Occasional visitors to Japan (hi Mom and Dad) will recognize this tiny, fading place as the one where we had lunch one day around 2005. Or not. It’s in the row of places across from the north entrance to Morishita station, along with Fuji. It’s a real get-there-before-they-die sort of place. So many of them […]
Month: July 2011
- izakaya
- ...
Uoshin, Akasaka (赤坂とゝや 魚新)
It’s a task, folks, picking restaurants all the time. When someone visits from out of town as has time for lunch, it’s not such a burden. Chewy lives in Singapore and was staying in Aoyama, so Japanese in that area was required, and Tabelog came up trumps as usual. Uoshin is a quite expensive kappo […]
- Ginza
- ...
Sasahana, Ginza (ささ花)
There are a few places in Tokyo that I believe in enough to go back to, and a very few that I feel compelled to post more than once about. Sasahana is one of them. The attraction here is that you get the full-on Ginza kappo treatment for less money than you’d expect. In the […]
Botanica, Roppongi
It’s a rare day that I have lunch at 11:30. It’s even rarer that I go to Roppongi for it, and rarer still that I enter the rarefied air of the Midtown restaurant floors. Always seemed like they were a bit too fancy, but for a family lunch with someone, it’s just the ticket. Botanica […]
- Other treats
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Tonari ramen, Toyocho (トナリ)
This place is right next to one of Tokyo’s best ramen shops, Bigakuya…and it routinely has much longer lines. Why’s that? And what’s a ‘tanmen’ anyway? I went around 2:30 to find out. Ohhh, that’s why there are long lines. It’s Jiro-style ramen. People love that stuff these days, don’t they? No-frills, low prices, massive […]
- izakaya
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Okagesan, Yotsuya (萬屋おかげさん)
Yooooooshta. It’s official. I have now been to all of the good sake places in Tokyo. Think you know another? Nope. Not good. This is the last one. Boo-yah! Good, I’m glad we could all agree on that. Back to work. There is a mythical izakaya in Yotsuya. One that’s so popular, so well-regarded, that […]
l’Effervescence, Nishi Azabu
Several months ago I noticed this frightening place way up in the back streets northwest of Nizhi Azabu crossing. It just looked too good. But when I started doing my research for the ‘degenerate ladies who brunch instead of work’ series recently, l’Effervescence turned out to hugely-rated and yet strangely reasonable for lunch. Like a […]
- izakaya
- ...
Fuki, Ningyocho (地酒と趣肴 風貴)
Well, we didn’t have that much luck at Kyowa, but it was early. Walking around left us in from of Fuki, which I had previously noticed as having some of that thar sakay stuff. Initially we were impressed by the seriousness of the master, who was sitting near the cash register working on a laptop. […]
- izakaya
- ...
Kyowa, Ningyocho (活魚料理 京和)
Marketing, my friends, is a bitch. I saw this place a bunch of times and was attracted to the modest exterior and the legend “Tai-shu Kappo”, which I interpret to mean “Classy cookin’ for reg’lar folks”. Things were a little too regular when someone and I got in, to wit just one other table eating […]
- izakaya
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Kishidaya, Tsukishima (岸田屋)
Kishidaya. I live near here. It’s famous. Why did it take me 7 years to get there? Easy. They open at 5. It’s popular. I mean, get-there-before-they-open popular. Who has time to do that? Who doesn’t work on weekdays? These guys, hahahahahaha. In fact, we tried to go to another place nearby that’s almost as […]