In a city that begs for a cafe society, it's hard to find a place to linger over casual good food and even better coffee. It's either Alan Wong's or a plate lunch — where's the middle ground? Places like Abbe Brewster Café and On Jin's Cafe tried and failed. Valiantly trying to accommodate the whole city are a handful of places like Town, and the museum lunch-only spots Downtown, Pavilion Cafe and The Contemporary Cafe. Into the gaping gap comes the long-awaited Tango¬ Contemporary Cafe, which quietly opened last month. The name sounds like a soda (and the logo looks like it), but the baby of former Hawaii Prince Hotel staffers Go¬ran Streng and Tami Orozco is a refreshing addition to a quiet restaurant scene.

The duo has adopted the winning formula nailed by Shokudo — high design and low prices. Streng worked with Design Partners on a bright, high-ceilinged space that reflects Streng's Finnish background (though he has a very un-Finnish name). Three panels of stretched Marimekko peony-print fabric hang on one wall and pendant lamps that look like they're by Mark Chai, but are actually from IKEA, drop from the exposed industrial ceiling. Splitting the compact space down the middle is a divider "planted" with birch branches. On one side are quasi picnic benches, on the other a banquette and tables and chairs. At the back is the open kitchen where Streng can be found at dinner (also back there is Nolan West, a Chef Mavro alum).

You know a place is a bargain when it's filled with the old-folks brigade — that's who rules the roost at the first lunch seating. Then come business types and ladies who lunch. At dinner it's a mixed crowd. All come for the straightforward food. Trio of temaki is just that — don't expect any reinterpretations of sushi with a Scandinavian twist. The California, spicy tuna and shrimp tempura hand rolls are pretty much what you'd get at Aloha Sushi.

Aside from a few Asian detours such as that sushi, a plate of three shrimp tempura and braised beef fragrant with five spice, the menu is largely what was once called Continental. The best thing on the menu may be the textbook gravlax. Honolulu isn't exactly brimming with Scandinavian food, so the appearance of the silky, moist, salted and house-cured salmon (a dish shared by Swedes and Finns) is a pleasant surprise. At a recent dinner for four, the dish, with the traditional dill-mustard sauce, was the only one the diners fought over. A side of kna¬ckebro¬d would have been perfect. (And more Scandinavian dishes would really set Tango¬ apart — like Swedish potato pancakes with lingonberries or beef Rydberg. A girl can dream, can't she?)

The Web site says Streng goes for the "less-is-better" approach to cooking. He takes it to the point of pallid in some cases. Bouillabaisse is a subtle broth, but with a resonance. At Tango¬, it's just subtle, to the point of ho-hum. Sauteed moi comes in a pool of tomato-fennel coulis that, mild as it was, masked the delicate fish rather than enhanced it. The whole dish just said "wedding banquet food." Bolder was the "crispy duck breast" — cooked to moist tenderness (although the skin wasn't crisp), but overpowered by a salty wine sauce heavy on the cloves.

Where simple flavors rang true was in the mustard-herb-crusted rack of lamb, the salty coating playing up the faint gaminess with simple directness. There was bone-gnawing going on.

Greens grazers will be pleased with the hearty salads such as the Cobb, coarsely chopped grilled chicken, avocado, tomato, blue cheese, eggs and bacon atop a nest of mixed greens (at lunch), and the spinach salad dotted with slices of seared scallop (dinner).

Streng delivers the best he can for the crazy low prices. But that has an effect on the food — at lunch one day, the grilled sirloin steak, which arrives sliced up on a cedar plank then moved to your plate, was a rubbery piece of undistinguished beef.

Desserts are another story. Rhubarb crumble is almost all tangy fruit, with just enough crunchiness on top to give it textural play (so many places here serve it all crust, little fruit); and exemplary crepes are gooey with house-made berry compote. A serious coffee drinker called her (Kona) cuppa joe "amazing."

For now Tango¬ is BYOB. The restaurant just got its license, and the booze will start flowing next month. Streng and Orozco will choose the wine list themselves, and they'll serve cocktails such as martinis and mojitos.

While the kitchen may still be finding its footing, it's the rest of the package — the inviting space, amiable service — that makes Tango¬ a worthy stop. It's not easy to go it alone on this chain-filled island, and Streng and Orozco are off to an admirable start.

RESTAURANT NEWS

Chef change: Bombay Indian Restaurant (Discovery Bay, 275-6268), which already serves the most intense subcontinental flavors in town, has a new chef. Keshore Sharma was the executive chef at Washington, D.C.'s lauded Bombay Palace before it closed last month after 22 years. Sharma has been offering daily specials and plans on adding new dishes to the menu.

New restaurant: Just opened in the Doubletree Alana hotel is J Bistro Martini & Wine Bar (951-3138), taking over the space that Padovani's vacated last year. Kit Nagelmann, former vice president of Better Brands, oversees the place, where you can get fresh-fruit drinks such as Asian pear muddle martinis and dishes such as salmon in an apricot reduction.

Events: It's time for Contemporary Kaiseki again at Hiroshi Eurasion Tapas. (Restaurant Row, 533-4476). On April 18, chef Hiroshi Fukui cooks up all new dishes (the last one featured an amazing tako salad that we're still thinking about). $100 with wine pairings, $75 without (not including tax and tip). Reservations are a must. Hiroshi will also be open for lunch on April 23 for Administrative Professional's Day Luncheon. The special four-course meal costs $32 (not including tax and tip) — a deal for all the good work your assistant does.

Vino hosts "Chef Keith's Spring Dinner" on April 26. The four-course menu: phyllo-wrapped jumbo lump crab cake, with lemon-and-artichoke aioli and roasted red bell pepper pesto; grilled ratatouille salad with warm brie; lamb loin sous vide — with haricot verts, cauliflower polenta, aged saba and veal jus; dessert is TBA. Price: $42 (not including tax and tip).

Amazing dish alert: The newest dessert at Town (3435 Wai'alae Ave., 735-5900) is a must-order. Chef-owner Ed Kenney gives his line cooks free rein to be creative in the kitchen, and newish arrival Chris Si, who was at Napa's French Laundry, likes to play with flour. He layers crepe after crepe, mortared with fresh whipped cream to make a dream stacked cake. (It's called a mille crepe. And Kenney got turned on to it at Lady M Cake Boutique in New York City.) It's as heavenly as it sounds. Si also makes from-scratch croissants in the morning.

— Lesa Griffith

Lesa Griffith is a food writer and director of communications at the Honolulu Academy of Arts.