So what do hip young French eat when they go out clubbing these days? Actually, that's a trick question. Nobody feels like eating much when there is a first-rate DJ working the turntables. But that doesn't mean there's nothing worth eating on the menu at La Fabrique Paris, the cutting-edge club-cum-diner that opened earlier this year in the heart of Shibuya.
Given its lineage -- it's the offshoot of an equally of-the-moment DJ restaurant in the rapidly gentrifying Bastille district of Paris -- and from its name ("The Factory"), you would expect it to occupy some refurbished warehouse. But post-industrial red brick is hard to find in central Tokyo, so they've gone one better by taking over the cavernous basement space underneath Zero Gate. This arresting, glass-enclosed building, the latest in the Parco family of fashion boutique mini-malls, fits La Fabrique to a tee. It is intelligent, sophisticated, cool, European -- everything, in fact, that the youthful hustle of nearby Center-gai is not.
Make your way down two flights of stairs and slide back the silver metal door: You can't help but be impressed by the scale of the place. Along one wall, a loft-style mezzanine lounge area has been built from shiny metal scaffolding way up under the ceiling. On the opposite side of the room, giant wall-high video projections of anonymous Paris street scenes flicker in never-ending loops. Beats fill the air, though never at levels that intrude or make conversation impossible.