Cometh the season, as the saying almost goes, cometh the man. And every year when the hanami season rolls around, you are likely to find us strolling down by the Meguro River in Naka-Meguro. It's a favorite spot for us, not just for the superb cherry blossom that lines both banks, but also because there is such good dining to be had in this area.

There are plenty of excellent restaurants right alongside the river, several of which we have reviewed in past columns. But this year, instead, we directed our feet across Yamate-dori and up the hill, to the peaceful, stylish environs of Higashi-yama.

It would be hard to find a better example in Tokyo of the genre best described as "designer washoku." Too often, after bitter experience, we are tempted to use that epithet as a sneering pejorative. Not so here. Higashi-yama is actually the creation of a design company but, we are happy to report, it rewrites the definition. Here is a place where the food is executed with as much poise and creativity as the exceptional setting.