It was with considerable anticipation that we made our way to Akabanebashi last week to try the new Ricos, which opened June 10. After all, this is the latest from the people who brought us Ricos Kitchen near Yebisu Garden Place, which was one of our restaurants of the year in 1999 and remains a reliable favorite to this day.
First impressions are everything -- and Ricos looks very much the part. It occupies a custom-built, freestanding, two-story building hidden away on a quiet residential back street in an as-yet sleepy part of Higashi-Azabu. Inside and out, the architecture is stylish and modern.
You see the kitchen to your left as you enter, and on the right a substantial, glass-fronted wine cellar. The main dining room, up on the second floor, is airy and spacious, with high ceilings and picture windows through which the orange girders of Tokyo Tower's upper levels can just be glimpsed.