I want to convey the charm of curry from the city of Kobe, where I was born and raised.
I'm a big music lover and have been practicing with my band since high school. In order to eat with my bandmates, I made a bite of curry on an electric stove and started "Mandrill".
Originally, I wanted to pursue a career in music, but when I went to a festival in New Orleans, USA, when I was 20 years old, I thought, "It's not right to make music a career." Rather, I wanted to revitalize the local city of Kobe with "food" like New Orleans, and when I consulted with a senior member of the band, he said, "Why don't you open a curry restaurant?" At first, I made curry in my one-room kitchen and delivered it by bicycle, which was just a bicycle operation. It was a series of hardships, such as the curry I made getting cold, and turning over the curry being delivered in front of Daimaru in Kobe.
In the midst of all this, the number of regular customers gradually increased, and the desire to "make more delicious curry" became stronger, and I became enthusiastic about my research on curry. I became completely addicted to the curry swamp because I realized the deep charm of curry, such as the fact that a variety of flavors can be created from a simple combination of spices and ingredients, and the infinite possibilities expand when elements of soup and paste are added.
Then, in 2009, he fell in love with the taste of curry at a restaurant in Bodh Gaya, India, and asked him to work for him on the spot. I was taught the basics of authentic curry, such as how to use spices.
In 2012, three years after I started making curry, I opened a restaurant in Kobe Motomachi when I was 25 years old.
Currently, Mandrill has been open for 11 years, and has four stores in Kobe and Osaka, and many customers have visited it, so much so that it is said that "Kobe is Mandrill Curry".