Address - 9-13 Arakicho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo Opening hours - 12:00pm to 2:00pm and 18:00pm to 22:00pm Map - No Telephone - 3225-6767 Menu - In Italian CC - OK

The name Carmine is associated to a growing number of restaurants: Carmine, Carmine Edochiano, Sorriso, La Volpaia 1 and 2, Amici ... It has become a glamorous brand, even and industry. Does Carmine still have time to take care of the food he serves, I wonder?

Last week I went with my old lady to Carmine Edochiano to see what it was like, and I have to say it was disappointing: a restaurant where you can only have a course, and that course costs 6000 yen plus a 500 yen table charge and taxes cannot be simply good. It has to be excellent. And Carmine Edochiano sinply isn't.

First of all I don't like the single menu formula. I figure that if I have to spend so much I should at least have a wider choice. Besides, the menu is limited in both variety and interest: just five appetizers and as many pastas or risotto and main dishes in a high class restaurant cannot be enough. Why, Carmine in Kagurazaka, where a set (that admittedly offers just two choices per dish) costs almost half as much, is just as good. The only ones to shine where the excellent and original appetizers, well worth the money.

One last thing: the bread was saltless Tuscan bread, which many, me for example, don't like. Choosing it for Edochiano's tables was I believe a big mistake.

If you want to eat in this neighborhood, I must therefore recommend Esperia instead. You will spend less and eat MUCH better.

February 10, 2000