Tokyo Food: 'Life' Italian Yoyogi-koen

Wandering around Tokyo's suburbs you will find spaghetti chains with cartoon tomato characters, and pizza places surrounded by Miami palm trees, but it is often hard to come across low-key, delicious and authentic Italian fare.

I discovered this little Italian joint tucked away on Tomigaya street, just a few steps from Yoyogi-Koen station. Called "Life and Slow Food Restaurant", one may be tempted to keep on walking at the prospect of waiting 2 hours for a meal. Yet ironically, when we orded our prosciutto and rocket pizza, the waitress apologised that it would take 15 minutes to come! As my friend and I were enjoying 'slowing down' for a bit, of course we were more than happy to wait, and enjoyed a perfectly cooked duck salad in the mean time.

The restaurant feels like you have walked in to a shabby chic house, with LIFE magazines on the walls and pot plants around the room. The single exception to this is the open kitchen from which you can enjoy glimpses of the chef's at work, and the lofting smell of garlic and olive oil.

Final point. If you go to 'Life' Italian in Tokyo, you cannot leave without trying the chocolate pudding.

The restaurant has a cute website, complete with online store!

For English directions click here.