It's been a very long time since we got excited about curry rice. In fact, this is certainly the first time that we've gone on record extolling the virtues of Japan's blanded-down version of the spicy stew that is British India's lasting contribution to the world of gastronomy.

No disrespect intended: Over the years, we have eaten our fair share of the dish that education ministry surveys pronounce as Japanese school kids' favorite. It's just that it all tends to taste pretty much the same. But not the way they make it at Yasaiya Mei.

What's different? First, instead of ordinary white rice, you get a slightly nutty-tasting mix of semipolished rice with 11 other grains that you can really chew on. This is topped with a colorful array of lightly cooked vegetables: zucchini, red pepper, goya (bitter melon), crisp deep-fried lotus root "wheels," baby corn, a couple of leaves of bok choi, you get the idea.