After learning that there IS one decent Mexican restaurant in Japan, it was still early. We elected to find a cafe and/or bar, and started walking in the general direction of Gaienmae. Somewhere along the way we ran across Cafe Flaneur, which is the kind of place that makes city living so nice. Tokyo style. […]
Month: September 2009
Fonda de la Madrugada, Harajuku
My friends, I am a changed and converted and (further) humbled man. There is an OK Mexican restaurant in Tokyo. And it’s exactly where everyone said it was. In a basement in Harajuku that distorts time and space. As we went into the basement, my expectations actually increased. It’s well-nigh impossible to find decent Mexican […]
Fukuden, Monzennakacho (ふく田)
As I write this, Fukuden is the #2 izakaya on Tabelog’s Tokyo rankings, which cover a metropolitan area stretching from Kamakura in the south to Ome in the west, Funabashi in the east to Kasukabe in the north. It’s also the 58th-ranked restaurant overall, which is not a bad feat considering that there are almost […]
- Italian
- ...
XEX, Tokyo (Daimaru 13th)
It’s tough to say no to lunch invitations from people you haven’t seen for a while. Especially when you have a lot of similar interests to that person. And even more so when they invite you to a place where you can join the “city’s growing population of urban hip…to take full advantage of the […]
- Otemachi
- ...
Bel Age Lounge, Otemachi
America would do well to heed comments about Japan’s Lost Decade. It’s a scary prospect – your economy goes sideways for 10 years and then never really recovers. I think it’s too early to declare a Prognosis For America (this would be my sweeping social contract-like name). ‘Green Shoots’ sentiments aside, you really shouldn’t be too […]
- Kanda
- ...
Yanone Sushi, Kanda (矢の根寿司)
Boring post, good sushi. No, really good sushi. Great value sushi. If you know some of my proclivities, you’ll know how much I like my restaurant map. And I also really enjoy seeing it fill out over time (Shinjuku recommendations very welcome!). There’s one region of the greater office area map that’s been sadly lacking in […]
Tazumura, Otemachi (たづむら,OAZO 5)
Welcome to the first installment of Tonkatsu Tuesdays. Geez, I thought of all sorts of interesting things while I was eating today, but now I’ve forgotten and can’t promise that this will be interesting at all. Not to put too fine a point on it, I visited the tonkatsu place in Oazo that Ponkan and […]
Funabashiya Tempura, Marunouchi (船橋屋,新丸５)
Boring post, dead ahead. Aye aye cap’n! Hard astern!! This place is always crowded. During lunch hours they have 8 or 10 chairs outside, and a good portion of the time they’re in use. This means that the place is either really good or else is just plain popular for no good reason, which happens […]
- bistro
- ...
Souvenir, Toritsu Daigaku
A deeply nostalgic trip, this, for several reasons. First, I used to do nothing restaurant-wise but look for places like this – reasonably-priced bistro French. Finding this took me back to those days (hey grandpa). Second, even though I’ve spent very very little time in France, the faux nostalgia created by a good bistro is […]
- Chinese
- ...
Shanghai Chubou, Kanda (上海厨房)
Well, if I’m going to have Tonkatsu Tuesdays, should I also implement Cheap Chinese Fridays? Because that’s what I got here. It was sorta soothing, it wasn’t bad, and it was really cheap. I’m totally guessing on the name Work plus an inconveniently-scheduled meeting meant that I didn’t get out for lunch until after 2. […]