Address - Tokyo-to, Minato-ku, Azabudai 1-4-2 Opening hours - All are open every day from 11:30 am to 2:00 am and from 17 to 10:30 pm Map - Yes Telephone - 3586-6600 Menu - In Japanese and English Credit Cards - OK

I was in Russia, and what I remember of the (scarce) food isn't enthusing. It was 1992, the last days of the Soviet Union, and all they had on the Trans Siberian restaurant wagon was Beef Stroganoff, which went down easily enough the first week. Later it got harder.

In any case, because Moscow was more of the same, and because Tokyo's Russian restaurants hadn't impressed me all that much, I went to Minsk with a mix of curiosity and diffidence. Belarus isn't Russia, but I figure they can't be all that different: I recognized several item's in Minsk's menu just because I had been on the Tran Siberian. What I found was an attractive, tidy interior, a colorful menu and three very beautiful, very Slav-looking women, one of whom was the owner.

The menu was mostly new to me, but interesting and enticing.
Ordered a Baltika Beer (the name is in Cyrillic characters) apiece, we opted for some Beef Stroganoff, the unavoidable Borscht (one apiece), Kiev cabbage (cabbage rolls), and other things that didn't leave a lasting memory. To close the meal, a glass of Kwas, a wine-like drink made with stale bread. Damages: about 5 thousand per head.

Ambience and service were good, all food well prepared, and the girls, as I said, a pleasure to the eye, but Belarussian (or Russian) food, while visually attractive, is nothing to write home about: it's definitely a minor cuisine, and at least to me has just a curiosity value. Couple that with an extremely inconvenient location of the restaurant, near the Tokyo Tower and far from everything else, and you see that I almost certainly won't be back.

Please do not misunderstand. I am not saying Minsk is a complete dud, but just that I personally can think of many places much closer to home that serve more interesting stuff.
May 2005