Champs de Soleil, Kanda

That’s right folks, 2 days in a row both see EOITwJ visiting the same Kanda street for Euro-food. This time it’s the highly-recommended Belgian outlet Champs de Soleil (but his friends call him ‘Champ’). Widely known among the underground, this is firmly on the list of ‘places to leave the office at 11:30 for’. After a small breakfast of ‘pepper hash’ (1st attempt only; the food processor is an unsatisfactory way to mince the cabbage and peppers as it pulverizes them too much) and a few glasses of tea to tide me over, Lincoln and I headed up across the bridge and into the provinces of Kanda to sample les delices Belgique.

While dinner trends in a very agreeable direction (Belgian food, heavy on the frites and endive!, plenty of beers in bottle and tap), lunch is a bit limited. There are two pastas (Y1260; eggplant and okra (good, though the crab mentioned on the menu was MIA) or else bacon-spinach), a meat (roast chicken parts topped with tomato and melted cheese) and a fish (itoyori, a type of snapper who I certainly wouldn’t recognize on a dark night). These come with a tolerable little salad (mostly just lettuce, but a few sprouts), some bread (with a healthy little tub of butter, something that I realize has become an unexpected and welcome ‘luxury’) and coffee (served in china, and actually quite good unless I’m unfairly influenced by the fact that I’m still not drinking much coffee). The pasta had a lot of flavor, plus of course eating eggplant and okra is bound to make you feel healthy, but the chicken looked made-in-advance to an unfortunate degree. There were two tarts on the counter that I noticed on the way out; the cherry clafoutis-looking one would have been worthy of further study had I made its acquaintance earlier. Lunch beers are Y500 (didn’t ask if this includes Chimay etc), but the water is served in Duvel glasses to maximize your irritation at not being able to drink during the day.Very pleasant on the whole. Nothing exciting, but a nice walk and good atmosphere on a temperate day (although a bit time-consuming), and someplace I’d certainly go at night for the libations. Ahhh, it makes me long for the good old days in Brussels…
03-3254-1237