Jimbocho is famous for being a book town but it is also a battleground of curry. There are many delicious curry restaurants around there.
There are many universities like Meiji University, Hosei University, Nihon University and prep schools around Jimbocho. So Jimbocho has also a bit of a college town feel to it and is called the Latin Quarter of Japan.
Because it is a college town, cheaper eateries have increased and curry has become popular as a food which is easy to eat with one hand while reading a book. Because of that, Jimbocho became a sacred place for curry enthusiasts. There are more than 300 curry restraurants in Jimbocho.
Bondi is said to be the origin of “the European style curry” which is popular in Jimbocho. When the founder studied art in France in 1973, he gave a hint from a brown sauce of the French cuisine and hit on the European style curry. Roux (sauce) of beef curry (1,450 yen) contains fruits and fresh cream and is very mellow. There is cheese on the rice and potatoes with butter.
Ethiopia was established in 1998 and the name of Ethiopia was taken because the owner likes Ethiopian mocha coffee. This curry is a very spicy curry which is combined with more than 10 kinds of spices. It can be made hot to 70 times, so if you like spicy curry, we recommend this one.
There are many famous curry restaurants such as Kyoeido or Gavial and these have their own individual tasteful roux (sauce). So how about going around to various curry restaurants and giving each a try?
In addition to curry, there are many cheap diners that specialize in gyoza (Chinese dumpling) or ramen. Suito Pozu (Sweet Pose) specializes in gyoza and is always crowded with people lined up outside. After the founder trained in prewar Manchuria and opened a gyoza restaurant there, he moved to open in Jimbocho in 1936.
The famous ramen chain Ramen Jiro also has a Jimbocho branch and there are always many peope in line. Ramen Jiro is a thick noodled ramen with an ultra-fatty pork based soup (tonkotsu), served with a pile of bean sprouts and a roasted pork fillet (chashu) on top. You can add bean sprouts, garlic and pork back fat and thicken up the taste for free. Ramen Jiro has a lot of enthusiastic fans and they are called Jirorian.
Kitchen Nankai and Imoya are famous diners and they are all cheap to eat until one is full.
Jimbocho is a college town and a book town, but is also fomous for musical instruments and sporting goods. Students used to sell things to a curio dealer (a kind of pawn shop) to go to school and curio dealers used to purchase musical instruments or sporting goods in the old days. It is said that these developed into the current musical instruments street and sporting shop street.
From Ochanomizu Station to Jimbocho there are many musical instrument shops and from Jimbocho to Ogawacho there are many sporting shops. So if you like books, curry, playing guitar or going skiing, you must go to Jimbocho!!
[How to go] near Jimbocho Station on the Toei Mita Line, the Toei Shinjuku Line, the Tokyo Metro Hanzomon Line, or a 10 minute walk from Kudanshita Station on the Tokyo Metro Tozai Line and Suidobashi Station on the JR
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