It's always a pleasure to visit the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (MOT) out in Koto Ward. The surrounding park is calm, the architecture of the museum exemplary, and the exhibitions invariably well curated.
Now there's another reward at the end of that hike from the subway station — a couple of new restaurants in which to relax and rest your legs. In the recent refurbishment, the MOT's second-floor refreshment space was given a total makeover. It has reopened under the name Cafe Hai, boasting a distinctive Vietnamese character but with a couple of other exotic accents.
This could easily have been done wrong, with just a few token Southeast Asian tidbits tacked onto a mainstream coffee-shop menu. Thankfully, that's not the case. Everything has been put together in a way that is both authentic and very tasty. It came as no surprise therefore to find out that Cafe Hai is operated by the excellent Vietnamese restaurant in Nishi-Azabu that is simply called Kitchen.