Address - 2F Isetan Kaikan, 15-17 Shinjuku 3-chome, Shinjuku-ku Opening hours - Don't know Map - None needed. Behind Isetan department store, on the Shinjuku station side Telephone - 3354-1729 Menu - In Japanese and French CC - Yes

The main Mikasa Kaikan in Ginza can look back upon a history of three quarters of a century, having been founded in 1925, as it says on their matches. The same book of matches also carries their highly imaginative slogan: "The ultimate in exquisite culinary cuisine." What a surprise, "culinary cuisine."
My dinner companion and I ended up at Mikasa Kaikan in Shinjuku less by choice than by default; everyplace else we tried in that area was crowded on the Friday night after New Year's. Here, free tables aplenty. Very soft background music, ivory-colored tablecloths, average age of the few customers probably over 50, all Japanese as far as I could tell. The waiters are much younger, fairly well trained, truly predictable in avoiding both disasters and anything to make their service memorable.
Four or five fixed price courses on the menu, the most expensive at Yen 8000. A limited choice of a la carte dishes. The wine list not huge, but substantial, mainly but not exclusively French. Strangely enough, the wines are organized by varietals -- Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling and so forth for the whites, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Gamay, etc. for the reds -- something you'll never see in France; and most French wines are blends of two or more grape varieties anyhow. Do I detect some Californian or Australian influence here? Wine prices are within the standard acceptable range, but vintages are mainly mediocre or worse. Lots of '97s for the Bordeaux reds, a vintage best forgotten. I picked a '98 Madiran, a very muscular, tannic wine, but that's what I happened to want that night. Affordable at Yen 5000 the bottle. The first bottle they brought was chilled, but fortunately I caught that and they had another bottle stored at room temperature.
The food ("culinary," remember!): quite predictable standard dishes from southern France, a few from further north. I had a thick, satisfying fish soup described on the menu as "Marseille style" and in fact resembling bouillabaisse. My companion had a garlicky baby squid dish with herb and vegetable trimmings with which she declared herself quite satisfied. These starters were served surprisingly fast, within two or three minutes from ordering. Is it my imagination, or did I really hear an "haute cuisine" microwave purring somewhere?
Our main dishes are easily described, too. Halibut floating in a milky broth with lots of vegetables for her, a ragout de boeuf with mushrooms, actually more a casserole, for me. Mine, at least, a nice match for that almost black Madiran. Then some kind of fruity cake for her dessert. I tried to order cheese but was told that so close after New Years supplies hadn't arrived yet.
The total bill came to about 13,000 Yen. Like everything about Mikasa Kaikan, very predictable and not overly "culinary."

(Francesco: I asked for a card with opening hours, holidays, etc., but they didn't have one. Only the matches.)
Jan 4, 2002