Molecular Tapas Bar

I sometimes learn about things in Tokyo via circuitous routes. The Daily Yomiuri has a regular section on Sundays that's produced by the Times of London. Today's issue had a column by Richard Lloyd Parry. His rhetorical goal is to show that Tokyo is getting its mojo back, like the days of the Bubble. Parry mentions people eating sushi off the bodies of naked beauty queens during the height of the Bubble. Personally, I suspect that's some sort of urban legend morphed from a scene involving live shrimp in Itami Juzo's Tampopo, though I could be wrong.

Parry's column is primarily about dinner at the Molecular Tapas Bar at the Mandarin Oriental. Food from test tubes, by chef Jeff Ramsey. If Tokyo can support food this challenging and decadent, it's back, right?

Food from test tubes? I am so there. While it doesn't sound quite as avant-garde Homaro Cantu's Moto in Chicago, which I haven't had the pleasure of trying yet, this will definitely be an interesting experience.

Our reservations are for July 2nd (they weren't as hard to get as Parry would have you believe). Stay tuned for a report.

P.S. Parry mentions longing for a MOSburger, and compares it to McDonald's, but in fact MOSburger was started after the owner-to-be visited Tommy's.