Every year around this time we get the same plaintive inquiries: "Isn't there anywhere half decent in this city where you can eat outdoors?" And, as always, the answer is "yes -- and no."

If you're just looking for a place that flings open its door and a couple of windows to the balmy (and particulate-rich) street air, there is no shortage of choice these days. But if it's an honest-to-goodness, out-in-the-elements, skies-above-you alfresco experience you're after, then the options are much more limited.

But they're not nonexistent: Leave it to Tokyo's French community to show the rest of us how it's done. One of their best-kept secrets -- and a place that we always like to go back to when the weather gets warm -- is Brasserie Bernard's branch in the tranquil, leafy campus of the Institut Franco-Japonais in nether Ichigaya.