| Restaurant Review |
By Brad Williams
|
Maman Terrace Aoyama
Eating healthy is no sacrifice at this trendy macrobiotic eatery
 |
| Photos courtesy of Maman Terrace |
If any restaurant can succeed in making macrobiotic cooking popular in Japan, Maman Terrace is it. The first full-fledged Tokyo branch of an Osaka-based health food chain, this stylish eatery serves up healthy, vegetarian takes on comfort food like karaage and niku-dango.
We know what you’re thinking: Tokyo restaurants serve small enough portions as it is, so there’s no way I’m gonna get full at a macrobiotic restaurant. Well, show up at lunch and you can eat your fill at Maman Terrace’s tabehodai buffet of six dishes.
Of course, the privilege doesn’t come cheap. Maman Terrace is a part of the tony new Aoyama Passage complex, which includes a Tokyu Hotel and a dozen upscale shops and restaurants. The cobblestone walkways and wrought-iron detailing call to mind a European piazza, and in fact, Maman Terrace sits just across from Le Maison de Takagi, the newest café from Japan’s best-known (and France-trained) patissier.
The fashionable crowd that showed up at Maman’s opening party last month dispelled the idea that macrobiotic cooking is best enjoyed by herbal-tea-sipping hippies. Staff served Sun Sun organic beer, and among the food dishes were ground-veggie “meatballs” slathered in a teriyaki sauce, as well as delicious “chicken nuggets” made with soy protein.
 |
During a recent return visit, we figured that if we were going to pay ¥1,800 for lunch, we should get our money’s worth. We did. The colorful lineup of dishes included hijiki with broccoli rabe and walnuts; a green salad with kelp and ume dressing; vermicelli with carrots, tomatoes and fried tofu in a wonderful sesame-based dressing; and lightly battered and fried lotus root, broccoli, gobo (burdock) and carrot. A celebration of tastes, colors and cooking styles, the buffet will appeal to anyone who appreciates thoughtfully prepared food.
To add an entrée to the buffet costs an additional ¥700, but with all the good food on offer, we hardly see the point. Other options include a brown rice plate (¥1,200), a pasta meal (¥1,500), and a full-course lunch (¥4,000) that requires an advance reservation.
At dinner, Maman Terrace offers two options: order a la carte, or place yourself in the able hands of the team of chefs by selecting one of the three course menus (¥4,000, ¥5,000, ¥7,000; advance reservations required). A la carte selections include “Maman pot-au-feu” (¥2,000) or gobo loaf with wild vegetables in a wasabi-berry sauce (¥2,500).
 |
Maman Terrace’s interior may not win any design awards, but the narrow, wood-accented space feels intimate without being stuffy. A variety of display cases sell pastries (¥500-¥600) and bento boxes (¥980), as well as groceries like organic juices and potato chips. Contributing to the welcoming and cheerful feel is the open kitchen—if there were any doubt that Maman Terrace’s food is prepared by dedicated staff, take a few minutes’ and watch the cooks grate, chop and peel all manner of vegetables.
Already popular with Aoyama’s ladies-who-lunch brigade, Maman Terrace is sure to win a wider audience. Whether it will establish macrobiotic cooking as a popular cuisine in Japan remains to be seen, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it does just that.
1F Passage Aoyama,
2-27-18 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku. Tel: 03-6383-4966. Open daily 11am-10pm. Nearest stn: Gaienmae, exit 1.
www.maman.jp
Mention a country’s cuisine, and some image usually comes to mind. But in the case of Peru, most Tokyoites will be at a loss to think of a single dish. So it is something of an adventure to visit Miraflores, one of the few (if not the only) Peruvian restaurants in Tokyo, tucked away in an alley behind the Cerulean Tower in Shibuya. Chef Carlos, who speaks Spanish, English and Japanese, offers an authentic and delicious menu. With its Inca heritage, Peruvian cuisine has evolved from the influence of four continents—think Spanish, Basque, French, Italian, African, Cantonese and Japanese. Be prepared for an assortment of Andes yellow potato soup, seafood stews and vegetable dishes, all using a variety of herbs and spices. For appetizers, start off with corn on the cob. This is no ordinary corn; its kernels are huge and covered with spicy chili pepper. A bit milder are slices of steamed potato with cheese sauce, homemade sausages, seafood marinated in lemon juice, potato cutlets stuffed with minced beef, beans and pork, and wine-stewed squid stuffed with rice. You can easily fill up on appetizers or any of the four soups, but then you wouldn’t be able to sample the beef stewed with black beer and herb sauce, fish marinated in white wine, chicken in creamy cheese or BBQ sauce, and grilled pork garnished with mashed potatoes. By this time, if you have space left for dessert, Carlos offers mousse, condensed milk on meringue, pumpkin donuts, or a Peruvian rice pudding. Prices for appetizers start at ¥900 and main dishes run ¥1,200-¥2,000. For drinks, beer lovers should, of course, try the Cusqueña brew, while whisky drinkers will find the Pisco packing quite a punch. Even non-drinkers can get into the South American spirit with a greenish Inca Kola. Miraflores is an excellent choice for parties and offers courses for ¥3,000, ¥5,000 and ¥8,000.
1F, 28-3 Sakuragaoka-Machi, Shibuya-ku. Tel: 03-3462-6588. Open Mon-Sat 11:30am-3pm and 6pm-11pm, closed Sun. Nearest stn: Shibuya. CB |
Got something to say about this article? Send a letter to the editor at letters@metropolis.co.jp.
Listen to the Metropolis Podcast, the coolest guide to what goes on this week in Tokyo.
Looking for international friends? Check Japan, Inc. Friends now - it's 100% free!
|
