Address - Suginami-ku, Ogikubo 5-27-5 Opening hours -11:30 am to 2:00 pm and 5:30 pm to 10:00 pm. Closed on Sundays Map - See directions Telephone - 3393-1224 Menu - In Japanese and English CC - No 

At Gruppe, they seem to be pretty serious about the whole thing: the shop on the first floor of the old Japanese-style house sells nothing but organic products and produce. They are not vegetarians, though, and sell both fish and meat. They are simply people concerned with the quality of food.

Not being particularly interested in this sort of venture (I think it's a lost cause), I soon go to the second floor, where the restaurant is. Fairly small, it has just six tables but it's comfortable and cozy. The menu isn't particularly long, with just eight entries and four sets, but there's plenty of alcohol, both local and imported. As soon as the waitress comes, I ask her the meaning of the name Gruppe: this is a moment I have long been waiting for, because I am incurably curious. The answer is that, as I suspected, it means "group" in German. Only in Japan ....

The food is simple, old fashioned, home-style Japanese food the way Mama used to make it: miso-shiru, daikon and pickles, fish with miso, and integral rice. Good, but sort of colorless and unexciting. I wouldn't go out of my way to eat here again, but I am sure some of us would.

Where it is: get out of Ogikubo station's South Exit, cross the street and turn right. You will find Gruppe after 100 meters on a corner right before a bank.