It's been a very long time -- thankfully -- since we could count the number of places in Tokyo serving real Indian food on the fingers of one hand. These days we don't have to travel too far to find a reasonably authentic curry. In fact, it's a measure of how fortunate we are that our main complaint now is not of unavailability, but of monotony. Too many of our Indian restaurants look the same and serve up food that tastes the same.

So that is why our ears pricked up with anticipation when we heard of the opening of Bombay Club, the latest branch of the ever-reliable Maharaja group. Instead of yet another clone, this new arrival promises something rather different. Call it, if you will, "gourmet Indian."

The setting, on the second floor of the new, high-rise Shiodome City Center building, is not hugely inspiring. But a quick perusal of the menu was enough to erase all our doubts. Instead of the identikit, tried-and-true format -- you know, a choice of three curries, tandoori chicken, rice or nan -- Bombay Club has an impressively long and tantalizing list of offerings.