The green-ness here is quite striking, isn’t it? As are the low ceilings. These old-fashioned buildings in central Tokyo were not built with claustrophobics in mind. Or people were smaller back then. My favorite example of that style was the old JA building, which was dark and dirty and half-shuttered as well as claustrophobic. Now […]
Month: March 2011
- bistro
- ...
Raffiné, Hongo (ラフィネ)
The Hongo explorations continue. I like it up here because it’s so quiet, especially if you cross the intersection going north toward Tokyo U, and even more so if you take the soft left onto this little half-shuttered shopping street. I found it months ago, coming from a different direction, totally lost, and was pretty […]
Lautrec, Nihonbashi (ロートレック)
From somewhere I conceived the idea that this vaguely French-bistro themed restaurant would be vaguely European and perhaps good. The windows are filled with various Francophile trinkets, and even the interior gives you some idea that they’re trying to be Euro. Incidentally, note the almost-open cherry blossoms artfully included in the shot. Perhaps it’s more […]
- Otemachi
- ...
San Mari Tearoom, Otemachi
A laaate lunch put me in mind of these places in the basement of the building across the street that stay open all hours. They’re ‘tea rooms’, or kissa, as you like, and this looked like the most likely contender – at least on the smokey atmosphere dimension. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t smoke […]
Matsukaze ramen, Akihabara (松風)
When I first came to Japan and started at my new company, the most surprising thing was this: no laptop. After almost 10 years in consulting-related jobs, not having a laptop from work was like losing an arm. A not very useful, kinda heavy arm that you had to carry around all the time. It […]
Taishoken, Nihonbashi (大勝軒)
Hey hey, it’s magnolia season. I wasn’t even aware there was a magnolia season until this year; this tree is on the way that I usually walk to the office, and it’s getting into full bloom here in the space between plum and cherry blossom seasons. Nice. Less nice is Taishoken, which I of course […]
Muroichi ramen, Nihonbashi (室壱羅麺)
Today was really late. I didn’t get out of the office for lunch until after 2:30, so places over in the Muromachi area of Nihonbashi were putting out the ‘Close’ signs while I walked past (on normal days they just hurry out to say they’re closed when they see me walk past). Muroichi was open […]
- Kanda
- ...
Grill Gonnosuke, Kanda (権の助)
I’d like to hit you with a counterintuitive and valuable lesson about picking restaurants in Japan – ‘grill’ doesn’t mean what you think. While Gonnosuke has some neat ambience (murals, surfboards), it is firmly in the ‘grill’ category (I mean, the name really gives it away, right?). That means it’s going to be serving what? […]
- izakaya
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Edoichi, Otsuka ( 江戸一)
After mixed feelings at Konakara, Woodchips and I were keen to try another venue. I attracted a lot of laughter for my preparedness (when I went to Otsuka before by myself, I made a map showing the 5 likeliest places, and I had it with me tonight too), but I also knew exactly how […]
- izakaya
- ...
Konakara, Otsuka (こなから)
Well well, we check another off the list of ‘Tokyo’s greatest sake pubs’. This was decent, just uninspiring and a bit expensive. Having been to a good sampling now, I can safely say that the ‘Gauntner list’ was written around 10 years ago, and that the 10 recommended drinking outlets on there no longer apply […]