We were walking around Tokyo on New Year’s Eve trying to find something for dinner. Oops, turns out we didn’t realize that 99% of restaurants would be closed. So when we realized the restaurants in Tokyo Station were still open, we were ecstatic. We chose Bistro CLEANTE Tokyo because well, you know we love our hamburger steak!
Corn Soup 
Sake
CORN SOUP & SAKE
I chose to order a corn soup because it was so darn cold that night. It was around 300 yen and it came in a cute lil cup. We consider ourselves corn soup connoisseurs and we were impressed. The texture was very nice and creamy. It had that sweetness you get from corn yet it wasn’t overpowering. We do wish there were corn kernels in it though.
Howie opted to order a hot sake and it arrived promptly. The sake did a good job of warming him up while we waited for our food.
THE FOOD
THE FOOD
We saw a lot of the other diners at Bistro CLEANTE Tokyo order various combinations of hambrger steak and omurice. I stuck to what I liked best and ordered omurice and hamburger steak in hayashi sauce.
The eggs were delightfully fluffy, which is essential to a good plate of omurice. I do wish I had paid the extra 200 yen to upgrade the rice to chicken rice. They do a ketchup rice and add chicken and onions to it and it looked absolutely delicious. I thought the hayashi sauce lacked a bit of oomph – I want to taste the beef in the sauce and I thought it lacked that.
Since it was New Year’s Eve, Howie decided to go fancy with his meal. He opted for a curry for his sauce. He said it honestly didn’t taste any different than a Glico curry but it was so hearty and comforting. It was the perfect dish for a hungry guy.
He also realized that if you ordered the hamburger steak and omurice, you can get add-ons for only 200 yen each. So he ordered the prawn crab claw and fried prawn, which came out cheaper than if had ordered them as appetizers. The crab claw and prawn were deliciously crispy with a lot of meat in every bite. For such a cheap price, we highly recommend getting the add-ons.
OVERALL
We liked the ambiance of this restaurant a lot. There was lots of booth seats allowing for privacy. It had a nice “bistro” vibe and jazz music played quietly. Service was a bit slow but we think they were a bit understaffed as it was a holiday. However, all the servers were still very nice. There are English menus available.
