CONTRIBUTED BY SARAH FORTE

Taj lunch

Curry! If you love curry you have come to the right island! The Japanese love their curry and according to one 2005 survey they eat it an average of 125 times a year! Here on Okinawa you can sample a whole world of curry: there are Japanese curry places like Coco Ichibanya, curry buffets likeFAB Curry, Tai curry places like SomChai, Indian curry places such as Krishnas, Nepalese curry places like Kasthamandap and many other restaurants feature curry on their menus, too. If you love curry (please say you do!) you won’t lack for the amount or variety of curry on Okinawa!

But there’s always room for more! Taj Okinawa recently opened their doors so we went to try it out. Here’s what we found:

Taj Okinawa, as you may have guessed, is an Indian-style restaurant that, along with many varieties of curry, offers Indian dishes. They had extensive tandoor selections, naan bread, beverages (alcoholic as well as non) and desserts.

Taj plastic

We ate there for lunch and the prices ranged from 600 yen (for the children’s set) to 1,100 yen for the largest adult set (which included a beverage and dessert). We each ordered the “C Lunch Set” which included curry, tandoori chicken, chicken tikka, naan, soup, salad, desert and soft drink. We could choose the type of curry and soft drink. My husband choose keema mutter and ice Indian milk tea, while I had the curry of the day, which was pork, and lassi.  The food was very tasty! Their naan bread was huge and made fresh upon placing our order!  The staff were all pleasant and eager to help. The restaurant felt new, clean and spacious. Both menu and staff were very English-friendly.

Taj inside


Taj Okinawa

Payment: They take yen, American dollars and credit card.

Hours:  Lunch is served from 1100 – 2200. Take out is available.

Phone: 098-923-1312

Address: 458 Ihei, Chatan-chō, Nakagami-gun, Okinawa-ken 904-0102, Japan

Google Maps Coordinates: 26.327774, 127.76286149

Directions:  One of the best features of this place may be the location. It is easily within walking distance from Kadena’s Gate Two, as close as you can get to base on Gate Two Street. This makes it a viable lunch option for those of us who work on Kadena. Go straight out Gate Two, over 85, and take the first left into a parking lot. Taj Okinawa is just around the corner from China Pete’s. When we went, we parked at the USO and walked, but there is parking in that lot marked for Taj Okinawa.

UPDATE: Taj has expanded to a second location in Yomitan.

Address: 641 Furugen, Yomitan-son, Nakagami-gun, Okinawa-ken

Google Maps Coordinates:  26.3696887, 127.7463917

Phone: 098-904-0314

Taj menu

28 COMMENTS

  1. Went here tonight for dinner and my wife and I waited for at least 20 minutes for the server to come to our table. Mind you there were only two other tables the whole time we were there. The server did not even know his own menu as he tried to charge extra for items that come in a set. The food was good, but service was not.

  2. This place used to be amazing. On my first tour in Okinawa I went here at least a dozen times. It was hands down the best Indian curry on island. Unfortuneatly its changed. The service is not good as the guy seems to hate is job and looks very angry. This past time I went there were these very small white bugs in the glasses and the curry tasted very bland. I will have to try the yomitan location as the 23 location is now horrible. It is now on the same level as a danny and kebabs which is not a good thing.

  3. Beware the location on 23 (1st floor of Eagle Lodge). I went today (19 April 2014) for lunch and the service was just terrible. No one at the front to greet me. Then, when one of the employees finally came out of the back, he didn’t say a word, just looked me up and down like I personally bothered him by my very existence. He then rudely waved me off in the general direction of a table. I don’t judge a place by one employee with a bad attitude so I stayed and ate lunch. To pay, I had to literally go in the kitchen and ask for someone to ring me out. A different person came out and again, no greeting, no exchange of pleasantries, no “thank you and hope you enjoyed the food” … the dude looked like it was too much trouble to waddle over to the cash register for payment. Very disappointed to say the least. They have another location at the Starbucks plaza in Yomitan. The service at that location is much better but it is surprising pricey for dinner.

      • A few years ago, this was a great place. The past two times we went here, the ‘mild’ was extremely spicy, the service wasn’t great at all, and now the butter chicken can’t be ordered unless it’s with the kid set. Very disappointing.

