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Rodin is a popular, and highly rated (3.78 on tabelog as of June 2026) Indian/Japanese curry restaurant located in the middle of a big office town near Nihonbashi. 

Honestly, one might think why they didn’t choose a more central location maybe, but let me tell you, I would say that most Japanese workers go out to eat, and when there are few places in the area, combined with the fact that there is a good curry shop nearby your workplace, well then this means that people are going to stopping in a lot – actually very smart. 

The only thing with this is that if you go, you may be the only person not in a suit… But it’s Tokyo, so you will get used to this, lol. 

The shop is relatively small, with only a few tables and counter seats, but you are able to make reservations on tabelog, so this can help a lot (especially on the weekends, or weekdays when it might be busy from people working around the area). 

Except, differing from other places where when you reserve your booking you pay in advance for your meal (like choosing a course or something), you essentially just book a time and then buy your ticket from the ticket machine outside of the shop. 

I am not quite sure how this works during weekdays when it is busy at lunch time, but since it is written down that you can reserve it, I am sure that they would let you in. 

Now, in terms of the actual curry that they serve, I would say that it is a mix between Indian and Japanese curry (the Japanese side comes from the toppings). 

I personally went with the tonkatsu (pork cutlet) topping, and while they did have a few Indian curries like butter chicken on the menu, the rest were things like Hirekatsu (pork tenderloin) or ebi-fry (shrimp) which are unique to Japan I believe and also very commonly found. 

My reasoning for getting the tonkatsu besides the fact that I really like it, was simply because it was at the top of the board that they had outside the restaurant with all the pictures of their dishes on it – say I was lured in if you will. 

After being shown to my table and waiting a little bit for the food, it came, and firstly, the presentation I thought was great. 

A lot of times in Japan you may have great tasting food, but the presentation isn’t always the best (especially in the case of curry) and while I don’t really care regardless, I thought that it was a nice little touch that you don’t see super often. 

The tonkatsu was lightly breaded, and laid across the rice as opposed to the curry (leaving it’s crispiness in-tact), and the curry had almost a heavy cream-type sauce poured over top of it. 

Along with this they also gave a potato and boiled egg, which had been smoked actually (if you couldn’t tell by the look of it). 

The curry was decently strong, and had a bit of a kick to it so this is why I say that they are definitely making Indian curry, or at least using similar ingredients to make it because it was what it tasted like to me. 

The sauce they put on top though not only tastes really good and rich, but it also acted as a bit of a heat-blocker for the curry which was nice. 

The tonkatsu was cooked very well, and as I mentioned, it didn’t have an enormous amount of breading which made it so I was able to enjoy the meat of it and also not fill myself up immediately (which I find I often do with tonkatsu). 

The potato was a potato. Not really much else to say there, but the egg was really good actually. It had a really good smokey flavour and while it was a bit overdone for my liking, it paired well when I mixed it in with the curry to kind of lather it up. 

While Rodin might not be the pioneers or the only restaurant that does this kind of curry infusion in Japan, it is a really good example of it, and a good filling meal! 

P.S. The portion sizes are big so be warned, especially if you are upgrading it to the bigger size like I did.

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