Best Curry in Asakusa: 6 Japanese and Spice Curry Shops

Where can I eat curry near Senso-ji?

Ranked by Tabelog score, with Google Maps ratings alongside (see the chart), not by our own tasting. Mo-toriko and Caril tie on Tabelog, so Google breaks the tie.

Shop	Type	Walk from Kaminarimon (est.)	Pay	Closed
Spice Space Ugaya	Spice curry, on Japanese dashi	15 min	PayPay, d-barai only	Sunday, Thursday (shop); Tabelog: Tuesday, Thursday
Putiysani	Spice curry: Indian and Sri Lankan-style	12 min	Cards, IC, QR	Monday, 2nd and 4th Tuesday
Caril	Spice curry: South Indian and keema	13 min	Cash only	Monday
Mo-toriko	Standard (home-style) curry, per the author	7 min	Cards, IC, QR	Open daily
Tanpopo	Spice and Japanese-style curry (Tabelog tags)	4 min	PayPay only	Saturday, Sunday; lunch only
Yoshi’s Passion	Japanese curry; says all ingredients are halal (Oct 2024), no certification found	10 min	Not listed	Open daily

Easiest to fit in: Mo-toriko, a beef curry shop run by Yoshinoya. It’s open daily until 11 p.m. (from 11 a.m., 9 a.m. at weekends), has 40 seats, takes cards and is about 7 min from Kaminarimon. We haven’t tasted it; this is about convenience, not flavor. For a weekday lunch, Tanpopo is closer, about 4 min away. If you can plan around short hours, Spice Space Ugaya has the highest Tabelog score here.

How we chose and checked:

• Starting lists: Tabelog’s Asakusa curry ranking (41 shops, read October 26, 2026) and the Tabelog Curry TOKYO Hyakumeiten 2026, announced June 9, 2026. No Asakusa shop is on the 2026 list.
• Who’s in: shops Tabelog files under curry first, with seats, within about a 15-minute walk of Kaminarimon. Putiysani and Caril are listed on Tabelog as curry first, with an Indian-curry genre tag (unlike Gayabaji, below, an Indian restaurant first). Most of the 41 on Tabelog’s list file curry second (tonkatsu, Thai, Indian, cafés, chains); we kept the top curry-first shops, plus Yoshi’s Passion (3.00, one Tabelog review) as the halal-ingredient option. Google Maps listed all six as operating on October 26, 2026.
• Order: by the score on each shop’s own Tabelog page, read October 26, 2026; ties by Google rating.
• Facts: from Tabelog, Google Maps and the shops; prices dated in each section.
• Walk times: our estimate from the map, not a timed walk.
• Taste: we haven’t eaten at these shops, so this page compares facts, not flavor.

Left out on purpose:

• Gayabaji (西インドスパイス ガヤバジ, Tabelog 3.58), by Tawaramachi Station, tops Tabelog’s Asakusa curry list and is on its Asia and Ethnic Top 100 (2022–2024, 2026), but Tabelog files it as an Indian restaurant first. Try it for Indian food rather than curry rice.
• Tonkatsu Toyama and Kawakin appear on Tabelog’s curry list, but Tabelog files both as tonkatsu shops first. Kawakin’s Senzoku branch is known for the Kawakin-don, a katsu curry on rice (Tabelog roundup, 2019). For cutlets, see the best tonkatsu in Asakusa.
• SmileSpice (Tabelog 3.32), a spice-curry shop, opens only Tuesday to Thursday in Asakusa.
• Thai restaurants and chains that also sell curry, including the CoCo Ichibanya branch by Tobu Asakusa Station (Tabelog).

What is Japanese curry?

Japanese curry (karē raisu, カレーライス) is a thick curry sauce served over rice. It reached Japan from Britain, not straight from India: the usual account is that British ships brought it after Japan opened its ports in 1859, and two cookbooks of 1872, Seiyō ryōri shinan and Seiyō ryōri tsū, already gave recipes (Nipponica encyclopedia, “curry dishes” entry, Kotobank).

