The grilled mixed vegetable salad from Farm Basel in Hachioji, Japan, is a mix of arugula, lettuce, kale and carrots, peppers and eggplant from Nakanishi Farm and topped with a creamy dressing with ingredients from Isonuma Milk Farm. (Kelly Agee/Stars and Stripes)
Farm Basel, a farm-to-table restaurant, serves fresh-picked vegetables and locally sourced dairy and beef in an agrarian complex surrounded by urban Tokyo.
The restaurant is in Hachioji, not far from Yokota Air Base, in Tokyo Farm Village, which also includes the Isonuma Milk and Beef Farm and Nakanishi Farm, a fruit and vegetable farm.
Farm Basel provides an English menu and can seat 50 inside and 20 outdoors where dogs are allowed.
I opted for the grilled mixed vegetable salad with bread for 1,400 yen, or about $9.50, and for dessert the dark cherry pie with vanilla ice cream for 990 yen.
The salad was a mix of arugula, lettuce, kale and carrots, peppers and eggplant from Nakanishi Farm and topped with a creamy dressing with ingredients from Isonuma Milk Farm.
For the dark cherry pie, Farm Basel reduces large cherries with sugar and lemon juice, butter and kirsch liqueur and serves it hot with vanilla ice cream. This dish is available only on weekends.
For the dark cherry pie, Farm Basel reduces large cherries with sugar and lemon juice, butter and kirsch liqueur and serves it hot with vanilla ice cream. (Kelly Agee/Stars and Stripes)
Both the salad and the dessert were amazing, the fruits and vegetables so fresh and the vanilla ice cream creamy and delectable.
Other menu items include a beef stroganoff for 1,800 yen; French farmer’s beef stew for 2,000 yen; and a Tokyo Farm Village burger topped with either Isonuma yogurt sauce or a homemade sauce made from cheddar cheese and ketchup for 2,300 yen. The burger comes with a side of fries.
Drink options are a variety juices, including apple, red grape and mango for 700 yen each. The restaurant serves a variety of teas, including a Basel original “smoky” blend of teas from India, China, Sri Lanka and Japan.
Other dessert options range from apple pie with vanilla ice cream for 990 yen to a variety of shortcake, cheesecake and tarts at 880 yen each.
Guests can indulge in a post-dinner walk around the premises to visit the farms, which are only a three-minute walk from the restaurant.
At the milk and beef farms, at the bottom of a hill near the restaurant, grass is available for free to feed the farm’s cattle and sheep.
Nakanishi Farm — atop the hill adjacent to the restaurant — grows lettuce, tomatoes, eggplants and much more. Fresh produce is available for sale at a farm stand.
Farm Basel
Location: 1673-1 Kobikimachi, Hachioji, Tokyo 193-0934
Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday; 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
Prices: Most items cost between 900 yen and 2,300 yen.
Dress: Casual
Directions: A short walk from Yamada Station on the Keio Takao Line; free parking is available.
Information: www.tokyofarmvillage.me/eat
