Hidden gems in Tokyo – Swedish Restaurant in Kichijoji
I really have to shape up and cut loose from this “one post a month” routine I’ve got going here… I can only blame one thing – work. And lazyness. I can blame work and lazyness. And lack of ideas. I can blame three things: work, lazyness, and lack of ideas….
Anyway, recently we went to Kichijoji to visit a Swedish restaurant called “Allt Gott” (which means “Everything Good”). We had tried one time before to go there for lunch on a Saturday without a reservation, but then we were denied! Apparantly it is really really popular. So, this time around we made a reservation for dinner, and went. And boy, were we up for a positive surprise!
First of all, it’s not a very big restaurant – it seats about 20 people or so. The atmosphere is hard tro describe, but it feels very Scandinavian “At-Home”. Not overly done with logging and pine furniture, but actually very cozy and it felt kind of Swedish. Sure, there were some Scandinavian touristy things spread around the place, but not at all to the level of that other Swedish restaurant in Tokyo, Lilla Dalarna.
I chose one of the special courses (they have courses between 3,000 – 5,000 yen – quite reasonable if you ask me) which featured herring (naturally), salmon (of course), reindeer (a must!), deer meat with lingonberry sauce and for dessert, cloudberry sherbet. It sounds a bit cheesy and “too” Scandinavian perhaps, but the food really showed the best of Swedish/Scandinavian cuisine. Honestly, and being Swedish I can say this, the food is NOT what Sweden is famous for out in the world (except IKEA’s meat balls) but here is a restaurant that manages to scrape together the few things in Swedish culinary tradition that is really good and make something really great out of it.
To top it off, as we were celebrating the birthday of my wife’s best friend, we had ordered a birthday cake – which they happily baked for us in the restaurant (with one day’s notice! Amazing!) – and it was a delightful and delicious ending to a wonderful dinner.
I can highly recommend this restaurant. It is in my opinion the best of the three Swedish restaurants in Tokyo.
Unfortunately, the restaurant does not have their own web page, but do a search for “Allt Gott” or 「アルト ゴット」 and you will find restaurant reviews which gives you more details about the restaurant. I also attach a scan of their business card which shows a map and their address/phone number.
By the way, Kichijoji is something of a hidden gem in itself if you haven’t been there before. (To get there, take the JR Chuo-line towards Tachikawa.) It’s sort of like a slightly more laid back Shimo-Kitazawa or Sengenjaya. It’s has lots of small coffee shops, restaurants and speciality boutiques etc. Just a warning – don’t go by car on the weekend, because the traffic into the town center is a nightmare!