The idea of the Asian-themed izakaya, complete with basic hawker food and crass giant Buddhas, has been with us for several years now. But Hong Hu is surely the first place in Tokyo to reinterpret Southeast Asian street food in the guise of a sidewalk cafe-bistro.
With a low-budget menu and a design sensibility to match -- plenty of exposed concrete, basic rattan chairs and student-casual wall paintings -- this is a taste of Indochina that has been filtered through a very Tokyo prism. In short, Hong Hu represents Asia not as an exotic theme-park backdrop for carousing but as a hip meeting place for a clued-in young generation.
The name is Vietnamese and so are the design motifs, but the menu spans an axis that runs from Bangkok through Indochina and up into China. It has been worked out with great precision, without much evidence of flair but with plenty of attention to the kind of crisp, fresh flavors and attractive presentation that Tokyo diners demand.