinks include Japanese and Indian beer, wine from various nations (France and Italy among others), variously flavored lassis (E.G. pomegranate lassi) and cocktails, all at a very reasonable price. A good meal shouldn't set you back more than 3000 yen per person, including a moderate amount of drinks.

I am often told that my site has a bias towards Asian food. It's true, Asian cuisines interest me more than European ones, even though yesterday for example I had a great meal at La Dinette, a budget French restaurant I love, and places like Gandhara are the reason for that bias. Not only they offer good food, but for a couple of hours they take you to a foreign land, to enjoy and learn.

Frank's Note: Gandhara has its own site, from which I stole the map. Unfortunately, it's mostly in Japanese.

Gandhara is a restaurant with a long history (it opened in 1981) whose customers are mostly Pakistanis. Small and cozy, it serves food more like the home-cooking you get at Rajput (see review) than what you usually find in Indian restaurants. The menu is very long and includes both tandori meats and almost 30 curries, among which I particularly liked the Chicken Karahi, or dry chicken curry, which is a best-seller also at Rajput. Again as at Rajput, they will make curry as spicy as you like. Just tell them how you want it at the time of ordering. We also had naan with almonds, samosa, channa masala and chutneys. All was very good and we had the opportunity to talk to the owner. All in all, a great find to eat good food at reasonable prices in a place expensive as Ginza.

Gandhara - Ginza ****