Yeah, the amazing ten-don place was full again, and had 10 people in line again. With a small but heavy sigh, I walked around the neighborhood and settled on one of the other places I hadn’t been to. Nagasaki food isn’t so famous, is it? The only thing that springs to mind is the ‘junk […]
- Kanda
- ...
Uruwashi, Kanda (うるわし 神田)
Uruwashi. How did I miss this place? I’ve been on this street a dozen, a hundred times. The sign is big. The entrance is inviting, or at least the door opens and you can then go down the spare, elegant staircase and follow the tiled, cobbled path into the genkan. It’s this kind of place […]
Margaux tonkatsu, Akihabara (丸五)
Ominous, the sky. I was heading up to Akihabara to buy a radioactive giant saber-toothed turtle action figure (Americans make the wierdest requests of people coming home on vacation) and figured I’d combine it with lunch. I also combined it with a picture of the ‘Loving Hut’ truck, which is just like that Natural Hand place, only it’s […]
Yoshioka, Kyobashi (地酒屋 よしおか)
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! Well good, I’m glad we could all agree on that. And how could you not agree that it’s a good place? Look at that banner! It’s […]
Bario ramen, Ochanomizu (らーめん バリ男)
Hola pendejo. Oye como va and all that. I’d like to write a whole Spanish-themed post, but that’s about as far as I’ll get. Busy days. This place hasn’t been open for long, and I can’t help feeling they’re riding the crest of a crashing wave – surely brick-heavy, artery-clogging ramen can’t have long to […]
- Other treats
- ...
Inoue ramen, Tsukiji (ラーメン 井上)
Recognize this place? That’s right, it’s the old-fashioned standing ramen in the restaurant row on the outside of Tsukiji Market that always has the long lines. Over the course of our visits to the market, someone has gotten increasingly vocal about trying it…and realistically, I don’t need a lot of convincing, do I? Do you […]
- Jinbocho
- ...
Fah Sai, Jimbocho
I spent the longest time looking at this ramen place called Satou on Yasukuni Dori in the heart of the Jimbocho sporting goods area – “Have I gone here yet? It looks familiar. And I don’t think it was that good.” Ahhh, the dilemmas that haunt my lunch. It turns out that the ramen place […]
Manten curry, Jimbocho (ライスカレーまんてん)
Yo, wassup man…ten. You wouldn’t think that one of Tokyo’s most famous curry places would be a dirty little storefront in a thin alley at the north end of Jimbocho. Come to think of it, you probably should expect that – the area is famous for curry, and as far as I’m concerned, the dirtier […]
- Kanda
- ...
Carp Okonomiyaki, Kanda (カープ お好み焼き 東京支店)
The northeast corner of Kanda continues to yield occasional delights, despite years (years, I say) of exploration and (recently) relatively frequent bouts of despair at finding new, good things. Carp is obviously not new – it’s well-used and a bit greasy. But you’d be greasy too if your main feature was a griddle, and all […]
MaMa, Kanda (中国料理 媽媽)
There are days when I just think “Chinese”. They are few, and they are far between – only twice a year, maybe. This was one of them. After a lot of walking around in a dangerously dithering state (all the untried places looked crappy), I came upon MaMa. And it turned out really well! I […]