An evening at Le Passé-Simple is like a classy dinner party, except that you get to choose the guests at your table and there's no obligation to make small talk with anyone else there. Your host is French chef/author/personality Patrice Julien; his "parties" are the four-course dinners which he caters on a reservation-only basis; and the venue is his well-restored Shirokane-dai home, which he enigmatically dubs either the Centre Français des Arts (the only arts on display are culinary) or the Rêves de Vie Studio (it's a moot point whether the dreams are yours or his).

The menu varies according to the season, the day's offerings at the market and chef Patrice's whim. However, the kitchen revolves mainly around a delicate Provençale/Maghreb axis, and is especially strong on game and fowl--duck, quail or Cornish hen. You can discuss the details of your meal when you call ahead to reserve a table (the verandah is quieter and more private). While Patrice is open to suggestions and will consider any specific requests, you are, ultimately, in his hands.

Le Passé-Simple is a 10-minute stroll from the nearest subway (Takanawa-dai), through quiet neighborhoods that seem surprisingly modest for their palatial address. But this leisurely approach serves to put you in the right frame of mind for spending the next four hours or so immersed in the traditional, genteel pleasures of fine dining.

Patrice will reveal the full menu shortly after calling you to your table. It will open with a complimentary aperitif--pastis, perhaps, Capucin (better known as Kir Communard), or Kir Mûre, ripe with the fragrance of wild blackberries. This will be served along with some amuse-geule--foie gras, an-kimo (the liver of the angler fish--Japan's best-kept gourmet secret) or other similar decadences. On a recent early-spring evening, home-baked goat's cheese pastries appeared along with mesclun, a typically Provençal salad of exotic wild greens (lamb's lettuce, rocket and the like), a resonantly rich seafood soup served with a tangy rouille dressing and croutons, and a hearty casserole of lightly salted Challons duck with country vegetables; the meal was rounded off with a choice of dessert, plus coffee or tea.

Whatever the exact composition of your meal--and there is bound to be occasional unevenness--this is food with flair, imagination and a delicate hand on the herbs and garlic, so easily overdone on these Mediterranean foods. It is served without rush or hustle, allowing you plenty of time to consider and digest what has come before, and to do justice to the well-considered wine list--of which the standout bottle is the Bandol, the best wine of Provence and a perfect match for the output of Julien's kitchen.

All this (exclusive of wine and further post-prandial liqueurs) is yours for ¥6500. That would be highly reasonable for a menu of this caliber at any Tokyo restaurant. To be given at the same time such a sense of personal attention, privacy and sheer tranquility makes it a bargain.

Provence
Island Tower East B105, 6-5-1 Nishi Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku
Tel: 5323-4265
Open: 11:30am-2pm; 2-5pm (tea); 5:30-11pm (last order 9:30pm)
Average check for two: ¥10,000

There has been a more-than-welcome influx of Provençal cuisine in the last couple of years, perhaps inspired by the spreading realization that the Mediterranean coast offers more than just bouillabaisse and Pernod--or just swept along by the Peter Mayles Year in Provence trend.

The most recent addition to these ranks can be found in the unpromising basement surroundings of Shinjuku's newest highrise. Since making its debut in December, Provence (the restaurant not the boom) has overcome a shaky start, and over the past couple of months--since the arrival of new head chef Richard Lelan--appears to be hitting a steadier stride. Larger and more ambitious in the kitchen than Aoyama's cheerful little Pastis (3499-2565), but with less elevated pretensions than Le Petit Monde de Provence (on the 39th floor of Ebisu Garden Place; 5421-1161), Provence achieves just the right balance of simple, well-priced, satisfying cuisine in an ambiance of relaxed geniality that quite compensates for the basement location.

Although the set meals (¥1000 at lunch, ¥3500 and up in the evening) are merely adequate, aimed mainly at the indiscriminate Shinjuku office crowd, there are much more confident offerings on the à la carte menu. All the typical regional flavors are in evidence--pistou, a basil-based sauce akin to Genovese pesto; aioli, the garlic-rich mayonnaise which enriches so much of this southern food; and no shortage of anchovy or herbs both fresh and dried. Among the more successful dishes are the sautéed calamar (squid) in a tomato-basil sauce; the refreshing étuvés de legumes in vinaigrette; a salad of smoked duck and white haricot beans; and both the seafood and game dishes of the day.

