Every year around this time we get the same plaintive inquiries: ¡°Isn¡¯t there anywhere half decent in this city where you can eat outdoors?¡± And, as always, the answer is ¡°yes -- and no.¡±
If you¡¯re just looking for a place that flings open its door and a couple of windows to the balmy (and particulate-rich) street air, there is no shortage of choice these days. But if it¡¯s an honest-to-goodness, out-in-the-elements, skies-above-you alfresco experience you¡¯re after, then the options are much more limited.
But they¡¯re not nonexistent: Leave it to Tokyo¡¯s French community to show the rest of us how it¡¯s done. One of their best-kept secrets -- and a place that we always like to go back to when the weather gets warm -- is Brasserie Bernard¡¯s branch in the tranquil, leafy campus of the Institut Franco-Japonais in nether Ichigaya.
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