With minimal fanfare, Natural Harmony has taken over the mantle once worn by the late (but little lamented) Tenmi as Tokyo's preeminent health food restaurant. It has done this through the admirable (and radical) strategy of jettisoning all ideology and serving up excellent izakaya-style home-cooked dishes. There is no dietary dogma here; meat, fish, dairy food, alcohol, even a certain amount of refined sugar all find their place in the kitchen. The only hard and fast taboos are chemical additives in your food and tobacco in the air.

Not that this translates into any wavering in Natural Harmony's commitment: the vegetables are organically grown and the animal products all free-range and healthy. The main meal of the day, known as the "Harmony Set," is entirely mainstream vegetarian. It is literally the house blue-plate special, a colorful assortment of vegetable dishes--noodle salad, spinach ohitashi, steamed squash, daikon with atsuage tofu, and the like--arrayed on a wide ceramic platter of brilliant cobalt blue. You are also given miso soup and a choice of either brown or white rice.

While this is more than adequate as a square meal in itself, it probably works best shared between two, supplemented with a couple of selections from the extensive seasonal menu (so far written only in Japanese, so it's worth asking about the day's specials). Unqualified recommendations can be given to the oven-baked scallops (hotate no ninniku yaki), the first-rate grilled neck of tuna (maguro no kama no spice yaki) and the delicate tomato and basilico pizza. Ditto for the desserts, especially the home-made pear and red wine sherbet.

The same quality standards apply to the drinks menu. There's organic beer (Pinkus from Germany), sake (Shizengo from Fukushima) and wine (Chilean or French, both quite drinkable, if overpriced); and kana, a shochu from Amami Oshima distilled from raw cane sugar, which packs a righteous punch. Needless to say, the coffee beans are equally chemical-free.

It's all very simple, mellow and revivifying. Whitewashed walls, rough-hewn tables and hard benches, a few shelves of vegetables and wholewheat bread, marimba music softly transmitted through speakers cunningly set into gourds suspended from the ceiling. This is the kind of oasis you'd expect to find in more bohemian parts of town; here on Killer-dori it's a real gem.

MONSOON CAFE DAIKANYAMA

15-4 Hachiyamacho, Shibuya-ku; 5489-3789

Open daily 11:30am-5am; average check for two: Y10,000

Yet again we must doff our cap to Kozo Hasegawa. Back in the dark ages of the early '80s, it was he who introduced Tokyo to the idea of convivial, affordable Italian food through the La Bohéme chain. More recently he did the same for TexMex cooking with Zest Cantina. At Tableaux he showed he could try--and succeed--on an altogether higher level of sophistication and scale. Now Hasegawa strikes again, and his latest effort shows he still has his finger firmly on the culinary pulse of this city.

Right from its opening day last autumn, the new Monsoon Cafe was the hit of the season, consistently drawing full houses of the see-and-be-seen beautiful people, despite its less than convenient site on Kyu-Yamate-dori between Shibuya and Daikanyama. If you've been to the original Monsoon Cafe, a glorified Koh Samui beach bar in the shadow of Aoyama cemetery, you'll be aware of the basic theme: tropical cocktails and eclectic street foods spanning the gamut of Southeast Asia, "arranged" (i.e. toned down) for sensitive local tastebuds, and languorous to the point of catatonic.

Don't come here expecting a clone: in movie terms this is not the sequel but the director's cut. Hasegawa has elevated the Monsoon Cafe concept to another plane. This time he is working with a whole custom-built three-story building, ziggurat terraces, palm trees and all. The effect is grand Hollywood orientalia, complete with '20s-style Balinese motifs.

By now the lines at the door should be shorter, the floor staff less overwhelmed, and the kitchen more responsive. But it's still worth phoning ahead to book a table on the mezzanine balcony, giving you unimpeded views of the Daikanyama set at play, the cooks clattering their flaming woks, the waiters scurrying to and fro in their peasant-brown smocks--an ongoing floor show that runs through the wee hours.

