Aniko

🇮🇹 Italian / 📍 Akasaka

⭐⭐⭐

📓 Visits: 1 (2021)

Aniko was awarded a Michelin Bib Gourmand in the 2021 and 2022 Tokyo Guides.  Dinner courses now start from JPY 5,500 and lunch courses from JPY 4,500 and you can also order a-la-carte.  During the State of Emergency there was a weekday lunch menu offered starting from JPY 1,500 which is what I went for.

The first item was green salad which was supermarket quality.  For main course there's a choice of pasta.  The lasagne is one of the chef's signature dishes and costs an extra 300 yen.  It didn't look particularly large but was very dense and pretty filling but otherwise not particularly special.  It supposedly contained a mixture of beef, pork, duck, and chicken livers but I would never have guessed.  Homemade bread was not served until the main course rather than with the salad but no loss as I didn't want any more.

For an extra 480 yen you can have dessert and coffee and this was the best part of the meal.  Today's dessert was a near-perfect pear and frangipane tart.  I would have preferred it sweeter but then I have a very sweet tooth.  Coffee was excellent.

Chef was friendly and acted as waiter and host, delegating the cooking another member of staff.  I didn't like the fact that the chef started preparing for dessert and coffee before I'd finished my main.  I noticed he brought coffee to another table no sooner they'd put down their forks and before clearing the plates.  I get that cheap lunches are all about turning tables but the restaurant wasn't busy.

Perhaps a-la-carte or a more expensive course would be better.  If you view it as a local restaurant it's fine.  But there are many cheap and decent Italian restaurants in Tokyo.  There was nothing in my meal at Aniko that would make me want to cross town nor make me understand why this restaurant in particular has a Bib Gourmand.

📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1308/A130801/13240038/

❓ My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ 3.3

📱 Booking: 🟩  Easy.  Same day day or advance bookings via Tabelog or phone or just walk-in.

📍 Location: 

B1F 6-3-8 Akasaka.  B1F street-facing entrance.  1 minute on foot from Exit 6 of Akasaka station.
Map data ©2021 Google

📅 Visit October 2021

Green salad
Lasagne
Pear and frangipane tart
Coffee

💴 Damage: 2,280 (1500 + 300 + 480)
⏱️ Time taken: 35m