Going for the bistro effect, and I guess succeeding, BAA is located at the south end of Marunouchi. Well beyond the Maru’s, Tokia and others, if you’re coming from Tokyo station you’ll probably walk past Viron to get there. You’ll be tempted to go in to Viron instead, and you should.
I guess this succeeds in doing the bistro thing, because it certainly has the bistro look, in a somewhat tired and neighborhoody way. The food is also what you’d expect (it’s a bistro, so it would be unexpected if it wasn’t what you expected, right?) with bistro favorites and possibly some originals.
The cooking is like the decor, a little tired, and the staff managed to irritate me on my one visit – taking a long time to confirm that we could substitute something from the cheaper set menu into the more expensive one (despite us offering to pay the more expensive price. This is like ‘waiter, I’d like to pay for the foie gras but just have a salad. Is that OK?’ ‘Hmmm, そうですね。。。”. When the bill came, we had been charged extra for the privilege of that substitution (more than the expensive course). I know this is Japan and substitutions are difficult, but that’s ridiculous and we raised hell.
Wow, I’m getting all worked up just thinking about it. Look, just go to Viron, OK?
Shin-Tokyo Bldg, 3-3-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku. Tel: 03-6212-1566. www.auxamis.com