Where to Dine - Tokyo - page 166

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opened back in 1582 and was visited twice by Japan's former emperor, Hirohito.
Entrance to the Tokyo restaurant is through an impressive hallway with a plush interior
and displays of tableware used in the Paris establishment throughout the centuries. The
dining hall looks like an elegant Parisian drawing room. The service is superb, and the
food is excellent. The specialty here is roast duckling—it meets its untimely end at the
age of 3 weeks and is flown to Japan from Brittany. Other dishes on the menu, which
changes seasonally, may include lobster or Kobe beef sirloin.
Hotel New Otani, 4-1 Kioi-cho, Chiyoda-ku. & 03/3239-3111. www.newotani.co.jp/en. Reservations
required. Jacket and tie required. Main dishes ¥7,600-¥12,500; set dinners ¥21,000-¥29,000. AE, DC, MC,
V. Tues-Sun 5:30-10:30pm (last reservation accepted for 8:30pm). Station: Akasaka-mitsuke or Nagata-
cho (3 min.).
Sekishin-tei TEPPANYAKI Nestled in the New Otani's 400-year-old garden
(which is the reason this is the hotel's most popular restaurant), this glass-enclosed tep-
panyaki pavilion has an English-language menu for Kobe beef, fish, lobster, and vegeta-
bles, cooked on a grill right in front of you. If you order a salad, try the soy sauce
dressing; it's delicious. You'll eat surrounded by peaceful views, making this place a good
lunchtime choice.
Hotel New Otani, 4-1 Kioi-cho, Chiyoda-ku. & 03/3238-0024. www.newotani.co.jp/en. Reservations
required. Set dinners ¥15,750-¥29,400; set lunches ¥5,250-¥8,400. AE, DC, MC, V. Mon-Fri 11:30am-2pm;
Sat-Sun and holidays 11:30am-3pm; daily 6-9pm. Station: Nagatacho or Akasaka-mitsuke (3 min.).
EXPENSIVE
In addition to the recommendations here, there's a branch of Ten-ichi, specializing in
tempura, in Akasaka Tokyu Plaza, 2-14-3 Nagata-cho ( & 03/3581-2166 ), open daily
11am to 9:30pm (p. 131).
B Hayashi ROBATAYAKI One of the most delightful old-time res-
taurants I've been to in Tokyo, this cozy, rustic-looking place serves home-style country
cooking and specializes in grilled food that you prepare over your own square hibachi.
There are only a handful of grills in this small restaurant, some of them surrounded by
tatami mats and some by wooden stools or chairs. As the evening wears on, the one-room
main dining area can get quite smoky, but that adds to the ambience. Other nice touches
are the big gourds and memorabilia hanging about and the waiters in traditional baggy
pants. Hayashi serves three set menus, which change with the seasons. The ¥6,300
meal—which will probably end up being closer to ¥8,000 by the time you add drinks
and service charge—may include such items as sashimi and vegetables, chicken, scallops,
and gingko nuts, which you grill yourself. At lunch, only oyakodonburi is served—liter-
ally, “parent and child,” a simple rice dish topped with egg and chicken.
Sanno Kaikan Building, 4th floor, 2-14-1 Akasaka. & 03/3582-4078. Reservations required for dinner.
Set dinners ¥6,300, ¥8,400, and ¥10,500; set lunches ¥900. AE, DC, MC, V. Mon-Fri 11:30am-2pm; Mon-
Sat 5:30-11pm (last order 10pm). Closed holidays. Station: Akasaka (exit 2, 1 min.). Just south of Misuji
Dori on the 4th floor of a nondescript, improbable-looking building.

6

Ninja VARIED JAPANESE At this themed restaurant, diners enter the secret
world of the ninja as soon as they step inside the darkened entrance, where costumed
waiters appear out of nowhere to lead the hungry through a labyrinth of twisting pas-
sageways to private dining nooks. A scroll unrolls to reveal an English-language menu
listing various set dinner menus that may include shabu-shabu, as well as a la carte items
such as sweet-and-sour pork with asparagus, sole baked with herbs in saffron sauce, and