Restaurant search site for food minorities

Supervisor / Recommender

Takako Doki

General Incorporated Association Japan Halal Business Association Secretariat Public Relations / Director

Click here for introduction

I am currently working as an editor. However, I experienced working as a cook in restrunts, hospitals, and catering industry. Looking back now, I was connected to the Idea of Hala, since then.
At one point, few decades ago, I worked in a cafeteria at an auction site. More than 60% of the visitors to the venue were foreigners, including many Muslims (There were mosque in the venue as well). I remember many people asked me about the food we serve, the types of meat and whether they are Hala qualified.
At a certain time, the cafeteria becomes lively like a festival. Because the Indian restaurant next door to the venue served food for free. Indian dish, such as biryani, curry and sweet drinks were served to the visitors. Over 100 foreigners dressed in red turbans, garabayas and folk costumes gathered in the cafeteria, and everyone had a great time surrounding the same table. Now I learned about Muslim culture, it was a fast-starting Iftar.
Also, I remember that many participants were only eating curry from the Indian restrunt, eventhough there were choices of other food. As I study about Halal, I learned that they did not chose to eat curry, but they did not have a choise. I personally think that they wanted to try some of the Japanese food, if they had a chose. I still regret that moment, when I could not do anything because of the lack of information. “Inconvenience” of food is quite different based on their cultural background, and therefore, I understand now, that it is crucial to create an environment where all people can enjoy delicious meal, regardless of their backgrounds.

In Japan, Halal food is still a minority. Many people from Muslim background visit Japan, but they fell enconvininet about it. Japan Halal Business Association advocates in the halal business: HAVO (Halal, Organic, Vegetarian, Allergy).
The idea is to aim to create products and services that many people can eat and use, regardless of their religion and various backgrounds.
Seeking for delicious, safe and secure meal is commonly shared through the nations. The time demand us to find new ways of living that transcend borders and religions. We hope that Halal will help eliminate food inconvenience and contribute to the harmony of the world where you can respect, coexist, and co-prosper with a more liberal idea to eating and enjoying food.

All-you-can-eat lunch buffet with a variety of 15 items to chose from, one of thr best deals in the center of Tokyo.

Nirvanam is a South Indian restaurant that has branches mainly in Tokyo. Nirvanam means “bliss,” the highest state of satisfaction and happiness in Saskrit and at Nirvanam they are striving to achieve that by providing you appropriate ambience, service, and the taste. They offer a variety of menus from 5 provinces in South India, including Kerala province at seashore of Arabian sea to Tamil Nadu province at the bay of Bengal. Nivanam is a well known restaurant on the review sites such as the leading ranking site “tabelog”, and has been awarded in the “top100 best curry restaurants” every year since 2009.

One of the reasons why they are so popular is because they have more than100 authentic items on the menu created with fragrant whole spice and unique cooking methods from each region, ranging from Indian signature street food to the traditional South Indian cuisine. Masala dosa is one of the signature South Indian dishes, which is a thin rice crape with potatoes and onions.

DAHI BHALLE

MASALA DOSA

CHICKEN BIRYANI

Nirvanam is well known for their great lunch buffet. It is all-you-can-eat buffet that comes with more than 10 items for a very reasonable price of 1200yen, which is a great deal and hard to find in the center of Tokyo. On the day of interview, there were about 15 items such as mutton biriyani, dosa, bean soup with sambal chill sauce, and mashed-bean doughnut called uddin vada.

SAMBAL AND BEAN DOUGHNUTS

LUNCH BUFFET

Deep-fried food and biriyani go very well with yogurt sauce made with vegetables.

DOSA, BEAN DOUGHNUT, MUSTARD CHICKEN CURRY, RAITA

You can help yourself to the popular street food pani puri as much as you like. Pour tamarind soup into it and enjoy!

PANI PURI

Menu items of lunch buffet change everyday so you will feel excited to try different dishes every time.

LUNCH MENU

Nirvanam is higly recommended halal restaurant for the best curries by foodies.

Nirvanam has chefs and staff who are from South India. As of 2021, they were recognized with halal certification. Have you ever wonder what the halal certification is? In short, it is a certification by the halal association to meet halal requirements. It may sound a little ambiguous but it is currently the case that there are no regulated global standards and each country and association has the different criteria and education. In Japan, there are such things as menu certification and Muslim friendly certification. Let me explain details as it can be a little complicated to understand.

HALAL CERTIFICATE

This certificate shows “all menus are halal.” This certificate is issued by Japan halal foundation, which is categorized into three levels with stars. 3 stars means “all menus are halal” and Nirvanam with 2 stars, offers halal food but they also offer alcoholic drinks such as beers. They need to ensure that food is not contaminated with alcohol as alcohol is prohibited in Muslim culture. The restaurants are required to have strict management system for hygiene and such in order to maintain the halal certification. Some associations call “Muslim friendly certificate,” which has different criteria to the halal certificate. The restaurants with halal certificate tend to charge more for food, Nirvanam offers very authentic food with reasonable price and I would highly recommend!

「 Nirvanam Kamiyacho branch 」Basic information

Store name	Nirvanam Kamiyacho branch
Tel	03-3433-1217
Address	2F Oote building, 3-19-7, Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Business hours	11:15～14:30 18:00～22:00 (L.O.21:30)
Holiday	Irregular
Budget
Payment method	Card accepted （VISA、Master、JCB、AMEX、Diners）
Parking Lot	N/A
Language	English, Japanese, Hindu
Advance reservation
Cooking description	Specializes in South Indian cuisine
Note
Store HP