Natural farming, environmental sustainability, conscious lifestyles -- these are the mantras of the dyed-in-the-wool, back-to-the-earth ecological movement. They're also becoming buzzwords at Tokyo restaurants.

For evidence of this growing green consciousness, look no further than Kurkku Kitchen. Opened in March in nether Jingumae, it's more than just a restaurant, it's the flagship for an ambitious project marrying quality food, contemporary architecture and ecological thinking, which finally hit its full stride last week.

Kurkku means cucumber in Finnish (perhaps distantly related to the word "gherkin") and is pronounced something like "crook." Be that as it may, this is not some well-intentioned labor of love dreamed up by warm, fuzzy idealists. It's a sophisticated (and evidently well-funded) organization that occupies not one sleek, glass-and-steel building but two.