Like Nakameguro 10 years ago, Meguro proper is one of those areas that has been quietly amassing bars and nightlife options over the last few years. When I first heard that Color, a multilevel restaurant and bar complex, had opened just down the hill from Meguro Station, I wasn't surprised. I was, however, expecting it to be a big place -- a towering beacon in the night, like the legendary multilevel club Gold in Shibaura in the early '90s.

So when I went looking for Color, I was scouring the skyline rather than the street. When I reached the beginning of the awning-covered shotengai-style part of Meguro-dori (which runs for a couple of blocks before it hits the Yamate-dori intersection) I was sure that I must have somehow missed it. But I should have been thinking small.

The street-level entrance is just an ordinary-size sliding glass door. All you can see from the outside is a long, narrow corridor of a room lined with cafe-style tables and chairs hugging one side. It is, indeed, a multilevel complex, but each floor is barely three tatami mats wide and five mats long. And though it does occupy four floors, only two are above ground.