Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on October 2007

Photos Courtesy of Metius Foods

First the Marunouchi district gets spruced up and rebranded. Now Kanda, too?

Once an uptown neighborhood of rich merchants, Kanda had fallen off the bandwagon of modernization. Today, the area is a hodgepodge of dilapidated shops and pachinko parlors, with the backstreets near the north exit of the station serving as havens of the drunken salaryman—and the corollaries thereof.

But a slightly different scene is beginning to take shape across the tracks. This is a scene of quiet brick streets, wine shops, and a new Italian joint called Pizzeria Bar D’Oro. Located on a corner and with floor-to-ceiling glass walls on two sides, the restaurant’s décor is understated, classy and welcoming. We say “welcoming” because of the dining table in the center of the room that seats a dozen—and the staff aren’t shy about seating complete strangers next to one another. Italian dinner party, anyone?

The restaurant’s business hours (from 8am until late, and closed on weekends) can be attributed to two things: the area is deserted on weekends and, as the PR literature explains, bars in Italy are morning-’til-night affairs. Italians are known to stop by for breakfast, pop in again for an afternoon espresso, and socialize after work over a meal and glass of wine.

While we haven’t had the chance to stop by Pizzeria Bar D’Oro for breakfast or coffee, we did go for a full-course press dinner one Friday evening last month. And we won’t mince words here: it was near-perfect.

Photos Courtesy of Metius Foods

The meal began with a glass of blood orange juice (¥550), a bottle of the popular Italian pilsner Nastro Azzurro (¥840), and an appetizer platter (¥880/person). The assortment on this night, and for our party of two vegetarians, included a tomato and zucchini ratatouille, four varieties of marinated mushrooms, crunchy bruschetta, and the piece de resistance, thin slices of Parmesan cheese atop fresh peaches. Delicioso!

The feast continued with a mini bottle of dry Gancia Spumante (¥900) and the best pizza margherita (¥1,600) we have ever had, bar none. What sealed the deal? Probably the plump Roma tomato that burst open at first bite with all the flavor of the Tuscan sun.
We soldiered on with a bottle of La Cupola pinot noir (¥4,500), presented chilled and pre-opened (recall we said “near-perfect”). The wine itself was a little too dry for our tastes, and smelled quite alcoholic—but the accompanying glasses were big and fat, as red wine glasses should be.

A wise friend once told us that an Italian restaurant can be judged by its gnocchi (¥1,600), so we saved this for the entrée. Bar D’Oro makes theirs light and flaky, and serves it in a delectable sage-infused cream sauce. Nothing “near” about this perfecto.

For dessert, we wondered what the three-person kitchen could possibly whip up that would live up to our expectations. The answer: anise-flavored panna cotta topped with sweet melon juice (¥520).