If you are in Matsumoto and crave Indian food, visit Doon Shokudo Indoyama (DOON食堂 印度山). It is where you can find delicious home-style Indian food with a light twist to the Japanese taste. Many dishes are cooked using the recipes from the owner/chef’s grandmother from India. Like Kobayashi Soba, the couple who run the restaurant provides impeccable hospitality and speaks English. So, there is no need to worry about language barriers. In fact, you will enjoy chatting with Ashish, who was from India, if you are up for a pleasant conversation!
Table of Contents
- About Doon Shokudo Indoyama
- Why Was the Restaurant Named Doon Shokudo Indoyama
- Food at Doon Shokudo Indoyama
- Our Visit to Doon Shokudo Indoyama
- Doon Shokudo Indoyama’s Business Hours and Access Information
About Doon Shokudo Indoyama
Doon Shokudo Indoyama was opened in 2016 as one of the small restaurants called Hashigo Yokochō (はしご横丁). Because the block has a Yatai (food cart) style, the internal space is limited, which is why it is self-proclaimed to be Japan’s smallest North Indian restaurant.
But that doesn’t mean you will feel cramped. The space between tables is adequate. This means Indoyama only has a capacity of six people in the main restaurant. As Indoyama receives more customers, the other shop space has been rented in the same block, so customers don’t need to wait for too long.
As soon as you walk into the small restaurant, you will be surrounded by its cozy vibe. The staff ensures their customers feel welcomed and treat everyone with kindness so that it feels like you are stopping by a diner you visit regularly.
If you are hungry, you can pay to increase the portion of the entire meal or add more rice. You can also add more Indian-style bread!
Why Was the Restaurant Named Doon Shokudo Indoyama
- Doon is short for Dehradun, the town in India where the owner was raised.
- Shokudo means canteen in Japanese.
- Indo is how the Japanese pronounce India.
- Yama means mountain. The restaurant was named “Indian Mountain” to describe the owner’s larger-than-average body size. Ashish’s height is 191cm! Yama was also taken from the titles of sumo wrestlers. Apparently, the owner initially came to Japan to become a sumo wrestler.
Food at Doon Shokudo Indoyama
Fresh ingredients are used at Indoyama. With the chef’s great cooking skill and various spices, every bite is amazing. Once you have tasted the food at Indoyama, you won’t find it hard to believe why customers rank it as the top North Indian restaurant in Japan. Apart from the curry, order an aloo paratha. The Indian style bread has beans inside is fluffy and healthier than papadam.
If you are unsure what to order for drinks or dessert, try the mango lassie. It has the perfect sweetness and sourness and is full of mango’s fruity taste. It will give your meal a nice finish.
In addition to vegan options, Doon Shokudo Indoyama can also adjust the menu to accommodate specific dietary requirements, such as making your order gluten-free.
Tip: Be here early when the restaurant first open for the day to avoid queueing. It is a popular restaurant among the locals and the tourists.
Important: Ring the restaurant a day before if you need your curry to be specially prepared. They can also exclude ingredients such as onion and garlic from the curry if you let them know in advance. Aloo paratha also needs advance reservation.
Our Visit to Doon Shokudo Indoyama
We reached the restaurant rather late on a Thursday. So, most customers had finished their lunch, and we didn’t need to queue. The restaurant must have been so packed that even the outdoor table, normally used as a waiting area, had customers enjoying curry there.
Taking the staff’s advice, we ordered both the normal and special Thali set with vegan curry. Everything on the plates was authentic and delicious. We even finished the spicy curry, which went very well with the yogurt dipping sauce!
Knowing the owner’s arm was damaged by constantly using the heavy wok, I checked with the staff at the register to see how it was now. The staff, who later turned out to be the owner’s wife, called Ashish out at once. He was truly as tall and as big as a mountain!
He was so friendly that he even went to chat with my mother, who spoke broken English and offered her sliced apples. The apples were a local breed called the Shinano Sweet (シナノスイート). They were so sweet that we ended up getting a couple more from a few local fruit shops (´▽｀*).
During our pleasant conversation, the couple also introduced us to the various autographs. Apparently, a scene from a movie was taken at the restaurant!
We had so much fun chatting with Ashish and his wife that we would head back the next day if it was open. Doon Shokudo Indoyama is definitely a restaurant that we will return to when we visit Matsumoto.
Doon Shokudo Indoyama’s Business Hours and Access Information
- Doon Shokudo Indoyama is open from 11:30 am to 3 pm or until sold out from Monday to Saturday.
- The restaurant is a 20-minute walk from Matsumoto Station or an 8-minute walk from Matsumoto Castle.
Explore the Fascinating Attractions in Matsumoto City
Wonder what attractions in Matsumoto are worth your time? Check out our list of selected attractions in Matsumoto that you won’t want to miss out on.
There are a couple of places where you can source delicious natural water from in the city center, an art museum filled with Kusama Yayoi’s eye-opening contemporary artworks, places perfect for cherry blossom and fall foliage hunting, and a lot more!
For more information, please refer to our article on Matsumoto!
