On the first floor of the Hotel Continental Fuchu, this restaurant’s unassuming interior betrays nothing of its unique concept — a colorful morning and evening buffet of wholly organic food and wild plants sourced direct from the Tohoku Bokujo farm in rural Aomori prefecture, northern Japan.
From Tohoku to Tokyo
With a focus on farm-fresh, healthy dishes, Restaurant Tohoku Bokujo is the kind of place you’d expect to see in an upscale organic enclave like Aoyama rather than Tokyo’s outer western suburbs.
But that’s partly what makes this place so special.
Open to both hotel guests and the public, restaurant Tohoku Bokujo champions 100% organic, sustainably farmed produce and, particularly, the health benefits for customers that come with it. This isn’t a marketing ploy or Instabae gimmick, just an honest-to-goodness farm-to-table joint that lets Tokyoites (likely vitamin-deficient) benefit from the goods that Japan’s mama nature gave them.
What’s on the menu?
The vegetables and wild plants harvested at and delivered straight from the Tohoku Bokujo farm are the main features of the restaurant’s one-of-a-kind menu. Dishes like rolled omelette with chickweed, prosciutto stuffed with dandelion and soy bean pound cake with bamboo leaves are a vibrant twist on Japanese hotel buffet, or “viking” (バイキング), classics.
Laid out across a vibrant and varied buffet in the center of the restaurant, each dish is carefully labelled in both Japanese and English. There’s even a make-your-own ramen set up for kids, as well as a corner where piles of fresh eggs all the way from Tohoku are laid out with steamed rice for “tamago gohan,” rice mixed with raw egg.
Tohoku Bokujo farm is rare in Japan in that it first produces and then harvests 11 wild plants for consumption. Each of the wild plants has a different medicinal property, from soothing skin problems to lowering blood pressure, which offers a great excuse to pile your buffet plate high and not feel guilty about it. Additionally, you can drink the herbs in tea form in one of the hotel’s own cute horse-themed mugs.
Restaurant Tohoku Bokujo is one of the few advocates for cooking with them, though you can also find wild plants in use from the same farm at each of the Sakura Cafes, as well as the Three Hundred Bar in central Tokyo.
On Friday evenings, the restaurant runs a special “Wild Herbs Cocktail Night”, where you can enjoy all-you-can-drink cocktails included in the price of your dinner. You can choose from an inventive menu of wild herb cocktail and mocktails such as the Sumire Daiquiri, which uses wild violet, and the Bamboo Gin and Tonic topped with a whole bamboo leaf.
Details
It’s worth booking a room at Hotel Continental Fuchu just to be able to enjoy the breakfast buffet from 7 a.m for ¥1,100. A hefty range of healthy options, all organic and pesticide-free, is enough to set you up for the rest of the day. Lunch is served from 11:30 to 2:00 p.m. but instead of a buffet, it’s a set menu. Dinner starts at 5:30 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. and for ¥2,480, adults can enjoy 100 minutes all-you-can-eat.
Between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m., the restaurant functions as a cafe, where you can try out drinks and special desserts direct from the Tohoku Bokujo farm, as well.
Hotel Continental Fuchu also has another restaurant, “Filly”, and a cafe/bar “Colt” both taking their theme (in decor and menu) from the hotel’s proximity to the nearby Tokyo Horse Racetrack.
- 7 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday to Sunday
- Hotel Continental Fuchu, 1F, 1-5-1 Fuchu-cho, Fuchu 183-0055, Tokyo Prefecture
