The Kings of Cheese Naan

Naan is amazing by itself, but cheese naan is a gift from the Indian food gods. Biting into cheese naan is so satisfying. You get that nice crunchy naan part on top and gooey melted cheese in the middle. Cheese naan also goes great with many different curries or just by itself. Being a cheese lover, I have always loved cheese naan. So you can imagine my excitement when I heard there was a place in Ushiku that did not only do regular cheese naan, but they had a bunch of different flavors of cheese naan. I told my wife that we had to go there and that is how we found ourselves in front of the Indian restaurant Red Rose.

Red Rose

Red Rose is located in Takucho area of Ushiku City. It is just an eleven minute walk from Ushiku station. If you plan to drive to Red Rose, they have a parking area across from the restaurant. It is a bit narrow so please be careful. Also, be careful when crossing the street to Red Rose. A lot of cars drive through that street and they aren't exactly following the speed limit. My wife and I parked our car and headed inside.

Inside

Walking into Red Rose, we looked around and found a table at the corner of the restaurant. Red Rose is a pretty small place which I believe fits up to 15 people max. There are only booth seats and tables all around the entrance of the restaurant. Be careful if you need to use the restroom. It is the door all the way toward the kitchen. My wife accidentally opened another door, which led to the living area of the staff.
Once we were all situated, we took the menu from the sticky table and looked through it.

The Menu

Good news everyone! The menu is in both English and Japanese. The English is in very small print though.
This menu has a lot going on. Each page is dedicated to a certain type of Indian cuisine. One page has only salads, while another has different kinds of curry. There is even a page for Thai food. Apparently, Red Rose does make Thai food. What surprised me was the special cheese naans that were posted all over the walls. There was avocado cheese naan, pumpkin cheese naan, anko cheese naan, mentaiko cheese naan, and much more.
I needed to try the pumpkin cheese naan. I decided to get the Red Rose set which brings two curries, rice, chicken tandori, naan, and salad. You can exchange a regular naan for a cheese naan for an extra 300 yen. My wife did the same thing but got the avocado cheese naan.

Mrs. Ibaraki Eats' Set

As I said before, my wife got the avocado cheese naan. For her choice of curry, she went with keema curry and spinach curry. My wife grabbed a slice of avocado cheese naan and gave it a try.
Look at that beautiful picture. Look at how that melted cheese hangs onto the rest of the cheese naan and stretches itself. It is just calling out to us like a cheese seductress and saying "You know I am delicious." My wife took a bite of her avocado cheese naan and confirmed that it was indeed delicious. My wife let me try some and I was very excited. The naan by itself was outstanding, the naan with the keema curry was incredible. The keema curry was meaty and full of delicious species and flavor. The spinach curry was tasty as well but I thought the keema curry was better.

Mr. Ibaraki Eats' Set

As I wrote earlier, I had to try the pumpkin cheese naan since it was a seasonal menu item. My set also brought two curries and I went with butter chicken and shrimp curry.
The first thing I did was try the pumpkin cheese naan by itself and automatically fell in love with it. The pumpkin flavor mixed with all that cheese and crunchy naan was something that I still long for to this day. I dipped my naan in the butter chicken curry and found that they were both made for each other. All that cheese with those spices and the small pieces of chicken, it is making my mouth water while I write about it. The shrimp curry was creamy and good, but I think it lacked any real flavor. It wasn't bad but it might have been the weakest curry we had that night.

My wife and I were having a great time with our dinner. The avocado cheese naan was creamy and cheesy, my pumpkin cheese naan had that pumpkin flavor that I know and love. We were enjoying our meals. It was when I got to the halfway point of our meal that something confusing happened. I was full. I have always finished an Indian cuisine set, so what was going on? My wife was full too. Then I realized, it was all the cheese. The cheese kicked down the door to our stomachs and yelled with clear authority, "I own this place now!" My wife and I struggled to finish our curry and naan. In the end, we tapped out and decided to take the rest of our cheese naan home. In all fairness, we did have Krispy Kreme donuts an hour and a half before we went to Red Rose which could have contributed to us getting full fast. But I still believe it was the cheese. On the bright side, reheating our slices of pumpkin cheese naan and avocado cheese naan was a nice side to our Wednesday night dinner.

Red Rose, thank you for the amazing cheese naan. I really enjoyed it and hope I can have it again sometime soon. I will however be more prepared to finish my set next time.

So if you are around Ushiku Station and are looking for some delicious Indian cuisine and cheese naan, why not give Red Rose a chance? Who knows, you might see us there, my wife trying the anko cheese naan and me trying the mentaiko cheese naan.
Enjoy!

For more information on Red Rose, check out their Instagram Page:
https://www.instagram.com/redrose.ushiku.2020?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA%3D%3D

Drunken Duck Katsuta Halloween Party

Looking for something to do this Halloween weekend? The Drunken Duck Katsuta in Hitachinaka is throwing it's annual Halloween Party this Saturday! Come and check out all the Halloween-themed food, and drinks. I hope to see you there and I hope to see you there in costume! Mrs. Ibaraki Eats and I will be there in costume. What costume you might be asking? I'll give you a hint. We will be characters from a popular 90s movie that has finger snapping in the theme song. See you there!