The Yokohama Curry Museum is quite a concept.

Indian curry and Thai curry are popular here, but most popular is Japanese curry, an odd melange of spices that blends flavors from all world curries into one dish. So a trip to the Yokohama Curry Museum with some friends yesterday promised to be a treat. Maybe I’d finally learn why the Japanese adopted every spice on the rack for their curry.

The reality of this newly opened museum was less exciting than I’d hoped. We took an elevator (operated by a young Japanesde woman costumed in a sari) to the 7th floor of the “PIA Station Amusement Theme Park.”

Alighting from the elevator, we were greeted by anothe sari-uniformed woman in a darkly panelled and dimly lit lobby decorated with cartoon elephants carved in stone. Three Japanese curry restaurants occupy the lower level, with four Indian and Thai curry restaurants are above. There’s a huge ship in the middle of the building with restaurants inside and on the upper deck. The museum aspect of the Curry Museum was relegated to small displays scattered among the snaking lines waiting for entrance to the restaurants. There are shops selling curry spices and other curry memorabilia to distract you while you wait, too.

When we discovered that the shortest wait for seating was 60 minutes, we decided to skip the experience, the shopping, and the lines. We’d go eat elsewhere. We walked down seven flights, as the elevator that brings you up does not work in reverse. Going down the stairs increases the chance that you will stop to play a video game or try some pachinko before you leave. But we abstained and escaped.

There’s a Yokohama Ramen Museum that I hear is much better than the Curry Museum. Posted by kuri at February 09, 2001 08:13 AM