This might be a language barrier issue, but I have never seen an Indian-style restaurant advertise a dish as "curry" in any country I've visited. Even in Japan (I live in Tokyo and have several インド料理 shops nearby), even if the shop itself has カレー in the name, the menu will say what each thing is (keema, sagh paneer, etc).

Imagine sitting down and opening a menu and seeing something labelled "soup" or "sandwich"!

I only know of one Indian restaurant locally here (Ireland) that has a "house curry" listed, but the rest of the menu is as you describe it.

In that case isn't "house curry" similar to "soup of the day"?

It's been a while since I've eaten there, so I can't remember if it's that, or something along the lines of their own signature recipe.

I would guess it's an original recipe (with no traditional name) and doesn't change daily.

North Indian dishes like da saag I keens might be evolving to care less to use it. But I’d bet that’s not just North Indian Christine. Restaurant opened by todays emigrating Indians are more aware of the choices than 30-50 years ago. It was a very different world.

Saying "No self-respecting restaurant in India" may be a better way of putting it.

That makes sense. Thank you.

If you went to a restaurant in Italy, would you find any item called pasta?

It is a fair claim.

The word rarely exists on its own.

It has roots in some Indian languages, but is not pervasive like it is today across all Indian cuisines.

Part of this is interesting to learn the stories of the early Indians who left India either as indentured servants which turned out to be an updated form of slavery, or emigrating as labourers from north India (and other areas) and how those migrations played out across the colonized world.

Sorry, I should have stayed quiet. I'd been scrolling through videos all trumpeting their only true recipe for whatever, and was sensitized.