And the food? While much improved from the original Monsoon Cafe, it still lacks much enthusiasm or authenticity. You can't go wrong with anything on this menu, but here are a few suggestions to build a meal around. To start, don't miss the Vietnamese spring rolls, and give the Thai fish patties a try too; the morning glory leaf salad is worth the experience, as is the clay pot of tom yum, heated up at your table; rather more substantial are the Indonesian satay (beef or chicken) and the spicy grilled fish; turn it into a full meal by adding some chimaki (sticky rice steamed in bamboo leaves) or Thai kutio rice noodles.

Two caveats and a grumble. The medicinal-tasting lychee-flavor "Monsoon cocktail" is worth avoiding. If you're hooked on MSG, you'd better bring your own (the house policy is to use organic vegetables, free range poultry and no additives). And the deafening shouts of greeting by the floor staff are no less unwelcome than they are at Tableaux and La Boheme: this kind of aural assault should be left to the sushi shops.

FUTON

3-13-19 Nishi-Azabu, Minato-ku; 3423-3471

Open 5:30pm-1am

Average check for two: Y9,000

No, the name has nothing to do with mattresses or slumber parties. The image here is of narrow back streets (hutong in Chinese) and it works, despite the location right on the Nishi-Azabu main drag. Futon exudes the kind of cheerful warmth and wafting smoky aromas that make you want to join the queue which huddles outside regardless of the season.

Futon's PR blurb cunningly describes this food as Asian cuisine in an oldtime Japanese mood. What this really means is down-home Korean streetstall food, meaty and spiced to the gills, in a setting of corrugated metal, industrial ducting and distressed sackcloth that is intended to look more dockside Pusan than sophisticated Minato-ku. This image is reinforced by the quaintly retro shichirin burners on the tables, the kind of charcoal-fire clay stoves used in Japan during the hard-times '50s--and still found today in parts of Korea.

The English menu will be useful if you are unfamiliar with the vocabulary of yakiniku. There are the usual organ meats, but you can't go wrong with the beef kalbi and tan. Among the side dishes worth investigating are the chijimi pancake, the foil-wrapped shiitake mushrooms and the fried garlic prepared in a tiny pot of bubbling oil until each clove turns delectably brown and crisp. Your drink of choice should be draft beer or a miniature kettle of makkoli (the fizzy unfiltered rice wine that is the Korean equivalent to nigorizake), although the house white wine can also hit the spot.

The main draw at Futon, and the reason why the queues start forming as early as 6:30 some days, is the kamutangjang, a rugged hot-pot guaranteed to put fire in your belly. Piles of potato, green vegetables and massive pork backbones are simmered in front of you in a chili miso sauce that leaves you with lips tingling, sinuses in full flow and your body temperature blazing. Soups like this are Korea's secret weapon against the Siberian gales; they are no less effective as an antidote to the cold in Tokyo. But you need to get here early, since they only prepare a limited quantity of this nabe, and stocks often run out before 8pm.

TIDBITS

Made in heaven
The unlikely marriage of boutique brewery real ale and classy San Francisco dim sum, as expounded in Roppongi by Sankt Galen (3408-0607), has now arrived in the Yokohama Chinatown. You'll find the stylish but pocket-sized Suihan Village Teahouse (045-681-2052) tucked away down the alley known as Ichiba-dori. It has only four tables, so be prepared to wait.

Nothing but the noodle

Everything there is to know about the humble buckwheat noodle: The Book of Soba, by James Udesky, Tokyo's resident noodlemeister, has been reissued in convenient pocketbook size, courtesy of Kodansha International and your local bookstore. Perfect reading fodder while you slurp.

Beer o' the month

It's not strong enough to qualify as a British-style "winter warmer" (a strong old ale), but Blizzard Beer--Fubiki Bakushu in the vernacular--will still warm the cockles. It's brewed by Rogue Ales, in Newport, Oregon, the same folks responsible for the White Crane, Red Fox and Brown Bear beers, and available at Kaiseitei in Higashi Kitazawa (3469-0801).

A skankin' New Year

No mistaking the groove behind One Love (7-4-8 Roppongi; 3796-0324). The gentle Tyson lays on after-hours rasta rhythms with spicy Jamaican snacks, Red Stripe beer, Caribbean rum, and even an in-house DJ spinning favorite roots reggae singles. It's open through 5am--and there's no cover charge.