Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on February 2011

Seemingly out of nowhere, the Luckbag group has become a major player in the local dining scene. After debuting a few years ago with a restaurant called Oriental Beach on Yokohama’s dowdy Motomachi shopping street, the group has moved upscale with a pair of venues near Yokohama station, including the sumptuous Sens Colonial Beach at the Bay Quarter shopping complex. But the surest sign of Luckbag’s rise to prominence is LoyKratong Resort, which opened earlier this month in one of Tokyo’s most desirable addresses: the H&M tower in Harajuku.

Like Luckbag’s other restaurants, LoyKratong Resort is inspired by the culinary innovations that occurred when European colonial powers—and their chefs—set up shop in Southeast Asia. A recent lunch opened with a salmon spring roll accompanied by a swirl of crème fraîche, and ended with lemongrass-scented panna cotta. In between came angel-hair pasta with shrimp in a light tomato-cream sauce and sautéed strips of beef with mustard and pink peppercorns. The entire meal, including coffee, was just ¥2,000; less elaborate lunches are available for half that.

LoyKratong Resort’s interior also calls to mind a colonial dining room, with rich wood furniture, plush chairs and a serene Old World vibe. The restaurant doesn’t just seem far away from the retail bustle below—located on the eighth and ninth floors, it’s reachable only by a dedicated elevator. Our sole complaint: the sunlight streaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows was unbearably bright and warm. But the staff, apparently accustomed to such grumblings, were gracious about moving us to another table. Save yourself the trouble and show up at night, when those same windows reveal a dramatic cityscape.