Review: Chambar

This Belgian restaurant with sultry Parisian décor suffers from no identity issues when delivering the nation’s signature dishes.

Being Belgian, the beer menu comes first. With 18 varieties available (¥50-¥80), they have all the main Trappist selections covered plus a couple of more obscure varieties like Delirium Tremens. The food menu is dominated by Belgium’s other gastronomic finest, moûles-frites: mussels and fries served six ways and in two sizes (¥99 for the small or ¥149 for the large).

We began with a large pot steamed with cream and garlic. Their black Australian mussels are as big and meaty as we’ve ever seen and the smooth and complex sauce was pure heaven. The disappointing fries, on the other hand, were too thick and not worthy of dunking.

Thank goodness for the bread. For mains, we opted for the Champagne poached salmon (¥178) and veal rock served with creamed potato and vegetables (¥249).

Both were well-sourced and prepared but were nothing special. To finish, we had a phenomenally light strawberry and ice cream Belgian waffle (¥40) and the creamy, mandarin orange-topped crème brûlée (¥50).

Our advice? Go easy on the wallet and opt for a big bowl of moules-frites as a main and save room for pudding.