National Route 246 is one of Japan’s main byways, stretching for over 76 miles and snaking through the center of Tokyo. The small part of Route 246 that runs between Shibuya and the Meijii Jingu Shrine was recently recreated for one of the best-selling video games of all time, Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec. It also happens to be the location for the food court heaven known as Commune 246.
The space was originally a courtyard surrounded by trendy clothing boutiques and bland restaurants. Several years ago the Issey Miyake boutique fell dark, followed by the shuttering of the rest of the stores. It seemed obvious that there was new construction on the way and yet another piece of old Tokyo would disappear. What popped up in its place was a temporary and happy compromise: a roundup of food trucks brimming with young, enthusiastic cooks. Then it disappeared, rumors swirled and we all feared the high-rise buildings that would take its place. A miracle ensued and recently the trucks have come back, circling into a cluster of hipster chuck wagons serving imaginative and varied food choices in an impromptu food court right off a main road in Tokyo.
Commune 246 is not only a pop-up food court; it also strives to be a communal workspace and an event space for local artists. Toward the back there is a “free university” offering myriad subjects. There are a multitude of food choices, funky and varied. We parked our backpacks on park benches set between the trucks, and our eyes swam through all the choices: vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free in one direction, then a carnivore’s delight of hot dogs and skewered meats in the other.
We hit a Hawaiian food truck first. It didn’t look like anything we’d seen in Hawaii, but the vegetarian, shrimp and beef plates were all hearty and tasty, seasoned just right. It’s very rare to find true vegetarian choices in Japan, much less gluten-free, and we took serious note. We couldn’t help but snag a daily chicken curry special across the way at the Thai truck Tonpai Kitchen. Another Hawaiian-inspired truck called Liquid Hawaii offered a myriad of craft beers.
At Bredon, one of the few places serving Japanese dishes, we picked up some kushiyaki, or skewered meats and vegetables, grilled over real charcoal, not briquettes. They were fragrant and perfectly cooked.
The most interesting truck bills itself as “Organic Soup & Veggies,” when in fact it serves a mean mojito using homemade syrup laced with lavender, lemongrass and mint. People were lined up and waiting for the one mix-master to churn them out. For the non-alcohol set there is potent lemonade on offer made with Naoshiki lemons.
Not much about the food at Commune 246 is traditional. What is completely Japanese about it is the heart and passion. Every cook and customer is genuinely interested in food, and there is a sincerity of purpose that’s difficult to find in a town where financial constraints are making it harder and harder to open a personal restaurant with an individual vision of cooking. This is a Japanese version of that dream of owning a restaurant.
After ordering, we were given a bottle with a specifically colored flower to bring to our table and wait for a server to deliver our food. Commune 246 is steps away from Harajuku and every known kawaii thing in the universe. While waiting for our food we enjoyed watching “cool Japan” pass through the space, whether on their way to use the communal office, learn something at the school or sit with a date over artisanal hot cocoa. Did samurai warriors eat like this on the Tokaido road between Edo (Tokyo) and Kyoto?
Commune 246 says that its motto is “Freedom-Random-Wisdom.” Possibly the most unique destination within the compound is Caravan Tokyo, a silver pod camper where one can spend the night “camping out” in a double bed with en-suite bathroom and all the mod cons for close to $200 a night (available on Airbnb) and tumble out of bed for a late breakfast at one of the food trucks.
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