Curry Shop Shimizu

On August 16, 2015, Japanese porn actor Ken Shimizu, alongside Hiroki Okada, also known as Opanpon, who was the manager, opened the restaurant in Chitose-Funabashi, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, as a joke restaurant. He said in an interview with weekly magazine SPA! [ja] that he loved feces since he was a child, and opened the restaurant because he wanted everyone to experience what feces tasted like. His inspiration was the feces-flavored curry he ate at an event.^[1][2]

The restaurant's only main dish was their feces-flavored curry. It is made from bitter melon, Japanese yam, onion, carrot, minced chicken, cocoa powder, and fish guts simmered in a curry powder blended with senburi tea.^[2] Shimizu said that the recipe was taken online, but he tweaked the recipe to make it more bitter.^[1] Despite the name, it does not contain any feces.^[3] It was served in bowls shaped like traditional Japanese toilets. The price ranged from ¥400 (2015) (US$3.3) to the large size costing ¥1,200 (2015) (US$9.91).^[4] The restaurant offered free senburi tea alongside water bottles that cost ¥1,000 (2015) (US$8.26), as well as free air freshener spray for guests when they leave.^[5]

The restaurant was closed on January 4, 2016. It was planned to be closed in October 2015, but due to the restaurant's popularity, its operation was extended until January 2016.^[6]

Before opening the restaurant, Shimizu and Okada conducted a survey among 400 adults and revealed that 80% do not want to set foot in the restaurant.^[2] According to Shimizu, 90% of the time, people will say that it is "bad".^[1]

Uehara Ai [zh], a fellow pornographic actress, said that it was the "toughest task she'd encountered this year".^[2] The editorial team of Kai-You [ja] said that the curry tasted disgusting, adding that "the intense smell and strangely textured texture overwhelm your mouth".^[6]