Mannebiches is the Tokyo neighborhood bistro par excellence. Tucked away, well off the main drag, in a part of town better known for its traditional shitamachi values, it does not trumpet its presence to the city at large. Instead, it is content to serve up first-rate French food without fanfare or pretension for a local populace that yearns to eat out at modest expense without having to dress up and trek downtown.
At the same time, though, this is not just another place to be lumped in with the ever-burgeoning crowd of low-end local French eateries (of which Pas a Pas is the much copied blueprint). Mannebiches stands head and shoulders above that crowd, setting a whole new yardstick for the genre.
There is no attempt at an "ethnic" French look. The tables are not covered in red checked cloths. There are no guttering, wax-dripping candles stuck into empty Beaujolais bottles, no tricolor flags or postcards of the Eiffel Tower.