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Australian trio to open Tokyo restaurant serving only pasta and truffles

Roslyn Grundy
Roslyn Grundy

A dinner party dish set restaurateur David Mackintosh off on a Tokyo adventure.
A dinner party dish set restaurateur David Mackintosh off on a Tokyo adventure.Pat Scala

At a winter dinner party with friends three or four years ago, restaurateur David Mackintosh had an epiphany: everyone should get to try this mind-blowing combination – handmade pasta, shaved truffles, good nebbiolo and a Led Zeppelin soundtrack.

But if you're going to make such a singular idea work as a restaurant, it would have to be in Tokyo, right? After all, the city of 13 million is home to restaurants serving nothing but oyakodon (chicken and egg over rice), 10 courses of tempura, or libido-enhancing ingredients such as pig's testicles.

Mackintosh, who has a hand in Rosa's Kitchen, SPQR, Lee Ho Fook and the soon-to-be-supper-club in the former Pei Modern site, has partnered with siblings Tom and Sarah Crago​ on the project, in Tokyo's posh Aoyama neighbourhood.

It has taken two years to overcome obstacles but in May, the dream takes another step towards reality when they begin building Out, a 12-seat restaurant serving only pasta and truffles.

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Named after the English rock band's final album In through the Out Door, the restaurant will be like an elevated version of the Tokyo ramen shop experience, Mackintosh says: walk up to a vending machine, select what you want, pay and a ticket will pop out. Then simply take your place at the counter and decide whether you want a glass of nebbiolo or champagne.

"Now we need to find a chef with an undying interest in the beauty of fresh pasta and the myriad ways it can be presented," he says.

Fresh truffles from around the world are available 10 months a year, which leaves only April and May to worry about.

"What we want to give people is one perfect experience during a night out in Tokyo. We're not expecting people to spend two or three hours with us."

Out is expected to open in late June.

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Roslyn GrundyRoslyn Grundy is Good Food's deputy editor and the former editor of The Age Good Food Guide.

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