Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on May 2008

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 from 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.

Photos courtesy of Maman Terrace

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.