Weak Greek

2.5/5 stars

Walk into this adorable café expecting Greek, and you’re in for a big, fat disaster. Giving up understanding the hanzi-laden menu (no English menu as of yet), we simply asked for a Mediterranean dish. What we got was a hollowed-out loaf of bread with chicken curry inside (¥56). It seems the Indian subcontinent is about as close as this place gets to Greece. Not all the food fails this badly, however. The somewhat overpriced codfish (¥153) is delicately fried and comes with a generous helping of homemade tartar sauce, and a uniquely textured barley dish (¥36) is infused with a savory garlic flavor. Our favorite, however, is the pumpkin soup with codfish (¥42). Beautifully presented in a soft, edible pumpkin rind, the odd combination of sweet pumpkin and salty seafood works unusually well. While Aegean Sea Café is a total flop as a Mediterranean restaurant (we’ll continue going to Argo for our Greek fix), as a cute little café, it sort of succeeds. The waitresses are clad in Japanese schoolgirl-ish sailor outfits, the service is cheery and the blue and white color scheme extends to the Doraemon dolls scattered about. They even let you write a wish and stuff it inside a beaker to hang up inside the restaurant. Our wish? More Greek, please.

Lisa Gay, October, 2011