What came was British-style curry, made with curry powder and flour fried in butter, thinned with stock, simmered with meat and vegetables and served over hot rice (Britannica Japan, Kotobank). It usually comes with fukujinzuke, sweet pickled vegetables, or rakkyō, pickled shallots (Heibonsha encyclopedia, Kotobank). Curry rice belongs to yōshoku, the Western-style dishes that Japanese cooks adapted from the late Meiji to the Taisho era, along with the breaded cutlet, katsuretsu (Heibonsha).

Asakusa has a small place in the story. S&B Foods says its founder, Minejiro Yamazaki, made Japan’s first domestic curry powder in 1923 and started the business in Asakusa Shichiken-cho; in 1935 its head office moved to nearby Kuramae (S&B corporate history). House Foods began making curry powder in 1926, launched its first solid roux, “Indo Curry,” in 1960, and Vermont Curry in 1963, a curry meant for children and adults to eat together (House Foods history). S&B’s Golden Curry followed in 1966 (S&B corporate history).

What kinds of curry will you find in Japan?

The site’s author, who lives in Tokyo, sorts the curry Japanese people know into six kinds. This is his view of how people here see curry, not an official classification:

1. Home curry (家庭のカレー). The thick curry most Japanese people think of as the standard curry. It’s made at home with curry roux, a solid seasoning that he notes costs about ¥200 a box. Roux here means flour fried in butter and mixed with curry powder, sold ready-made as blocks, paste or flakes (Digital Daijisen, Kotobank).
2. European-style curry (欧風カレー, ōfū). A slightly darker curry, served in restaurants.
3. Soba-shop curry (蕎麦屋のカレー). Curry with a strong dashi flavor, as served at soba shops.
4. Soup curry (スープカレー). A thin, soup-like curry, with the rice on a separate plate. It comes from Hokkaido and caught on around Sapporo from about 2002 (Digital Daijisen and Digital Daijisen Plus, Kotobank).
5. Spice curry (スパイスカレー). Curry built on spices from India, Pakistan, Nepal and nearby.
6. Thai green curry (グリーンカレー).

The first four, in his view, are the Japanese curries. Spice curry draws on spices from India, Pakistan and Nepal; green curry came from Thailand. Among the shops below, the author puts Mo-toriko’s beef curry in the standard, home-style group. None of the six is a soba shop, a soup-curry shop or a Thai restaurant. Each shop’s section notes its type where its menu or Tabelog listing supports it.

The curry shops, ranked

Spice Space Ugaya: Wagyu tendon curry north of Senso-ji

Asakusa 5-chome, north of Senso-ji, about 15 min (est.) from Kaminarimon.

Type: spice curry, built on Japanese dashi.

Spice Space Ugaya (SPICE SPACE UGAYA) opened on October 29, 2018 (Tabelog) and has the highest Tabelog score on this page. It’s also the farthest from Kaminarimon (est.). Its owner, Toshihisa Ugamura, cooked Japanese food before turning to spices, and holds a “spice coordinator master” qualification. The main dish is a beef-tendon curry made with Japanese black-cattle (Wagyu) tendon, a Japanese dashi stock and more than 30 spices. He jokes that the shop sells spice cooking and isn’t really a curry specialist (Sanpo no Tatsujin, December 2025).

Other curries include shrimp bisque and a pickled-plum and mackerel keema. It’s small, so book dinner if you can. A 9-seat counter branch in the basement of Matsuya Asakusa, by Tobu Asakusa Station (Tabelog 3.26), takes cards; Tabelog lists 10 a.m.–7 p.m. daily, but Matsuya’s own closed days apply.

