Are you a spice-lover? Have you been missing the kick that Japanese food tends to lack, or just have a soft spot for Indian food? Situated in a small street just a short walk from Kamakura’s Gokurakuji Station, family-owned Anan is a great place to get authentic Indian spices and other ingredients to make your food explode with flavor.
To get to Anan, take the Enoden Line from Kamakura station and alight at Gokurakuji Station. From there, head left, up towards the bridge that goes over the train line, turn left, cross the bridge and then take a right. Take the left fork and then you will arrive at Anan!
If you open the sliding doors and find nobody around, feel free to call out. It is likely that the owner, Anan, is somewhere else in the large, old, traditional-style Japanese house. While you wait for him to come and greet you, browse around and get a closer look at all the spices and assorted ingredients that are available.
After a short time, Anan made his appearance. A well-spoken man who was happy speaking both English and Japanese, he was incredibly welcoming and more than happy to talk about all the things he was selling, as well as tell some stories about himself and his family. In fact, Anan has lived in Kamakura for around forty years!
The minute he found out about me being an Australian, he immediately lit up and started talking about food from my home country. Anan is such an expert regarding food, I am ashamed to admit that he knew more about my own country’s food than I did. When I asked about the ingredients he was selling, he asked us to wait a moment, returning a short time later with some food he had prepared for us.
Anan had prepared some mochi for us, in his own style, using olive oil, salt and some of his own flavors. It was incredibly delicious and a great experience to be treated to unique food from someone with such long-standing expertise. While eating the mochi, he also provided us with some pure water imported all the way from Kyushu, along with a brief but interesting political discussion regarding the differences between Australia and Japan!
As a lover of Indian food and having had a lack of homemade meals as of late, I enquired about the curry powders he was selling. He recommended the No. 55 curry powder, and proceeded to give us taste tests of all the different products. His recommendation was spot-on however, as my favorite was definitely the No. 55. Having excellent customer service, Anan then explained how to prepare a curry using his ingredients. Needless to say it sounded amazing, so I took home a pack of it and I will soon be preparing myself a homemade curry.
If you love talking food, politics, culture, or just want to check out some authentic Indian spices and beautiful Japanese architecture, make sure that the next time you travel to Kamakura, you add Anan’s spice shop to your list!
Check out Anan’s homepage here.(in Japanese only)
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