With all the thousands of Japanese who visit Bali each year, enjoying its beguiling climate and culture, it's a mystery why the island's cuisine does not have more adherents here. Indonesian restaurants are so few and far between in Tokyo that any addition to their number is worthy of note. When it's as nicely put together as Warung Bintang, we feel like shouting from the rooftops.
Not that Warung Bintang is in any way fancy; quite the opposite. But it's the care and attention that have been invested in this little eatery on the far side of Shibuya that make it well worth searching out if you find yourself on that side of town.
If you approach by the meandering side street that leads toward Yoyogi-Koen, you know you've arrived when you spot the handsome wood-and-glass box-on-wheels standing by the steps leading up to Warung Bintang's main entrance. It's the genuine article, a gerobak (in Japanese, yatai) — the sort of cart you see being pulled along by food hawkers in Denpasar, Bali's bustling capital city.
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