Unlikely as it may seem, there's a vegetable boom sweeping the nation. And no food dovetails better with this new healthy ethos than Vietnamese -- at least the way it is eaten in its homeland.
Chef Masumi Suzuki was so inspired by the mounds of freshly picked salad greens and aromatic herbs that are such a part of the daily diet in Vietnam that she stayed there and learned the local cuisine. The results of her studies now comprise the menu at Kitchen, her homely second-floor restaurant in Nishi-Azabu.
The look is as sweetly unassuming as the name -- plain wooden tables, pastel-colored walls decorated with cute illustrations, knickknacks from her sojourn in Indochina and a menu that folds up to look like a peasant's straw hat. The staff, like 99 percent of the clientele, is young, female and casually dressed. Suzuki herself remains out of sight, single-handedly preparing all the dishes that flow from her eponymous kitchen, imbuing it all with a delightfully subtle touch.