• Hours: lunch noon–2 p.m. last order and dinner 6–10:30 p.m. last order; Monday and Friday dinner only (Sanpo no Tatsujin, December 2025). Tabelog lists lunch on Wednesday and Saturday only; Google Maps adds Friday lunch. Check the shop’s Instagram, linked from Tabelog, before you go.
• Closed: Sunday and Thursday, per the shop’s Instagram profile and the December 2025 magazine listing. Tabelog and Google Maps list Tuesday and Thursday instead.
• Price: the mixed curry plate with all side dishes ¥1,950 (Sanpo no Tatsujin, December 2025); aigake curry (two curries on one plate, heat level 4) ¥1,750 on Tabelog, undated. Tabelog’s budget from reviews is ¥1,000–1,999.
• Pay: no cards or e-money; PayPay and d-barai (QR) only (Tabelog)
• Reservations: dinner only, by phone (03-5849-4736, calls 11 a.m.–2 p.m. and 7–10 p.m.). Cancel at least two days ahead; for courses, 20% is charged the day before and 50% on the day (Tabelog). Time limit: not listed.
• Seats: 13: 7 at the counter, 6 at tables
• Kids: children welcome; Tabelog notes that smoking is allowed at the counter at dinner, so families sit at tables then
• Getting there: 10 min from Asakusa Station (Tsukuba Express; the station’s exits are A1 and A2); about 12 min from the Ginza Line station (Tabelog)
• Address: 5-23-7 Asakusa · Google Maps

Putiysani: Sri Lankan-style plates, book ahead

Asakusa 6-chome, northeast of Senso-ji, about 12 min (est.) from Kaminarimon.

Type: spice curry, Indian and Sri Lankan-style.

Putiysani (プチシャニ) calls itself a small curry shop 10 minutes from Asakusa Station, and has been at this address since November 2024 (Tabelog). Tabelog lists it as curry first, with an Indian-curry genre tag, and reviews there describe one-plate meals of two curries and sides on basmati rice. A Sri Lankan-style chicken and beef keema was ¥1,400 in a September 2025 photo on Tabelog.

With 11 seats, it’s best booked; solo diners can book too.

• Hours: Tuesday to Saturday and holidays noon–3 p.m. and 6–10 p.m.; Sunday noon–3 p.m. and 6–8 p.m. It may close early when the curry sells out (Tabelog).
• Closed: Monday, and the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month; other closures are posted on Instagram
• Price: Sri Lankan-style chicken and beef keema ¥1,400 including tax (Tabelog photo, September 2025). Tabelog’s budget from reviews is ¥1,000–1,999.
• Pay: Visa, Mastercard, JCB, Amex, Diners and UnionPay; transit IC cards (Suica etc.) and other e-money; PayPay, Alipay, WeChat Pay and other QR payments
• Reservations: online, through Tabelog. No-shows aren’t accepted; cancel by Instagram message by 3 p.m. on the day, or pay a ¥3,500 fee (Tabelog). Time limit: not listed.
• Seats: 11. No smoking.
• Kids: not listed
• Getting there: about 10 min from Asakusa Station (Tobu, Toei, Ginza Line), 744 m, per Tabelog
• Address: 6-19-9 Asakusa · Google Maps

Caril: South Indian curries, cash only

Asakusa 4-chome, behind Senso-ji, about 13 min (est.) from Kaminarimon.

Type: spice curry, South Indian and keema.

Caril (カリル) moved here from Setagaya and opened on August 26, 2022. Tabelog lists it as curry first, with an Indian-curry genre tag. A Tabelog reviewer describes it as run by one person, and photos and reviews there show South Indian dishes such as Kerala chicken stew, rasam and bean curry alongside keema. You choose two curries for one plate.

Tabelog and Google Maps list different hours; the shop posts changes on Instagram (carilasakusa).

