HOMEPAGE	CITYSCOPE	CONTENTS
SECRETS OF THE CITY by John Kennerdell

Suzuki, like all of our places this month, qualifies as neighborhood French. But what a neighborhood. Where else would the ekimae supermarket stock three vintages of Chateau Margaux? Things, however, are not always as they appear here in Tokyo's nouveau riche wonderland. That Moorish castle yonder? Just another salaryman's house. That delightful-looking little trattoria? That's a thoroughly ordinary pasta joint with a brutal wine list.

Chef Suzuki's renowned restaurant, despite its deluxe TV-melodrama decor and the little rosebud on every plate, delivers just what it promises: expert cooking in the best Japanese-French tradition. Like most of the clientele, it is "feminine" in its emphasis on subtle flavors and visual artistry--they get practically pointillist with their minced vegetable sauces. But don't write it off because of that. There's nothing precious or silly or unsatisfying about this food. Suzuki has carved out a delicious niche between the classical butterfat-intensive style and the hungry-again-in-an-hour new French cuisines. It's also the most consistent of kitchens. Dish after dish, meal after meal, they seem incapable of producing a disappointment. Yet the menu changes constantly and never seems to repeat, which is just as well, since there are no à la carte dishes nor even a written menu.

The basic dinner offers fine value at Y6500, but it's at Saturday and Sunday lunches that Suzuki really shines. For Y3500 they bring out a procession of five courses (hors d'oeuvre, soup, fish, meat, dessert), each modest in size but adding up to a meal of perfect proportions. The wine situation is less rosy. The reds in particular don't get interesting until close to Y10,000. So drink the house plonk and test the theory that complex food goes best with simple wine, just as complex wine is best served with simple food. You'll get out for a touch over Y5000/head and it'll be the highlight of the weekend.

Every Seijo resident with even the faintest interest in good food is fully aware of Suzuki's virtues, so don't come all the way out here without a reservation. Even that may not assure you a seat for more than 90 minutes as they try to squeeze in another seating. And time limit or not, they tend to rush you with the courses. At most restaurants these would be unpardonable sins. Here, to Suzuki's credit, you forgive them.

Nagase
3-21-12 Jingu-mae, Shibuya-ku
Tel: 3423-1925
Open: 11:30am-2pm & 5:30-9:30pm; closed Mon.
Average check for two: Y8000

Nagase comes closest in spirit to Pastis (3499-2565), the Omotesando pioneer in French food served as cheaply and casually as, say, tonkatsu or street-corner Chinese. That was a breakthrough, no question, but Nagase now ups the ante. The food here has a quality, hand-crafted feeling to it. The decor feels simpler and less contrived. The staff is friendlier, the customers more relaxed, the location more discreet.

The menu revolves around set courses: Y1000, Y1700, and Y2300 for lunch, and Y2300 and Y3500 for dinner. For lunch there's not much reason to go beyond the Y1000 course, an exceptional bargain even by Tokyo noontime standards. Typically it starts with an antipasto misto-like appetizer plate--Nagase calls itself southern French, but they do some Mediterranean Greatest Hits too--followed by a main course of confit de canard, bavette, couscous, a fish of the day or another choice or two. Endless bread too, which is always welcome in bread-stingy Japan. For Y200 more there's a slightly watery espresso, and Y500 buys the day's tarte, sorbet, ice cream, fruit or the now inevitable pannacotta. Best deal in the evening is the gigantic Y3500 dinner: starter, entrée of choice, soup or pasta, main dish of choice, assorted dessert plate, coffee, and bread. The doggy bag isn't a tradition in Japan, but people have felt compelled to ask for them here.

A couple of gripes. The wine list (all French, all Y3000-5000) is fine as far as it goes, but it doesn't go cheap enough. At Y2000 the half-liter decanter of house wine costs at least double what it should in this day and age. And good as it is, the cooking struck us as a tad, well, precise--more cooking school French than street-level Provençale. But this is to split hairs. Nagase makes a near-perfect model for the sort of neighborhood bistro that could and should--and perhaps someday will--be found throughout our city.

Nomi no Ichi
2-17-18 Ebisu, Shibuya-ku
Tel: 5420-3691
Open: 11:30am-2pm & 6-10pm; closed Sat. lunch, Sun. & hol.
Average check for two: Y12,000

Nomi no Ichi ("Flea Market") isn't much to look at from the outside, hidden away up the hill behind Hiroo. Inside are concrete walls, wooden floors, slightly mismatched tables and chairs, all comfortably lived-in. One fellow cooks in the open kitchen, another serves. Both wear street clothes. The typical customer profile is French guy/Japanese girl, speaking in Parisian. The stereo plays Sadé.

Think of this place, if you want, as a very fine low-end French restaurant. We prefer to approach it as a very fine mid-level place, where they keep the dinner courses so cheap (Y2900) that anyone can afford to splash out on the extras: a memorable bottle of wine, a cheese plate, a glass of their best Calvados after dessert.

The course offers a choice of at least a dozen starters and an equal number of main dishes. Myself, I'd go back for the scallop salad followed by duck in pepper sauce. But nothing here falls short of what you'd find on the 100F menu at the better sort of bistro back where this food originates. The average Tokyo diner might prefer the fare at Nagase--it's newer, hipper, more Hanako-esque--but those who know will take one bite here and silently smile. We say no more.

About that wine splurge: it wouldn't have been my choice, but someone ordered a Y6800 Vosne-Romanée. Burgundies are always a crapshoot in Japan, and buying cheap ones (yes, Y6800 is cheap) from the region's most famed village is asking for disappointment. Or so I'd always thought. This one was worth every yen.

Tidbits

Nice in Nakano

Chez Nice (5343-2140) has opened its Nice Café just across the street at 1-39-4 Arai, Nakano-ku (5343-2141). They do a plat du jour and various salads, patés, breads, and desserts for takeaway or eating there, preferably out front under a shady tree. It's good, wholesome NHK cookbook food--and cheap.

Wine o' the Month: Ch. Carbonnieux

A golden Graves that's both refined and sensual, and gets better with age. We had the 1988 at Auberge de Suzuki for Y7500, but other recent years are at least as good and widely available retail for Y2700-3500.