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| Moph: Shibuya | |||
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In Tokyo, the only way to stay ahead is to constantly reinvent yourself. And no one knows that lesson better than Parco, the group of fashion boutique mini-malls halfway up Koen-dori (Shibuya's self-styled "Park Avenue"). The flagship Parco Part 1 building recently emerged from a major make-over with a fully remodeled basement floor (books, trinkets and a chic new Belgian beer bar called Les Hydropathes) to add to the array of stylish restaurants on the two top floors.
But the most visible evidence of the new-look Parco is the excellent first floor cafe/bar, Moph. With its curving contours, soft pastel color scheme, and brilliant retro-60s styling, this has to be one of the best-dressed cafes in town. Trancy lounge beats fill the airwaves and videos flicker on large projection screens (unfortunately barely visible in the bright light), giving the space further cutting-edge, arty credentials. A long banquette runs along one wall, supplemented by low-slung chairs, chunky but comfy, and round stools, all covered in leatherette fabric in contrasting colors and patterns. There's a no-smoking section set off to one side. To keep prices down (coffee is just Y280), it's self-service, but you don't have to bus your own tray: that is taken care of by the young, friendly black-clad staff. Moph also steps boldly into the new century by abandoning the prevailing but oh-so-tired French and Italian influences in favor of a Spanish sensibility. That means tapas -- more than 30 different kinds of them -- ranging from basic (garlic toast) to sophisticated (mussels stuffed with paella-style rice). At midday they offer a set-combination tapas lunch box. The rest of the time you pick and choose a la carte. In the evening, the place transmutes (morphs?) into a bar-lounge scene, serving a full range of drinks but still with an Iberian focus -- sangria, sherry, Rioja wine and cava bubbly. In summer, when they open up the whole glass frontage onto the pedestrian side street, this promises to be the hippest sidewalk cafe-bar in all of Shibuya. by Robbie Swinnerton |
Moph
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