Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on July 2010

Courtesy of The Hotel New Otani

Tokyo has been inundated with international hotel brands lately, but no matter how many Ritzes and Peninsulas spring up around town, the locals remain committed to the “Big Three.” The Imperial, New Otani and Okura—known colloquially as gosanke—will always represent the ideal of hospitality to Japanese of a certain age and lifestyle.

Shinsuke Nakajima is emblematic of why these hotels maintain their appeal. The longtime New Otani patissier operates an enormously popular Western-style bakery, Satsuki, which supplies croissants, pains aux chocolat and other treats to the bustling coffee shop next door. In May, Nakajima branched out with an eponymous sit-down eatery, where his sweets are paired with that most elemental of Japanese foods: soba.

Which begs the question: what does a patissier know about noodles? Perhaps not a lot, but Nakajima has done well to surround himself with chefs from the hotel’s Senbazuru kaiseki restaurant. The resulting menu is odd, and oddly winning—classic soba and udon dishes, plus sweet endings supplied by Nakajima himself.

If nothing else, the restaurant answers the vexing question of where to bring Mom for a classy, unthreatening meal during her visit to Tokyo. The basic ¥1,800 lunch comes with soba or udon, preceded by an assortment of three light appetizers and ending with homemade cake and ice cream; add ¥1,000 for a pair of shrimp tempura. A similar deal is available at dinner, when the appetizer assortment expands to six items (¥4,000).

Nakajima’s interior has the kind of elegantly unfussy feel that can only be achieved with the design budget of a luxury hotel. Pride of place goes to the counter bar fashioned from a single piece of timber. Diners are attended to by servers clad in kimono—but really, the New Otani’s many devotees would expect nothing less.