Shi-an occupies that comfortable middle-ground between the two extremes of kaiseki formal and izakaya casual. It's not unique and the food is not particularly unusual, but its virtues -- quality seasonal ingredients; a deft touch in the kitchen; competent service; and an unobtrusive, stylish setting -- exemplify the best of popular contemporary washoku.

In appearance, too, this new arrival on Kotto-dori (just opened last month) looks entirely modern Japanese. It occupies basement space below the Ohara tea ceremony school, but no attempt has been made to create some spurious "wabi-sabi" atmosphere. Nor does it espouse the cutting-edge, minimalist aesthetic that too often in this city -- even in this part of town -- is employed to disguise the absence of culinary credentials.

Instead, Shi-an hits a stylish but unpretentious happy medium. The bright vermilion noren draped across the wooden door is a bold statement, but step into the small, tatami-floor dining room and you find the contoured walls are almost Mediterranean in their whitewashed simplicity. You sit on zabuton cushions of coarse ramie hemp, but all the tables are equipped with leg wells in horikotatsu style.