Naka-Meguro's days as a hip, artsy enclave have long been numbered. The area isgentrifying fast, especially down by the river and uptoward Daikanyama. But venture along the slow-moving, old-school shopping street that forms the spiritual axis of 'Nakame' (as the locals like to call it) and you can still find a few lingering traces of that alternative attitude --especially when you get to Junkadelic.
"Comfortable Mexican" promises the sign over the door -- as if there were any other kind. How can it not be comfortable when the furniture is a mix-and-match assortment of battered rattan, old deck chairs and careworn tables? When the walls have been cobbled together from ancient timbers and favela tin sheets? And the rest room is paintedentirely in red and decorated with a bank of faded artificial roses?
Like so many of our favorite eateries, this is a labor-of-love story. Junkadelic's quiet-spoken, unassuming owner, Hideaki Arima, has been visiting Mexico on and off for years. Back in Tokyo, he drew together a crew of like-minded souls and set to work fixing up a dilapidated shop, adorning it with crucifixes, Virgin Mary statues and Day of the Dead artifacts. The result, opened just over a year ago, is half Cancun beach bar, half Tex-Mex cantina -- and entirely art-school Tokyo.