• Hours: Tabelog: Tuesday to Sunday noon–7 p.m. Google Maps: Wednesday 6:30–11 p.m.; Thursday and Friday noon–2:30 p.m. and 6:30–11 p.m.; weekends noon–9 p.m.
• Closed: Monday (both sources); Google also lists Tuesday, and Tabelog mentions irregular days off
• Price: two-curry plate (salt chicken curry and beef and green-pea keema) ¥1,600 including tax (Tabelog photo, October 2025). Tabelog’s budget from reviews is ¥1,000–1,999.
• Pay: cash only (Tabelog; the shop’s Instagram)
• Reservations: not taken. Time limit: not listed.
• Seats: not listed; a Tabelog reviewer put it at about 10. No smoking.
• Kids: not listed
• Getting there: about 530 m from Asakusa Station (Tsukuba Express), per Tabelog
• Address: 4-17-3 Asakusa · Google Maps

Mo-toriko: Yoshinoya’s beef curry, open every day

Asakusa 2-chome, by the Tsukuba Express station, about 7 min (est.) from Kaminarimon.

Type: standard (home-style) curry, in the author’s view.

Mo-toriko (しあわせのビーフカレー もう～とりこ) is a curry shop of the Yoshinoya group, the beef-bowl chain, opened on December 1, 2024 at 2-10-13 Asakusa (Yoshinoya Holdings store page; Impress Watch, November 2024). The curry uses the beef and onions from Yoshinoya’s gyūdon, simmered with spices in the shop (Impress Watch, November 2024).

You pick one of three sauces (beef, spicy beef or butter beef), one of five heat levels, a rice size from 200 g to 1 kg, and two free side dishes from six, such as fried onions or onion achar (Impress Watch, November 2024).

• Hours: weekdays 11 a.m.–11 p.m.; weekends and holidays 9 a.m.–11 p.m.; last food order 10:45 p.m. (Tabelog, edited April 2026). The opening report gave 10 a.m.–10 p.m., and Google Maps lists weekend opening at 8 a.m.
• Closed: open daily
• Price: at the Asakusa Chuo shop, sausage curry ¥1,573 and autumn-vegetable curry ¥1,353, a seasonal dish (Impress Watch, September 2026; tax not stated). Plain beef curry: not listed.
• Pay: Visa and JCB; e-money and QR payments (Tabelog)
• Reservations: not taken. Time limit: not listed.
• Seats: 40 (Impress Watch). No smoking.
• Kids: children welcome (Tabelog)
• Getting there: about 60 m from Asakusa Station (Tsukuba Express), per Tabelog
• Address: 2-10-13 Asakusa · Google Maps

Curry Rice Tanpopo: weekday lunch by Kaminarimon

Kaminarimon 2-chome, south of Kaminarimon-dori, about 4 min (est.) away.

Type: Tabelog tags it as spice curry, Japanese-style (wafū) curry and keema.

Curry Rice Tanpopo (カレーライス たんぽぽ) opened in November 2022 and is the closest shop to Kaminarimon on this page (Tabelog). One Tabelog reviewer describes its wa-meals (和ミールス), a Japanese take on a South Indian meals plate, as curry with five small side dishes.

• Hours: Monday to Friday 10:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. (Tabelog). Google Maps lists Tuesday to Saturday instead.
• Closed: Saturday and Sunday (Tabelog)
• Price: wa-meals ¥1,200, in one Tabelog review of a June 2026 visit; no menu with prices is posted. Tabelog’s budget from reviews is ¥1,000–1,999.
• Pay: PayPay only; no cards or e-money (Tabelog). Cash isn’t listed.
• Reservations: not taken. Time limit: not listed.
• Seats: not listed. No smoking.
• Kids: children welcome (Tabelog)
• Getting there: about 260 m from Asakusa Station (Tobu, Toei, Ginza Line), per Tabelog
• Address: 2-6-11 Kaminarimon · Google Maps

Yoshi’s Passion: halal Japanese curry

Asakusa 3-chome, northwest of Senso-ji, about 10 min (est.) from Kaminarimon.

Type: Japanese curry, by its own name; no menu is posted to say more.

