DOiT -

Address - Tokyo-to, Chuo-ku, Ginza 3573-3630 Opening hours - 11:30 to 15 and 17 to 22 Map - See Directions Telephone - 3573-3630 Menu - In Japanese and English CC - OK

Frank's Note: Florin sent me three email messages. Without trying to edit them in to something readable, I think it's better to include them in their entirety. They are very good already as they are.

"The name Darie is a male name, I wouldn't be surprised if it came from a kingly background - anyway, it's a bit unusual even for Romanians and it's not very frequent. I remember from older writings (17th century) that they used to call King Darius like this. In modern times, the Persian name is "Darius" in Romanian.

I didn't believe it when a former colleague told me in 1988 that one of his favorite restaurants in Tokyo was a Romanian one, and then gave me names and descriptions. I thought: "Yeah, yeah, maybe he read about it somewhere and now he wants to amuse me ..." When I visited Tokyo one year later, Tomo made it a point to escort me ceremoniously to Darie (where he made sure the staff knew they had a genuine Romanian with them that night). Tomo, who just like the staff was Japanese, wanted to know if the fare was anything like what I thought it should be.

So, at Darie I was glad to report to all concerned that the food was superlative and, to my taste, at least as good as any that I remembered. (I left the country seven years earlier, did not go back meanwhile, Romania was still under Ceausescu, and likely there were not too many of my compatriots in Japan at the time with the exception of the Romanian Embassy staff, who probably got their fix of Romanian cooking at home anyway!)

My latest personal info is older than four years old; my first personal visit was in 1989 (worked for a Japanese company during that interval). During this time, the quality and diversity did not vary, that is to say that I thought everything was outstanding. The latest report that I have received from a former colleague dates back to last February, and confirmed that the place was "the same." By all means, call the place up, see if Mama-san tells you how she came upon the idea to open the restaurant. The interior decoration was Romanian also. I was amazed and pleased, I didn't think that I could get such patriotic feelings because of the restaurant- places (Romanian) I had seen before in LA, New York, Germany or Austria surely did nothing for me. This one did. When I saw the name on your site, I thought to write a note.

That place has the best Romanian food, anywhere in the world (with the possible exception of a couple of high class outfits in Romania, but even those won't match it in the attention to detail and following of consecrated cuisine), period. That is, if your ambition is to find the best Romanian food - if not, you'll find a pleasant offering (recommend eggplant salad, mititei, ciorba de perisoare, and tocana with mamaliga; the plum brandy is slivovitz-like, and the wine a little thicker then the Austrian one, not much else, but worth a try - Pinot Gris Tirnave and Sauvignon Blancs are better bets, as the Chardonnays are sweet and not much else; redwise, Murfatlar is chewy, and the best to have is probably Nicoresti - if not, Dealul Mare. When I went there and they found themselves a genuine Romanian, they brought out samples of everything, asking me if it was good and authentic-tasting. I believe it was. Bottomline: a decent alternative to those German/Swiss/Austrian places on your list. Let me know how it turns out.

Where it is: walk about three minutes from Wako building towards Shinbashi, and you will find Darie on the right side of the street.