Even by the standards of a group dinner for 20 people, this casual Italian place was poor. $40 for food plus all-you-can-drink is cheap, sure, but there’s no sense in it if the cost performance is still low. I swear the pizza was premade at someone’s apartment, not in the brick oven pictured on the […]
Author: Jon
Fukahama, Fukagawa （深はま、深川）
You know it’s not often that I double-post places – it means I really like them. I really like Fukahama. When readers Kwong and Hachi came to town (and this was not a short trip by any means) and suggested we meet, I quickly thought of Fukahama as a place that does really well at […]
Le Caprice, Roppongi
Let’s just skip over the convoluted path that led me to be drinking wine by myself in Roppongi on a Wednesday night pissing with rain. It’s not that interesting. What you should know is that Le Caprice is a pleasant little wine bar with decent food that’s trying hard, and I think they deserve your […]
Tokiwayu Spa, Morishita (ときわ湯、森下？常盤？)
After an extraordinarily productive day, I dithered a lot but eventually went for a late dip to round things off and encourage a good night’s sleep. Mixed experience at this place. It’s on the edge of really great, but I was a touch let down – in ways that are somewhat my fault. If you […]
Mother Kurkku, Harajuku
The little Kurkku chain seems to be straddling all sorts of concepts, not in a bad way. There’re organic ingredients, hip atmosphere (turntables), cafe food, bar bottles, and a full restaurant, all in two places next to each other in an obscure bit of Jingumae. It was pleasant! Look at the web site and you’ll […]
- Other treats
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Tsukiji
Have I mentioned before that the outer market at Tsukiji is fun? I mean, the fish parts are cool and all, but the market part is great. It’s like an open-air market in southeast Asia, but with higher quality stuff, more variety, and hygiene. Fresh wasabi, in quantity, at low prices. Can’t beat the fresh […]
- izakaya
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Asahi, Kasai (ろばた旭、葛西)
After leaving Uogokoro, I felt like the night was young. I had neither eaten nor drunk much, and more to the point I hadn’t found any funny people to hang out with. The closest was the really rough looking party down the counter who were talking about me until I mentioned that I could understand […]
- izakaya
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Uogokoro, Kasai (魚ごころ、葛西)
So, you know, a stressful week at work…made me want to do something quiet and contemplative, by myself. So I looked up some likely sake places in… and headed along after work. Let’s not beat about the bushes, Kasai is pretty dull. I went out this way once before (it’s farther east than my place, […]
Byakuran, Kanda (白蘭)
Look, You was really excited to take me to this place, and I confess there was some attraction in the utterly decrepit surroundings and very happy customers. But I didn’t really get it. My problem is simple: ankake. If you’re an American of a certain age, you may think of Chinese food as ‘gloppy’. As […]
- Kanda
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Matsuya Soba, Awajicho
When I said to Big Bird, ‘Let’s get soba in Awajicho’, this was the place I meant. It was in Japan Times, after all. It is not the place that Bunny recommended, as well as my colleagues, because that was Yabu, and they were right, because Yabu is better. Where the Japan Times makes it […]