La Befana - Italian
Shimo Kitazawa and Kichi Joji ***

Address - Shimo Kitazawa Setagaya-ku, Daita 5-31-3 Kichi Joji Musashino-shi, Kichi Joji Minamicho 1-10-11 Opening hours - Open every day morning and evening Map - See directions Telephone - Shimo Kitazawa 3411-9500 Kichi Joji 0422 71 4800 Menu - in Italian and Japanese CC - OK

The original La Befana in Shimo Kitazawa (see my terse but enthusiastic review below) had been for many years one of a handful of Italian restaurants in Tokyo I truly like, and by far the best pizzeria in Tokyo: it would have been a good one even in Italy. Alas, things change, and the last time I was there I noticed new staff, a new director and a new atmosphere. The result was a bad evening.

The director was positively unfriendly and seemed not to understand well what me and my girlfriend (who is Japanese) said, the waitresses and the director became insistent in proposing more drink or food every time we got to the bottom of something, and the food itself was usually mediocre. Sometimes, as in the case of the mussles, it was terrible. Too bad, really too bad, because I will miss the old La Befana, its friendly staff and its delicious food. I will leave my old review just so that you know what it used to be like.

March 2004

Kichi Joji Branch

The original La Befana in Shimo Kitazawa (see my terse but enthusiastic review below) has been for many years one of a handful of Italian restaurants I truly like, and by far the best pizzeria in Tokyo: it would be a good one even in Italy.
The folks in Shimo Kitazawa know me, so some time ago they sent me an invitation to visit a brand-new La Befana in Kichi Joji.
Living just two stations away, I of course went right away, and here I am to report.
So, have they added a new jewel to their crown? Strangely, no. The new branch is beyond any doubt a mediocrity. The cooks may be nice people, but they are far from being equal to their Shimo Kitazawa colleagues, so that I doubt they will see me again soon in there. How could I go back? Superbacco, just meters away, costs as much and is way superior, even though it doesn't serve pizzas.
The details:
On a side street behind Marui, LB isn't big, just a few tables, some of them in the garden and usable in comfort even during the winter thanks to a sort of greenhouse that insulates them.
It has that classic pizzeria look with red bricks and plain furniture, but none of the charm of the original.
Waiters are solicitous and efficient, the menu a twin of Shimo Kitazawa, but after the first taste any illusion you might have had dissipates. The appetizers were unexciting, the spaghetti had more than a whiff of a Japanese accent, the pizza disappointed. If you want to eat well, go to Superbacco or to the original LB in Shimo Kitazawa.

November 2003

Shimo Kitazawa Branch

La Befana ("The Witch") is a great little restaurant and I love everything about it, even its logo, which is why I reproduce it here. And I am not the only one. We went fore the first time last Saturday, and the next day my girlfriend wanted to go again but was too embarrassed to.
The food is simple, the way true Italian food is: clear tastes are our strength (am I repeating myself too often?). Their pizzas are the traditional ones: marinara, napoletana, rucola and prosciutto cooked in a wood oven, and you can tell. I cannot recommend them enough.
We particularly enjoyed the "covaccino", pizza dough flavored with pepper, garlic and parmesan cheese and topped with raw ham, and the napoletana, pizza with tomato and anchovies. They have good wines (I am told. I hate wine), grappas, spaghetti, and other Italian stuff that I sorely missed for all these years. I am far from being a nationalist, but I do miss the food of the country of my birth, so La Befana is a godsend to me, also because once in a while I get a free grappa.

The manager used to be Carmine Cozzolino's younger brother, Angelo*, and he left a strong mark on the place: it's still exactly the same as when he was there. To have created a place so unlike Carmine's restaurants, he must very different from his brother. Carmine's restaurants are quiet, formal, immaculate, pretentious. In a word, they are restaurants. La Befana is rather an inn. A little loud and not particularly sophisticated, it serves simple, tasty food. In a word: highly recommended.

How to get there: Get out of Shimo Kitazawa's west exit, turn left, then immediately right. La Befana is right in front of you.

 * Angelo Cozzolino now works at Babbo Angelo, excellent Italian restaurant in Juyugaoka.

December 1998