The golden age of luxury long-distance train travel is over. The days when overnight journeys were made in exclusive style — complete with Pullman sleeping cars, lounge bar and restaurant on wheels — have gone the way of the steam locomotive.
But memories die hard among rail enthusiasts. Chef George Somura worked for six years as a chef on the Eastern & Oriental Express, the Southeast Asian version of the Paris-Simplon-Venice train of Agatha Christie fame. He was so smitten by the experience that, after returning to Japan, he bought one of those high-end railroad cars. And then he built a restaurant around it.
There's nothing like it anywhere in the city. Opened in February of this year, the sleek blue-and-white former sleeper car fills almost an entire block of Mitsume-dori, the street running along the side of Kiba Park, past the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo. It's a remarkable sight: welcome to A Ta Gueule Orient-Express, and all aboard!
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