Tokyo's Best Restaurants

Chez Pierre
23-10 Minami-Aoyama 1-Chome
Minato-ku, Tokyo
Tel. No. (03) 3475-1400
From 12,500 yen per person for dinner, including taxes and drinks

Note: This review appeared in the February 2005 issue of the Tokyo Weekender. It was written by Christine Miki, author of Tokyo Stories, a humorous novel on expatriate life in Japan.

Located in a quirky little house with a glass verandah just opposite the Aoyama Cemetery on Gaien Nishi Street, from the outside Chez Pierre looks like it "landed" in Tokyo straight from a little village in the French countryside. Inside, Pierre Prigent and his friendly staff await to give you what is perhaps Tokyo's most authentic brasserie experience.

Chez Pierre has been a long-time fixture in the Tokyo restaurant scene and a great favorite of serious Japanese Francophiles. Some of the restaurant's Japanese regulars sit at the same table at the same time and on the same day of each week, tucking into hearty French fare with gusto. On weekends, an elderly Japanese man who speaks flawless French nurses a basket of bread and bottle of wine solo for hours at one of the verandah tables, perhaps reminiscing about his Paris sojourns. In the dead of winter, he sometimes wears a beret and keeps a blanket on his lap to fight of the chill, but he never fails to appear for his weekly meal.

Many French residents of Tokyo, on the other hand, seem more inclined to reserve Chez Pierre for special occasions, perhaps because they already cook French food at home and also because this restaurant is not exactly cheap. On ordinary days one sees only the odd Frenchman (or woman) dining there; but on Christmas or Valentine's Day, for example, the community is out in full force for a gourmet celebration.

The restaurant itself is charmingly old-fashioned, as Pierre himself is. It's all kitschy furniture, French memorabilia and plastic flowers, but somehow everything looks cozy. On the walls are posters featuring French wine and food, while printed maps of France with each region characterized by a typical dish are used as a placemats.

Like in most good restaurants, the menu here changes seasonally depending on what is available. From mid-July to mid-November, the most gorgeous moules are flown in from Normandy on Fridays so that weekend diners can savor them stewed lightly in onions, tomatoes, herbs and white wine. In the autumn, Pierre brings around choice cuts of game for roasting. As the days and nights grow even colder, food to warm the stomach start to appear, including choucroute and bean casseroles. Regardless of the time of year, however, my all-time favorites are the special seafood salad, a vegetable salad topped with slivers of lobster, shellfish and various seafood pate; and tender beef cheeks stewed in a red wine sauce. And if it's moule season, I start with a heaping bowl of moules and end with Chez Pierre's signature creme caramel, which is wonderfully thick in flavor and consistency.

Chez Pierre's chefs are Japanese but, after tasting the fruits of their labors, one would be excused for assuming they were born and bred in Paris.

WHAT TO EAT
Request Honma-san, the Japanese chef, to make you a special seafood salad (3000 yen) as a starter and then beef cheeks stewed in a red wine sauce (3800 yen) for your main course. If you prefer fish, Pierre always has an excellent and fresh selection.

WHAT TO DRINK
A bottle of Champagne Demoiselle of Vranken (9000 yen), a light bubbly consisting of 70% chardonnay and 30% pinot noir, which is only available at Chez Pierre. For reds and whites, the wine list changes every month so it's best to ask Pierre for a reasonably-priced suggestion.

WHERE TO SIT
On nice days, the tables for two in the indoor verandah are great. Some of the regulars also like to sit on bar stools and eat on the clean side of the kitchen counter.

HOW MUCH DID IT COST?
25,000 yen for two people, including two glasses of wine each and service charge.

WHO GOES THERE?
Long-time expatriates, Japanese Francophiles, and occasionally lots of people dressed in black from the funeral home across the street.

WHO TO ASK FOR
Pierre himself will be happy to give suggestions on food and wine.

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