A curry with a quarter century of flavor baked in.
Cafe Escher TEXT/KAGEHIRO WATANABE, PHOTO/NAOKO TAKAHASHIOwner Kimura was stunned the first time he overheard a customer on the phone say, “I’ll be waiting at the usual curry place.” True to its name, “Cafe” is a proper coffee shop serving an original French-roast blend — but the curry is so good, customers end up calling it that instead. As for the shop’s name, it comes from the famous artist known for his optical-illusion art. One story behind the name traces back to the building itself, whose deliberately maze-like layout was designed as an anti-theft measure — a leftover feature from when a securities firm once occupied the space, which is also where the Escher connection comes from. The shop itself sits inside what was once the building’s vault — proven by the thick metal door still standing at the entrance.
Kimura went independent after training at a coffee specialty shop. His approach to curry, on the other hand, is entirely self-taught — "I don't know the pro shortcuts," he says. Onions, the heart of the curry's richness and sweetness, are slow-cooked — 25kg of them, over 5 hours. Both the pork cutlet and the fried items are made to order, fried only after they're ordered. The spice level shifts a touch hotter in summer and richer in winter, adjusted little by little for the heat and humidity of the day. That refusal to cut corners is surely what makes it so delicious. And then there's the roux, which can't go unmentioned — it's been continuously replenished and built upon since the shop first opened, in the first year of the Heisei era (1989). People say curry tastes better the next day, but at Escher, it's the accumulated flavor of a quarter century.
When asked to name a popular dish, Kimura pointed to the eggplant and ground meat curry. Other standouts include a butter-sautéed scallop and fried broccoli curry, popular on hot days, and a curry with house-made croquette and three kinds of mushrooms — every item on the menu is tempting enough to keep you coming back again and again. And it's not just about the curry. Here, you can soak in the building's history, savor the curry, and enjoy the coffee, all at once. It's surely that layered appeal that keeps so many customers coming back.
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