        • I ordered the Butter Chicken (adult) set last week. However, the older guy who works there is sort of rude. Maybe “rude” isn’t the right word, maybe he’s just not “friendly.” Still, the food is delicious.

    • We Love this place. It’s an Indian restaurant ran by Eastern Indians (who are laughing all the bad commenters to the bank.). I’ve had 2 bosses from India so understand the culture. They don’t falsely smile and bow for you even if they can’t stand all the gaijins on the island. And the food and heat level, it’s great. The curry is second to none. We also love Kabab, but Taj is our favorite. The owners are real professional gentlemen who maintain a comfortable, relaxing “Indian” atmosphere. They’re not entertainers since people go there to eat. If you drive up with a loud car or roll up on a skateboard, walk in with your baseball hat on backwards, wearing flip flops and a tank top shirt on after being at the beach, and half you body’s covered in tattoos, yea, they may look you up and down like you’re from another planet and hope you leave soon so you don’t scare off the loyal customers like us. haha! Me, I’d just ask you to leave or take your license plate number and follow up the chain to your command 😉

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  4. I just had Taj Okinawa Indian Curry right by eagle lodge and it is AMAZING. I just moved to Okinawa a few days ago but came from the East Coast so I have had my share of Indian and middle eastern foods but honestly, this is the best BEST curry place and the amount of food they give you is plentiful! I asked for the lunch special B and selected the chicken curry and if they could make it spicy. The naan was as wide as their plates (rectangular shaped probably a foot long). The owner and staff were very nice and spoke english, whoo hoo!!! If you are near Kadena or Eagle Lodge or anywhere in Okinawa Chatan area, I highly recommend ditching COCO’s and heading over here. I had COCO’s in LA and also here but they don’t compare plus they are not wallet friendly( COCO’s) at all. We paid 1000Y for soup, salad, drink, bread, curry of your choice as well as a hunk of chicken. Don’t let the menu fool you when it says “one piece of chicken” “one piece of meat.” I was extremely skeptical of this place and so glad my husband forced me to go here. It wasn’t packed at all, until maybe around 4-5 when we were about to leave, where 4-5 families came in right after another.

    Please try this place for all you curry and indian food lovers!!! OH and they do take out!

  5. Love this place! The food is amazing, and if you want something special, you can ask and it just might be made for you! I highly recommend the lamb chops – they are coated with a really tasty spice and they fall off the bone. Yum!

  6. It’s always good and the owner is especially welcoming and hospitable. From what I understand they have restaurants on the mainland too, It’s FANTASTIC!I absolutely LOVE Taj! It’s my favorite Indian restaurant on the island and I have been to almost all of them.
    Great to see how easy this is to get to. And another Curry place is always good. Next time!

  7. This is my fave Indian restaurant in Okinawa so far. I think the flavor here is the best & the service is good. Today I went back to order some take out & they actually gave me a free lassi while I was waiting!

  8. I absolutely LOVE Taj! It’s my favorite Indian restaurant on the island and I have been to almost all of them. They actually have 3 locations on island; one on gate 2, one on route 23, and the other in Naha. I highly recommend the mutton (lamb) curry with naan. It’s FANTASTIC!

  9. I “forced” the hubby to go to lunch here today. He said that he likes Coco’s curry, but doesn’t actually like curry.

    I’m happy to say that we’ll both be returning sometime in the future. We both really enjoyed our lunch sets-the naan bread was fabulous. The soup was simple but delicious and we both enjoyed our curry. Our children shared a children’s set and it was plenty of food for them. They even brought juice for both kids with no charge for the extra juice!

    Definitely a great lunch spot.

  10. This is one of our “hey, wanna grab lunch?” staples — it’s always good and the owner is especially welcoming and hospitable. From what I understand they have restaurants on the mainland too. Times I have called in an order for pickup, they go out of their way to pack it up nice and neat and keep the quality of the food for travel. It’s also some of the best naan I’ve had on island; not greasy, not too crisp, but not too doughy…kids can watch them make the naan thru a plexiglass window. Definitely a great spot for a quick lunch – but also wonderful to stick around and chat if you’ve got the time – I’ve never felt rushed either.