When it comes to soup curry, for flavour, convenience and style, you need look no further than Kandy Spice. Conveniently located in the heart of Asahikawa, it is within walking distance from practically any hotel in the city and opens until 9pm, providing a great, inexpensive dinner option after a day's labour on the ski slopes.

Kandy Spice borrows its name from the 'Kandy' region in Sri Lanka, a region
famous for spices grown at high altitude, giving them a distinctive rich aroma and strong flavour. The creator of Kandy Spice spent three years in the region painstakingly tasting and collecting the spices that later became the foundation of Kandy Spice soup curry.

As well as the aromatic Kandy spices, the Asahikawa restaurant uses only natural spring water from the local Taisetsu mountain range in its creations, a wonderfully clean and mineral rich water which is also the principal ingredient in some of the famous Sake and Sho Chu from this region.

The restaurant is a delightful museum of artifacts collected from Sri Lanka and neighbouring regions. Masks, spears, statues and vases fill any available space and help to inspire a feeling of stepping onto foreign soil. The lighting is comfortably dim and matches the rooms decor perfectly. The tables tend to be a little small by western standards, and maneuvering the soup bowl, spoon, water, and rice bowl can sometimes be a headache. This headache however, quickly disappears with the first hit of the soup and quickly becomes unnoticeable.

Customers will have a choice of different ingredients, different sized portions of rice, different extras, as well as the all important chili - factor (0-100 at Kandy Spice). Water, soft drinks and alcohol are available as drink options and a box of tissues will always be nearby for those eager to test their chili tolerance.

The soup curry is simply outstanding, and the ambience so neatly complements it, that for a while you may start to forget that you are in a small city in Japan.

Enjoy!