Address 2-22-5 Dogenzaka, Shibuya-ku Business Hours 5:00pm to 11:00pm and closed on Sunday and first and third Monday Map See directions Telephone 3462-0648 Menu Japanese and English

Samovar (spelled Camobap in Cyrillic) is a charming, very old restaurant which gives a feel of what Shibuya, indeed much of Tokyo, must have been like 30 years ago. I had the 2500 beef Stroganoff set and it was delicious. My friend had a hamburger set which looked pretty much like a hamburger set anywhere else, even though the sauce was nice.

There is quite a bit of other Russian food on the menu which I haven't tasted. Looking at the empty room, I wondered if all her old customers have retired or died over the years and she keeps the place going simply because it's her life. We were the only customers that night. Whatever the reason, I really liked it.

Directions: Opposite the entrance of Bunkamura, go up the street to the next small road to the left. Go along that road and Samovar is the vine covered restaurant on the left.

Frank's comments

Samovar is very small and really very old. The fact that it's so spotlessly clean and tidy enphasizes even more its age. I sat down and started reading the menu under the guidance of my friend Lazlo, who was in Canada from Canadian parents. The names of the entry is very picturesque: me and Lazlo had salyanka (thckened beet soup), ukrainian borscht, smoked herring in sour cream, Kiev-style chicken, Georgian style roast chicken, and two glasses of kwas, a soft drink made of bread which tasted of anything but bread.
Verdict: everybody liked the food, but I, while I certainly enjoyed the place and the experience, thought the grub was more interesting than good. Some things, for example the tea sweetened with jam, reminded me of my youth spent near German-speaking South Tyrol, but I have nonetheless decided that Russian food, while in some ways exotic as anything, is a tad too simple for my tastes, and that this one experience will suffice for a while.