It's curry rice, but not as you know it

Perhaps what most distinguishes Curry Up from the multitude of curry rice restaurants in Tokyo is the sleekness of its design.

The place looks great, all concrete and gleaming steel and faux wood finish with neat, curved edges. Of course, we’d expect nothing less from Nigo, style king of the Bathing Ape empire.

He enlisted Masamichi Katayama of Wonderwall (the same firm that created the fabulous BAPE Stores, as well as the BAPE Café) to design the interior, and the result is contemporary retro-chic, a curry rice shop for the 21^st century.

The space is spare and stylish, if a bit cramped. On a recent visit we witnessed a portly gentleman struggling to squeeze between the two top tables to his seat. 

Fashion leader Nigo turns his hand to curry.

Quick delivery

A diamond-shaped clock set into the wall features a jauntily turbaned chef and beams, “It’s time to eat curry rice.” The diners happily oblige. 

The most popular item? Butter chicken curry. It’s quite good -- tangy, cinnamony and buttery enough to satisfy without inducing cardiac arrest. But it isn't exactly outstanding.

The vegetable curry is a healthful medley of sweet potatoes, cauliflower and peas. Both are enlivened by a piquant relish of finely diced pickled rakkyo garlic chives, pink daikon and mint-green shiso buds. 

The menu offers four choices at lunchtime, six at dinner.

The dishes -- keema curry, saag curry, brinjal eggplant curry -- are Indian in flavor, a far cry from the sweet, viscous Japanese curry rice that we had anticipated before arriving, but they come flying out of the kitchen with the same speed one would expect at a Japanese curry house.

In that respect, Curry Up lives up to its name. 

Address: Jingumae 2-35-9-105, Shibuya-ku

Telephone: +81 (3) 5775 5446

Website: http://curryup.jp/en/