Toyoken Head Shop

One day I learned that there is a food called “black curry,” and curious about what it tastes like, I went to its original restaurant, Toyoken in Tsu City, Mie Prefecture. This black curry was created at the request of a potter named Kawakita Handeishi, who is said to have been called “Rosanjin of the East and Handeishi of the West,” along with Kitaoji Rosanjin, an amazing person.

I visited the restaurant one day during lunch time, looking forward to seeing what kind of black curry with such a long history was all about, but then I discovered an even more intriguing curry on the menu. I will introduce it to you later, so please continue reading the article to the end…

Founded as a sub-branch of a long-established Western-style restaurant that served the Imperial Household Agency… Toyoken Head Shop is a restaurant like this…

Toyoken Head Shop is located near the ruins of Tsu Castle in the center of Tsu City, Mie Prefecture. This restaurant was originally founded in 1928 as a branch of Tokyo Toyoken, a Western-style restaurant that served the Imperial Household Agency (and is still in business in Akasaka under the name of Seiyo Oryori Toyoken). The Tokyo Toyoken was founded in 1889, so if counting from there, it has been in business for 136 years this year (2025)! It is a long-established business among long-established businesses, isn’t it? And above all, Toyoken was once a “purveyor to the Ministry of the Imperial Household.” Isn’t it exciting to imagine that we can still eat the same food that the imperial family ate from the Meiji to the early Showa periods?

Aside from that, Toyoken Head Shop is a two-story structure, and according to the restaurant’s Tabelog, the restaurant has a total of 135 seats on the first and second floors. Inside the restaurant, you can enjoy an extraordinary atmosphere with a strong sense of retro and high culture from the early Showa period. There seems to be a private room on the second floor that can accommodate from a small group to a maximum of 70 people, so it can be used for a variety of purposes from parties with small children to banquets. Well, when I visited, the customers were all local madams…

Ragged with Matsuzaka beef, a super-premium brand of beef… I ate the Royal Black Curry Rice, the best of black curry at Toyoken Head Shop.

Let me introduce you to the “intriguing” curry I ordered at Toyoken Head Shop that day. The curry was the Royal Black Curry Rice (priced at 3,630 yen including tax), which is the original Black Curry with an abundance of Matsuzaka beef, a very high quality brand of beef. I never expected to see Matsuzaka beef here, so I decided to order it as a conditioned reflex.

After ordering, it took about 5 minutes to wait for the pickles to be brought in front of me…

These pickles are very colorful…but the fact that small tongs come out with them, does that mean that we are supposed to transfer these pickles to the curry plate that will come out later?

After another five minutes or so of waiting, the Royal Black Curry Rice was brought in front of me. The rice and roux come out separately, old-fashioned high-end curry style. And after all, the pickles I mentioned earlier must play the role of fukujinzuke in a typical curry.

Now let’s transfer the roux in this gravy boat to the curry dish…

Let’s leave aside the fact that the serving is not very good… It is a black curry, so it is natural that the roux is black, but isn’t the size and quantity of the meat too much? Frankly speaking, the balance between the meat and the roux is wrong. In fact, it was not like “beef as an ingredient in curry rice,” but more like “beef dish with curry sauce”. A plate of curry rice costs 3,630 yen including tax, which makes one think, “Is this a menu for the upper class?” However, if so much Matsuzaka beef, a very high quality brand beef, is used in the dish, I feel that the 3,630 yen per dish is rather inexpensive! 

Well, I can’t taste the Matsuzaka beef itself because it is completely soaked in the curry roux. This is the same as the Omi beef curry I had at Kuishimbo Yamanaka in Kyoto. If that is what you are expecting, you should just get a steak. But, as expected, the meat is incomparably tender. The meat is so tender and elastic that the teeth can easily penetrate through it, which is something that can only be felt with high quality meat… Due to the influence of the roux, there is almost no greasiness, and the feeling that I am eating very high quality meat is more than enough.

And the curry roux on the Matsuzaka beef was quite spicy at first? But it was totally different. It was a very rich and thick European-style curry. The richness of the curry is probably due to the generous amount of Matsuzaka beef fat that has been infused into the curry. The spiciness was hardly noticeable on my tongue, and I only felt a slight heat on my tongue when I had finished the whole dish. I think people who don’t like spicy food and even small children can eat it without any problem. But I would rather eat it myself than let my kids eat it, wouldn’t you?

Like this, I left Toyoken Head Shop very satisfied with my Royal Black Curry Rice with Matsuzaka beef. This may sound very rude to the people involved in Mie Prefecture, but I never thought I would be able to eat something like this in Mie Prefecture. This must be a “must eat” food for curry lovers when they visit Tsu City. But hopefully, they can keep the amount of meat the same and add a little more roux…

Examples of other menu items at Toyoken Head Shop (prices include tax)

• Matsuzaka beef cutlet 100g　8140 yen
• Beef stew　6,600 yen
• Braised Japanese beef in red wine　5280 yen
• Fried shrimp　3300 yen
• 100% Matsuzaka beef hamburger steak 120g　3080yen
• Cream croquette with crab　1980 yen
• Black Curry Rice　1650yen

Retort pouch version of Royal Black Curry is available for purchase…To get to Toyoken Head Shop, transfer from Tsu Station on the JR Kisei Main Line to Mie Kotsu Bus No. 52 Mukumoto Line, get off at Mie Kaikan-mae bus stop, and walk 4 minutes.

At Toyoken Head Shop, a retort version of Black Curry is sold at the cash register…

They sell not only the standard Black Curry, but also the Black Curry with Matsuzaka beef that I had this time, priced at 2,700 yen including tax. If you prepare only rice at home, you can enjoy this super-premium curry for nearly 1,000 yen less than at a restaurant. If you give it as a gift to someone who loves curry, I am sure they will be very pleased. Online ordering is also available from the store’s online store, so if you are interested, please give it a try.

Now, here are the details of the restaurant…