When I discovered that one of my favorite artists, Yoshitomo Nara, has his own café in Tokyo, I was giddy with excitement at the prospect of enjoying some Nara works whilst eating. ‘AtoZ Café’ is a collaboration between Nara and design group graf (of course, lower-case “g”…. it’s a design thing people) and is a pleasant treat even for those of you unfamiliar with the artist’s works.
AtoZ Café is situated in one of the side alley streets in the fashionable Aoyama area of Tokyo. It was a bit of a challenge to find the café, which is located on the 5th floor inside of what appears from the outside like any other boring concrete office building. Expecting a somewhat claustrophobic room, Mike and I were surprised to enter a comfortable and well-lit space. With its white walls and high ceiling, the café felt open and airy, especially with the window-wall letting in plenty of natural light and allowing a clear view of the city. Decked out in mismatched furniture, including wooden tables and chairs with country-style patchwork cushions, the café has a quaint hominess feel to it. In the centre of the café, there is a wooden hut installation, the inside of which appears to replicate Nara’s own studio, complete with rough sketches on the wall and a table with an empty cub of coffee. Unfortunately, fans of Nara’s drawings and paintings of adorable-yet-slightly-evil looking children (amongst other goodies) might be disappointed that you can only peek into the hut through the windows.
When we were seated down by the friendly staff (dressed casually, of the “artsy cool” crowd variety), we were given big A3-sized paper menus (apparently designed by Nara himself and which customers could keep) which was sufficiently extensive. Unfortunately for us, except for the titles – for example, “Vegetable and Tidbit” (JPY 315 to 800), “Meat and Fish” (JPY 560 to 1000), “Meal” (JPY 730 to 1000) and “Dessert” (JPY 450 to 800) – the content of the menu was all in Japanese. The beverages on offer was especially wide and varied, including alcoholic (for example, “Cocktail”, average price JPY 740 each; “White Distilled Liquor”, JPY 630) and non-alcoholic (lots of different kinds of tea!!!).
Our waitress could speak enough English to explain a blackboard with the daily specials chalked on – “fish set”, “pork set”, “chicken set”, “beef set” – all JPY 1000-1500 per set. Notwithstanding the limited amount of information, we decided to just go for it and I chose the fish set and Mike chose the beef one. My fish set included a generous portion of tender white fillet fish (no bones), very lightly grilled and topped with a miso and soya-flavoured sauce, served next to a simple lettuce salad and some interesting nutty-flavored dry root vegetable bits (maybe burdock root). Completing my set was steamed rice, miso soup and a cold tofu appetizer. It was all enjoyable, light and delicious and just enough. Mike, on the other hand, was a bit disappointed with his meal, declaring it just a fancied-up version of Yoshinoya’s (‘Yoshinoya’ is one of Japan’s largest fast-rice-with-meat-food chains, hugely popular in Tokyo because it is cheap and fast). So Mike’s meal was a bowl of steaming rice topped with thin slices of beef and onions, simmered in some kind of herby-spicey-Japanese-wine soya broth and garnished with lettuce and nori. It was tasty and also came with miso soup but for those with a big appetite however (like Mike), it might have been slightly unsatisfying, quantity-wise.
Charming and quirky, A to Z Café is a nice change from the hustle and bustle.
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