Tachikawa is known in many ways. In terms of population, it is one of the biggest cities in the west side of Tokyo. Tachikawa station is the busiest station in the greater Tokyo area (excluding 23 special wards). It is the only city in Tokyo where IKEA has its store. etc…
Not many people, however, know that Tachikawa is known as the city with many curry restaurants.
Ever since I moved to Tachikawa Garden Town last year I tried several curry places.

Many of them are very good and I did write about one of my favorite ones before.

Let me tell you about another restaurant that I really like as well.

“レインボウスパイス( Rainbow Spice)”, is a tiny curry restaurant located very close to the south side of Tachikawa station. Their style of curry is Indian and they do say that on the menu as well. However, unlike other authentic Indian restaurants, Rainbow Spice does not offer naan. They only serve rice for their curry.

Curry for rice and it’s just right that way

I am not sure how authentic this place is but judging by the people I see in this place, this is probably the curry with Japanese arrangement. I’ve been to many authentic types of Indian curry restaurant but the curry here doesn’t taste like any Indian curry.
I’m not saying I don’t like the taste. In fact, I love it. Going authentic works fine most of the times but it does not always have to be authentic. Sometimes people change the original things for the better. I guess there are examples like this. Ramen was originally born in China but it was re-invented in Kyushu and now everyone likes it, even the people in China. Tacos and Taco rice is another example. I guess this one is more of a simple change.

Curry is supposed to be eaten with naan but people in Japan often eat with rice instead. We just don’t eat the Indian curry with rice though. Indian curry is designed to eat with naan. It would be just weird to eat the same curry with Japanese rice. Curry restaurants in Japan had to change the curry to go well with rice. The curry they serve cannot be authentic.
The curry served in Rainbow Spice is like this. It’s different from the authentic Indian curry but it’s really good and goes amazingly well with rice.
To be precise, Rainbow Spice uses Japanese rice grown in California. So technically speaking, it is not Japanese rice. They must’ve tried so many rice brands and found this one. You can tell that it’s different from Japanese rice you usually eat in the restaurant. It’s much less sticky and less filling. It would be interesting just to try their rice too.

Rich in spice but not spicy

Rainbow Spice’s curry is amazingly rich in spice. I have no idea how they can make such different curry than other places. Some people get nervous when they hear the word spicy because it sounds like red chili spicy. No need to worry about this in Rainbow Spice. Their curry is rich in spice but it’s not hot.

Spicy does not have to be hot. That’s what I learned from this restaurant. (You can add dried chili pepper which is placed on the table in case you want to make it hot)
Their shop is extremely tiny and only 6 or 7 people can fit at once. It is better to come here just by yourself or group of two would be at max otherwise you might need to wait for a while.
I go to this place pretty often at least once a week or every two weeks. If you come to try, just look around. You might see me there 😉

What would be the best way to spend time on the weekend? I would say BBQ if it’s warm outside.
BBQ in the backyard is something I do with my ex-housemates in Oakhouse Kichijoji 2. There’s a backyard which is big enough to fit everyone living in the house and even visitors from outside.
I really cannot think of a better place to BBQ than a backyard. There’s a BBQ grill that Oakhouse manager bought for the house. There are dishes and utensils that we can use. All we need was charcoal and food to grill.

Everything starts by starting a fire. Our usual choice for shopping BBQ stuff is Donki. There’s a big one in Kichijoji, walking distance from the station.
Although someone buying everything for everyone is a choice, we usually don’t do this because you never know who’s coming to the party after all. Splitting cost sounds fair but the person buys the food is always taking the risk of paying too much.
Instead, potluck style works better for a place like a share house. There’s no need to calculate the cost and splitting up. There won’t be too much food or too little food.

Chicken is the best when it’s grilled on charcoal. Especially this time, Thomas marinated the meat the day before with some salt, peppers and herbs. That was the best meat we had on that day. Marinate anything with chicken for a day and it gets very soft even after grilling it.

Thomas was a hero that day. Two massive home-baked cakes appeared from a fridge and served for everyone after the BBQ.

It was a lemon cake and cheese cake. Both were super good. It was the quality that you can start selling in the city.

There were more than enough amount of cake for everyone to eat more than two slices which was great. Usually, cakes disappears very quickly when we host a big party with more than a dozen guests.

Looks like we’re doing a BBQ almost every month but this is a good pace. I’ll let you know when we plan something in July as well.

Living in Tachikawa gives you so many options for restaurants. Not just Japanese but also other food from overseas.
I tend to go back to the same restaurant over and over again even if I know I have many other choices. Let me tell you some of them so that you can see where are the restaurants that locals keep going back to.

“Khao Man Gai Bazzar” (カオマンガイバザール）is one of the Thai food restaurant that I go, especially when I feel like eating a lot. You almost never see all-you-can-eat Thai food but this restaurant does that for lunch on weekdays. You choose a menu of your favor and you can add all-you-can-eat Thai curry and other dishes for an additional 200 yen. The standard menu that you can choose from is priced around 800 to 1000 yen.
I was surprised to see that Jasmin rice is also refillable. Japanese rice is usually very filling and people tend to eat less amount nowadays but Jasmin rice is something I can eat a lot without feeling bad in my stomach afterward. Usually, in Japan, any rice other than Japanese rice is very expensive because the government put an insane amount of tax to protect the Japanese rice producers in the country. Any rice imported from Thai land, for example, is originally very affordable but it’s 200-300% more expensive if you try to purchase in Japan.
Generally speaking, all-you-can-eat Jasmin rice does not make sense in Japan. Well but hey, this restaurant does it and I’m not complaining. Makes me worried if they are making enough money to sustain their business.
I would recommend going to this restaurant on Tuesdays because they are doing a discount and this additional 200 yen is free which is amazing.

Unlike any other restaurants, the lunch buffet is as great as the food on the menu. There are salads, soup and green curry and refillable Jasmin rice.

I usually eat too much coming to this place for lunch. It’s hard to resist when the food is this good. I usually tell myself it’s ok because I get to eat a lot of vegetables too.
This ”Khao Man Gai Bazaar” is located right in between Bic Camera and Donki on the small back street. It’s very easy to miss this street so make sure to go with Google Map.