Address - Tokyo-to, Setagaya-ku, Kitazawa 2-15-3 Nakamura Bldg 1FL Opening hours -12:00 pm to 3:00 pm and 5:30 pm to 11:00 pm, 12:00 to 11:00 on Saturdays, Sunday closed Map - Yes Telephone - 3411-3566 Menu - In Japanese CC - ??

Shimo Kitazawa is one of my favorite Tokyo neighborhoods, and I like to contrast it with Harajuku, which viceversa is one of the areas I love least. Both are frequented by young people, but they are otherwise opposites. Interestingly, Saigon Dep Lam has a branch in both locations.

Shimo Kitazawa is as substantial as Harajuku is vapid: in the former you will find rare analog record shops, magic mushrooms sold, thanks to a loophole in Japanese criminal law, on a cardboard box in front of the station and lots of small shops, in the second the Body Shop, the Hanae Mori building and five thousand yen French chickens at the Kinokuniya supermarket. In a word, Shimokita is the kind of genuine, busy corner where an unrepetant hippie like me doesn't feel out of place, and Harajuku its opposite.

And Saigon Dep Lam is a typical Shimo Kitazawa joint. This very pleasant restaurant really looks like a Thai or Vietnamese restaurant, just cleaner: we are in Japan, after all. The menu, like the prices, although very good is pretty unoriginal and will surprise nobody: for 900 yen or so you can have the usual raw or fried springrolls, fried rice, and all the other standards we already know. Very well done, but unsurprising. The atmosphere is where Saigon Dep lam really shines and the reason you want to try it; luminous, cheerful and picturesque, it will keep you entertained while you wait for the food. The staff are very young and efficient, though, so it won't take that long. And if the place is busy, no problem: go to Cafè Bar Pierrot, another typical, picturesque Shimo Kitazawa place just around the corner, and wait half an hour drinking a beer in the open air, watching people flow downhill or listening to live music, usually pleasant and always in the background.

As I mentioned, SDL has a branch in Harajuku, and the folks at Tokyo Q seem to have liked it. Here is the address.

Harajuku branch: Hanadorobo Building (Interesting name: it means "Flower Thief Building"),

Tokyo-to, Shibuya-ku, 4-28-16 Jingumae. Tel. 3478-2540