Issue 08
What caught our eye
Every week we walk the city so you do not have to. Here are the openings our team stopped for: the rooms, the counters and the shelves shaping Tokyo right now.
Three of this week's four openings are run by people who left a bigger address to build a smaller one: a chef out of a two-star brigade now selling gelato by the scoop, a chef who took a star in his first year and then opened fourteen seats of his own, a pastry chef home from Paris. The fourth is a room built around an idea rather than a menu.
This week's openings
4 openings
NakanoCafe bar
07-MODULE Starship Cafe
A cafe and bar built inside a spaceship supposed to have landed in Nakano. The draw is the room, booked for fan events, screenings and birthdays. It sells a decor and an evening to communities, not covers.
ShibuyaGelato
Gelateria Queen'z Spoon
A pastry chef out of the two-star NARISAWA opened a gelato counter and refuses to set a recipe. Around ten flavours a day, built from fruit sent by growers and milk from a farm in Kumamoto. Card only, no cash.
MeguroFrench
Ansolence
A chef who took a Michelin star in his first year at a Hiroo restaurant left and opened alone in Meguro, on a quiet residential street. Fourteen seats, an open kitchen, cooking built on fire and fermentation, one line of taste from the first bite to the last.
DaikanyamaPatisserie
L'HISTORIQUE
A pastry chef who came back from Le Grand Véfour and Plaza Athénée opened a classic French patisserie in a Daikanyama basement. Six seats at the counter, cakes to take away, and plated desserts served only there.
Coming up
2 openings
Futakotamagawa · 1 to 31 OctoberPop-up
andoor, Seoul Local Guide
A Seoul shop that writes about its own neighbourhood takes the series offline for the first time, with five labels from Mangwon and pieces made for the month. Opens 1 October at Tsutaya Electrics, second floor, and runs to the end of the month.
Harajuku · from 1 OctoberPop-up
A.P.C. denim pop-up
The French label hands its Harajuku basement over to denim for a month, indigo that fades, repairs and keeps the marks of the person wearing it. No logo, no leather patch, and two styles made only for Japan. Opens 1 October.