I will never climb Everest, or even come close, so the nearest for me was eating at Indian restaurant Everest in Matsuyama. At home, we have Indian restaurants growing on trees, so they have never been an attractive option for me in Japan. Everest was an exception because their meal sets appealed to budget minded me. I was also starving and tired.
Everest offers set meals made up of naan bread, tandoori chicken, tomato chicken, salad, mango lassi. This can cost between Y1050 to Y1290, depending on what is added on or taken out. For example, if you omit the meat dishes and go vegetarian, the price drops. Add in a kebab, the price goes up. They also had a special offer the Sunday I was there: Y750 for Japanese rice, Indian style spinach puree and cottage cheese, and naan.
I took the set of Y1070, and it was lovely - I could taste the slightly charred flavour of the tandoor in the piece of tandoori chicken, a really huge naan that stunned even me (the naan at home are smaller sized) tomato chicken, salad, and mango lassi. It was enough for me to be able to skip and save on dinner. I have to admit I scraped the last of the tomato chicken off the bowl, I found it so good. It was a tad sweeter than at home, but I liked that the tomato base was cooked with lots of onion, and spices I recognized, like cumin, cinnamon, coriander, fenugreek and cardamom.
I thought the waiter looked Nepali, and he was, as is the chef. Even so, it was good Indian food, and I’m glad because it was the first ever Indian restaurant I have eaten at in Japan.
Hopefully helpful
Everest is situated at Okaido Shopping Arcade, in Matsuyama, near the Mitsukoshi Department Store. It is around the middle of the shopping arcade. Their sign is above ground level, so you might miss it unless you look up, but they display their offers in a glass box outside their entrance. They are upstairs on the second floor. Just follow the aroma of spices.
