Edition: U.S. / Global

CHOICE TABLES; Comfort Food, Japanese Style

Published: February 8, 1998

WITH the Olympic Winter Games just under way in Nagano, the entire country is prepared to play host to the world's top athletes, and the crowds of fans who will come to cheer them on. Most visitors to Japan will be arriving and departing by way of Tokyo, staying for several days to see some of this huge, modern metropolis.

For February's visitors, here are a half-dozen restaurants that will not devastate your budget. They offer modestly priced, unpretentious food -- the kind that comforts winter-chilled travelers and residents alike. Reservations are not needed; just drop by if you happen to be in the neighborhood.

Yuki Tsubaki

Nakano Broadway, opposite the north exit of the JR (Japan Railway) Nakano station, is a four-story building with basement that houses nearly 500 stores and professional offices. Postwar urban renewal converted many sprawling, open-air markets in resi dential neighborhoods into these kinds of multiuse commercial spaces. About one-quarter of the shops in Nakano Broadway are devoted to food: either groceries, takeout or restaurants. Tucked away in a corner of the second floor is Yuki Tsubaki, a publike place that specializes in Niigata ''snow country'' cuisine. On a blustery winter day, the friendly staff and heart-warming noppei-jiru stew of root vegetables ($3.75, calculated at 121 yen to the dollar) is comforting.


At lunch, several kinds of teishoku (set menu) are available. My guest and I sampled one of them, the Onigiri Teishoku ($7.85), and then ordered several dishes from the a la carte menu. The set lunch menu featured a bowl of noppei-jiru stew and a pair of onigiri (triangular rice ''sandwiches,'' one stuffed with pickled plum paste, the other with chunks of baked salmon, both wrapped in sheets of dark, crisp nori). Of the half-dozen or so a la carte dishes we tried, furofuki daikon, a thick wheel of steamed daikon radish slathered with a dark, pungent miso sauce (fermented bean paste), for $3.30, and saba miso ni, a meaty slice of mackerel simmered in a ginger-infused miso sauce, $3.85, were particularly good.

Niigata Prefecture, on the northern edge of Japan's main island facing the Sea of Japan, is famous for its rice and its rice wines. Junmai Yuki Tsubaki ($4.15 a flask) is a sake brewed with rice koji, a fermenting agent that lends a grain-sweet flavor to the final brew. Koshi no Kanbai ($5 a flask) is a drier sake much in demand but with a limited supply; the restaurant restricts orders to one flask a customer. Savor your allowance slowly with the miso sauced mackerel, or order a side dish of shake no kombu maki, salmon wrapped in kelp and simmered in a sweetened soy broth ($5).


To the right of Marui department store near Kitchijoji station is a narrow road dotted with boutiques. The suburban area, and especially this section, attracts an upscale, youthful crowd. Down a side street is Ashitaba, a small, cozy restaurant decorated with fishing nets and harbor paraphernalia. An L-shaped counter seats eight, and a few low tables sit on a tatami-matted dais.

The restaurant is named for a hearty leaf that grows particularly well on Hachijo-Jima island. Ashitaba leaves are thought to improve the complexion, and have medicinal properties as well -- not surprising since they are extraordinarily rich in vitamins and minerals. Refreshing, with a hint of bitterness, when ashitaba is prepared as crisp tempura, $5, or blanched and dressed with a sesame-and-soy sauce (goma ae), $3.30, it tastes something like arugula, something like dandelion greens. Crushed, blended and served as an iced beverage (ashitaba cha), $3.30, it was far less appealing.

The restaurant offers two inexpensive lunch menus that change daily, one featuring fish, the other meat and vegetables. My lunch companion, a student who lives near Kitchijoji, enjoyed the sakana teishoku ($5.20), a thick slice of a snapperlike fish that had been marinated in heady rice wine lees (sake kasu) before being broiled. My meat and vegetable saute (miso itame teishoku), $5.40, was an intensely flavored melange of lean sliced pork, cabbage, onions, carrots and ashitaba leaves. Both of our lunch trays were crowded with a generous bowl of miso-thickened soup, a large bowl of rice, some pickled vegetables and a small side dish of soy-simmered burdock root.

Toto Zen

The neighborhood in the vicinity of Harajuku station is an incongruous mix of old and new. Traditional monuments, such as the Togo and Meiji Jingu shrines -- the latter is the national Shinto memorial that all segments of the population visit and revere -- coexist quite happily with fashion bazaars, ethnic restaurants and European-style cafes. Packs of students wander the area, shopping and snacking as the mood moves them. A decade ago, these young people were decked out in Fifties-style and teeny-bopper outfits; today's hordes embrace grunge, hip-hop and retro-style fashion.

In the midst of this urban jumble are many pubs that serve tasty Japanese-style bar food and stay open well past midnight. One of them, Toto Zen, I happened upon one afternoon when a colleague and I were looking for a simple late lunch. Several of Toto Zen's midday specials were sold out by the time we arrived at this fourth-floor spot, but the remaining options -- peppery, pan-seared slices of fresh beef tongue (gyu tan teishoku), $8, and tuna tartare garnished with chopped scallions and wasabi on a bed of vinegared rice (negitoro don), $7 -- made us glad we had come. Both lunch trays were set with pickles, a clear, hot broth with flat kishimen noodles and wakame (sea tangle) and a side dish: the beef tongue came with a large bowl of steamed rice and hiyayakko (chilled tofu salad); the tuna tartare was accompanied by chawan mushi (steamed egg custard with bits of shrimp and chicken).