Treating French cooking styles as varieties of "ethnic food" is an approach bound to upset the purists, but here it works just fine. So ignore the limitations of the wine list--your surest bet, in terms of price/quality, as well the closest geographically to the south coast, is the Côtes du Luberon (both white and red)--tune out the cavernous size of the place, and settle back and enjoy. The waiting staff are friendly and willing; the furniture chunky and wooden; the decor refreshingly free of fishing tackle, travel posters or empty Ricard bottles; and there's a great soundtrack of French '60s and '70s pops--Johnny? Halliday; Jacques Dutronc, Françoise Hardy and all.

Le Mogador
2-13-3 Mejiro-dai, Bunkyo-ku
Tel: 3946-7177
Open: 11:30am-2pm (lunch); 2-9pm (à la carte)
Average check for two: ¥5000
Reservations not required

First the good news. Our extended family of cozy, no-frills French eateries has just spawned a new offspring: another bargain-basement bistro of the kind we all deserve to have just down the street. The bad news is that it's not in your neighborhood--unless you live in Mejiro-dai, in which case you are now twice blessed by proximity to Le Mogador's parent operation, the utterly admirable Pas Mal (3357-5655), which wins the custom of Tokyo's discerning French community as the best example of its genre.

Like its siblings, half-cousins and fellow travelers--amongst them Pas à Pas, La Dînette, Au Mouton Blanc, Le Mange Tout and Casse Croûte--Le Mogador is another joyful cry of commitment to the philosophy of value for money. Consider this: a substantial plât du jour--a fricassee of chicken, perhaps, a pot au feu, or a gourmand-size gigot of lamb and French fries--for ¥650. We're talking here about honest, full-flavor French meals for the price of a bowl of ramen. Add in a cup of robust espresso and you've still got change from the smallest bank note in your back pocket.

Needless to say Le Mogador does a roaring midday trade and the later you arrive the less likely you will be to find all the choices still available. Be aware, however, these prices just apply at lunchtime: after 2pm you get to order from a wider selection on the à la carte menu, which will set you back just a few coins more.

So what could be the rationale for setting up another restaurant in this location, when so many other areas are crying out for quality/quantity/economy operations of this ilk? The answer is that Le Mogador appears to function not only as a way of soaking up the enthusiastic demand from the local lunchtime crowd, but also as an auxiliary cooking/storage area for Pas Mal's minuscule kitchen, hence the frequent movement of desserts, plates of tongue, drinks and even tables being ferried from one site to the other.

This, then, is why Le Mogador is modeled and semi-decorated like a spartan French routier truckstop crossed with an OL-oriented Tokyo coffee-shop. So if your aim is to linger or to entertain, you will dine better, in more intimacy and without unduly greater outlay at Pas Mal itself, just three doors down the street. But if you are looking for Tokyo's best frugal French food, your search is over.

TIDBITS

PC Wines o' the Month

Longing to celebrate in style under the blossoms, but still want to punish the French champagne houses for their government's nuclear decisions? Here, then, are two wines that fit the bill. The name Chandon may be French but the product is 100% American: this méthode champenoise from Napa is no less reliable than regular Moët, and sells for two-thirds the price. Meanwhile, the best-dressed bubbly in town has to be Bellavista Franciacorta Cuvee Brut: not only one of Italy's best sparkling wines but arguably the most stylish bottle around.

Wholly Toledo!

At last Yokohama has a Spanish restaurant worth the name. Fresh from the success of his Ikebukuro establishment (inside the Metropolitan Plaza; 5951-6531), Adolfo Muñoz brings the cooking of his native Toledo to the folks of Ramen-town. Ignore the department store setting and avoid the OL-oriented paella-for-beginners' menu. But don't miss the grilled dorada, or the excellent magret de canard in sherry sauce. The kitchen has been well trained, the waiting staff are eager to please, and the wine list includes some first-rate Riojas. Adolfo is on the sixth floor of Lumine Dept. Store (045-453-6851).