​spice & cafe imairo. is located in Tenpaku-ku, Nagoya City, a five-minute walk from Shiogamaguchi Station on the Subway Tsurumai Line. Walk southeast along Iida Kaido from the station, and you will find the store just before the bridge over the Ueda River.

It's a rare combination of "South Indian cuisine" and "French pastry" that you don't often see elsewhere.

This time, we will introduce how the shop was started and the commitment to pursuing authentic taste.

"Imairo" full of cleanliness based on white

The appearance that a white wall and a brown door are cute

A simple interior with 3 tables and 3 counter seats (The number of seats has been reduced due to corona measures. As of February 2022)

Meals for lunch (South Indian set meal). The name of each dish is written.

French sweets and drinks are on the big blackboard.

Self service water. Water servers and cups are from India.

Imailo also offers natural wines. Empty bottles are objects in the store.

"South Indian cuisine" and "French confectionery"
How the shop started

Mr. Kondo, the store manager, explains why he opened a South Indian restaurant and a French pastry shop, saying, "I simply liked both." Mr. Kondo has always loved making sweets. When he was visiting sweets shops in Tokyo with a friend, I happened to come across South Indian cuisine, and since then I fell in love with the world of South Indian cuisine.

Mr. Kondo: “While eating around various shops, I wondered what the local taste was like, so I went to India.”

Mr. Kondo, who traveled to South India and was particular about "recreating the local taste". When he was thinking, "I want to have my own restaurant someday," he had the opportunity to serve South Indian cuisine at a South Indian restaurant in the same place.

Although it was only a one-day rental business, it was well received by customers. A few months later, the South Indian restaurant was going out of business, and he was asked if he wanted to open a restaurant, and that is how all started.

Commitment to authentic taste and ingredients

Whether it's South Indian cuisine or French pastry, Mr. Kondo travels to the region in search of the authentic taste, and are particular about recreating the "authentic taste" in Japan. For that reason, it seems that the same ingredients as the local are used as much as possible.

Mr. Kondo: “If you try to reproduce the authentic taste, you naturally end up using local ingredients. We don't have access to all the ingredients, but we try to use local ingredients as much as possible."

For example, most of the spices used in South Indian cuisine are from India, and the rice used is ponni rice, which is commonly eaten in Tamil Nadu, South India, where Mr. Kondo visited. Indian restaurants in Japan often use basmati rice, which is long and fragrant, and ponni rice is rarely seen in the Tokai area.

Mr. Kondo: “In Tamil Nadu, this ponni rice was used for most of the meal. I think ponni rice with less flavor is better."

Round ponni rice topped with dal (bean) curry.

Ponni rice is rounder than basmati rice and has less fragrance. When I ate it, it certainly didn't interfere with other dishes, and it felt like it blended in naturally.

South Indian cuisine "Meals"

Veggie meal ¥ 1,700 (tax included)

Meals is like a typical set meal in South India, with several types of side dishes lined up on one plate. Imailo offers meals that use different vegetables depending on the day.

From left to right,
・Sambal Beans and vegetables with tamarind acidity
・Rasam tamarind sour soup
・Koutu Beans, Vegetables and Coconut Curry
・Carla Columb Spicy Curry
・Poriyal cabbage and green beans stir-fry
・Card (Yogurt)
・Woolgai South Indian sour and spicy pickles

Ponni rice is topped with dal (bean) curry, and on top of that is a crispy rice cracker-like dish called apalamu.

We asked Kondo about how to eat meals in his style.

Mr. Kondo: "First, take a bite of the dal (bean) curry in the middle first. Next, half of the sambal is poured over the curry and eaten. Then you eat one side dish at a time, followed by the sour soup rasam in the second half."

Sambal is the most important part of meal. A smooth curry made with beans and vegetables with the sourness of tamarind. The process of making sambal is profound, and it seems that the taste will be slightly different every time.

Sambal on the right

And while eating the side dishes one by one, the point is the spicy and punchy curry “Cala colambu”.

Coconut curry with spinach on the right, "Cala colambu" with a punch on the left.

It has the strongest taste, so if you put Carla collamb in the middle, it will be a good accent and your appetite will be more and more intrigued.

French pastries and drinks

Mr. Kondo also visits France and offers sweets that are particular about the authentic taste of France.

Almond and rum aromatic "Gateau Nante"

Gâteau nantais ¥ 400 (tax included)

This is a specialty of Nantes, a city in the Loire region of France. A flour and Marcona almond dough with a rum coating. It uses Distillerie A.LEGOLL’s rum, which has a complex aroma, and the moment you put it in your mouth, the scent of rum spreads softly.

With a modest sweetness and the scent of rum, it is a sweet with an adult taste.

"Chocolate show" where the rich flavor of chocolate spreads in your mouth

Chocolate show ¥700 (tax included)

A hot drink made with high-quality PACARI Ecuadorian chocolate. It's a simple dish with only chocolate and milk, but it's a dish where you can directly feel the deliciousness of chocolate.

It has a strong chocolate scent, so it doesn't feel sweet and is really delicious! It seems that the texture and concentration that I drank in France is important. If you like chocolate, you should give it a try.

Lightly roasted coffee

Coffee ¥600 (tax included)

We use beans from "GLITCH COFFEE & ROASTERS", which has a main store in Jimbocho, Tokyo, and roasts with the uniqueness of coffee beans. All of Imailo's sweets value "fragrance". We offer lightly roasted coffee that "matches the scent of sweets".

Even though I prefer dark roast coffee, the combination of Imairo's fragrant French confectionery and refreshing light roast coffee grabbed my heart. Mr. Kondo's commitment to "local taste" resonated beyond my preconceived notions.

Mr. Kondo: “I think we are a strange restaurant that serves South Indian cuisine and French sweets, but I think that part of it has a good influence on us. Some people eat French sweets and fall in love with them, and vice versa. When I get that kind of reaction, I feel the significance of our existence that we are offering these two types. I would be happy if you could find the new taste."

Mr. Kondo is thoroughly particular about reproducing the "authentic taste". "I don't want to change foreign food cultures to suit Japanese tastes," he says. Please come and experience the authentic taste that has been carefully selected.