Halal Japanese Curry Yoshi’s Passion opened on October 1, 2024. According to Arab News Japan (October 2024), its owner, Yoshi Nakatani, is committed to using all halal ingredients; the menu then had chicken, mutton and prawn curries, and a signature “100% Halal Kobe Beef Curry.” We found no halal certification named, so if certification matters to you, ask at the shop.

It’s last on Tabelog (one review) but first on Google: 4.7 from 781 reviews.

• Hours: noon–10 p.m. every day (shop’s Instagram profile; Google Maps). Tabelog lists 11 a.m.–10 p.m.
• Closed: none listed
• Price: not listed (no menu with prices on Tabelog or elsewhere we could find); Tabelog’s listed budget is ¥3,000–3,999, dinner-style prices we couldn’t verify
• Pay: not listed
• Reservations: Tabelog points to online booking; time limit and cancellation policy not listed
• Seats: not listed
• Kids: not listed
• Getting there: about 480 m from Asakusa Station (Tsukuba Express), per Tabelog
• Address: 3-22-1 Asakusa · Google Maps

Which one should I pick?

• Japanese curry rice, any day, by card: Mo-toriko, about 7 min from Kaminarimon.
• A weekday lunch right by Kaminarimon: Tanpopo, before 2:30 p.m. It lists PayPay only.
• Halal ingredients: Yoshi’s Passion says it uses all halal ingredients (October 2024); we found no certification, so ask if you need it.
• Highest-rated, and you can plan ahead: Spice Space Ugaya. Book dinner, and have PayPay or d-barai ready. Short on time? Its Matsuya branch near Tobu Asakusa Station keeps longer hours (Tabelog lists 10 a.m.–7 p.m. daily; Matsuya’s closed days apply) and takes cards.
• Indian or Sri Lankan-style plates: Putiysani (book online) or Caril (cash, no bookings).
• Late dinner: Mo-toriko until 11 p.m.; Spice Space Ugaya (last order 10:30 p.m.) and Yoshi’s Passion until about 10 p.m.
• On a Monday: Putiysani and Caril are closed, and Google lists Tanpopo as closed too. Mo-toriko and Yoshi’s Passion are open; Spice Space Ugaya does dinner only.
• At the weekend: Tanpopo is closed, and Spice Space Ugaya closes on Sunday (per the shop). Mo-toriko opens from 9 a.m.

Getting there

Four of the six shops are closest to the Tsukuba Express Asakusa Station on Kokusai-dori, separate from the Ginza Line station by Kaminarimon. See Asakusa Station for how the five Asakusa stations fit together.

Tabelog gives Tanpopo’s and Putiysani’s distances from Asakusa Station as a whole (Tobu, Toei and Ginza Line).

Step-free access, by station:

• Asakusa (Tsukuba Express), for Ugaya, Caril, Mo-toriko and Yoshi’s Passion: step-free route available. The station map shows an elevator from the platforms to the ticket gates, and a street elevator at Exit A1 on the Kokusai-dori side (Metropolitan Intercity Railway).
• Asakusa (Ginza Line), for Tanpopo and Putiysani: no full step-free route. Tokyo Metro lists no elevator inside the gates, only stairlifts; the street elevator at Exit 1 is outside the gates.
• Asakusa (Toei Asakusa Line and Tobu), also for Tanpopo and Putiysani: step-free route not confirmed.

We haven’t checked step-free access at the shops’ entrances.

Nearby

Tanpopo is a few minutes south of Kaminarimon, so it works before or after Senso-ji. Caril, Yoshi’s Passion and Spice Space Ugaya are on the far side of the temple: walk through the precinct and out the back. Mo-toriko is a short walk (est.) from Hoppy Street for a drink afterwards. For another meal, see the best soba in Asakusa, onigiri in Asakusa or the vegetarian and vegan guide, or Eat & drink and the Asakusa travel guide for the rest of the day.