Kokoro (Soup Curry), Shimokitazawa

"Kokoro" is one of the few Soup Curry restaurants in Shimokitazawa that I know of, the other one being the uber-famous "Magic Spice".
The Soup Curry was born in Sapporo, in the Northern Island of Hokkaido, where it's become as popular as the Ramen, with more than 200 restaurants all competing for the best of its genre. The trend has gone southward and you can find Soup Curry restaurant all over Japan now.
This Japanese remix of the Indian curry is exactly like its name describes it, that is a soupy one. Each restaurant takes pride in cooking the perfect bouillon in which they'll add the spices and the ingredients that they will slowly stew, for the perfect soup.

At Kokoro, I always order the "14 vegetables soup curry" (okura, tomato, carrot, potato, eggplant, mushroom, baby corn, green pepper, green beans, cabbage and please e-mail me the remaining ones...) which I find to be a killer. When ordering you have to tell them how hot you want the curry to be (which is measured in numbers, the mildest being 1) and whether you want white rice or brown rice. Anything from 1 to 5 is easy. From 6 to 10, you have to like hot stuff. I have never tried anything over 9 but I would assume that it's a little bit too much if you want to enjoy the excellent taste of the soup. Their soup consists of chicken, pork, beef bouillon, bouquet garni, tomato, onion, coriander, cumin, cardamom, clove and cinnamon.
I've seen this guy order level 15 and he kept talking about how "hot" it was and how that's the only thing he tasted... Now you're informed, so don't ruin the delicate mix of all these ingredients with something too spicy!

14 Vegetables Soup Curry

Enjoy!

"Kokoro" is on the North Side of the station (5mn walk).
Open everyday until 22:00 (L.O. 21:30)
Setagaya-ku, Kitazawa 2-34-8
03-5452-3561

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