Their daughters' school is next door, and the area brims with businesses like a nearby street vendor who sells handmade noodles and wrappers for making pork-and-chive dumplings.
His big plan this year is to build a farm stand on a 14-acre former chive farm he bought in 2011, where he can sell honey, candles and farm produce on his own.
We followed the suggestion of our knowledgeable server and chose the roasted kohlrabi-turnip soup (with horseradish, chive oil and edible flowers), the trio of lamb (loin, rack and belly, prepared three different ways) and the imperial chocolate dessert (a warm pudding cake with spiced ice cream and coffee sauce).
Lifting the cover of a lacquer bowl might reveal a clear broth with a tiny cube of silken tofu and shreds of chive and citron, followed by a charcoal brazier bearing a small grilled fish, after which an arrangement of candy-coloured dumplings and local wild vegetables might appear on a dish of rustic stoneware.