Actually a couple of these did. But I still think they look better on this page than on the Japan Times web site. The descriptions are taken from the original column here...
"…Before, the folding glass doors were always closed, but now the idea is to keep them open year-round."
"The first course, bagna cauda, is mandatory — not that we were complaining."
"The vegetables were crisp and colorful, and the anchovy dip (gorgonzola is also an option) was just the right degree of tangy/salty/oily to keep us nibbling happily until the first of our antipasti arrived."
"We followed this with a fritto of trippa, batter-fried honeycomb tripe with seasonal vegetables, which combined robust and delicate flavors."
"…a delicious, Parmesan-rich bechamel sauce with large fleshy cuts of fresh porcini mushrooms."
"These were topped with a generous scoop of chicken liver pâté which melted nicely into the thick, hot sauce surrounding it."
"…the promise of riso pilaf was too tempting to ignore. Cooked in a cast-iron mini-cocotte, it featured three types of crab. The rice was mixed with kani-miso (the rich paste from Shanghai swimmer crab) and topped with the grilled legs and pincers of king and queen crab. Powerful and rich, the resulting flavor was as much Japanese as Italian. We loved it."
"The December special is guancia di bue al vino rosso, beef cheek soft-simmered in a red-wine sauce with aromatics — star anise was detectable — until delectably soft. This is served with three kinds of Japanese mushroom and topped with generous shavings of white truffle. Was it as good as it sounds? Better!"
[cut from the original text] "The beef was accompanied by the most amazing sweet potato, cooked soft in a small cast-iron casserole. Called anou-imo, these yams are bright yellow and amazingly sweet, which is why they have been given the name mitsu-imo (syrup yams).
"…you are offered a second round of pasta, this time spaghetti (though not hand-cut), and you even get to specify how much you want: 30, 60 or 100 grams. It's a nice touch, equivalent to the rice course that comes at the end of a Japanese meal."
"Both our desserts were outstanding: A whole Aomori apple baked in a miniature cast-iron cocotte and topped with honey ice cream…"
"…a wonderful semifreddo, a gelato studded with dried fruit with a hot coffee-chocolate sauce poured over it."
[also excised] "…little nibbles to go with the coffee/tea — ganache chocolate; some coconut eclairs; and rasperry halves prepared so they have the texture and flavour of fruit pastilles."
"We did not go home hungry."
"There are space heaters to keep you warm in winter, as you gaze out on the trees, shrubs and pot plants — and currently a beautifully decorated Christmas fir — that constitute this unexpected hidden garden."