There’s this great little place near the crossing in Kachidoki called Kanemasu. It’s just a standing bar, but they have some good food, especially these rolls of raw beef tenderly wrapped around the freshest briny sea urchin. This post is not about Kanemasu, it’s about the place around the corner that wasn’t full. Looks good […]
Daruma, Monzen Nakacho (だるま)
After getting hijacked into eating guts and drinking fake…not even beer, I guess I proved my street cred enough. Jerry sent a bottle of sake for me, and Hikuzo was nice enough to bring it up (from Tsukishima, which isn’t all that far really – perhaps 20 minutes on foot, or one stop). Being a […]
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Kujiraken ramen, Yaesu (くじら軒)
You’ve heard of this place Rokurinsha? Yeah, me too. I broke my promise to myself, shame shame, and tried to go again today. Sort of on a dare from You (who has actually been there once). At 3 PM, there were 27 people outside in line, and of course the inside was full. I went […]
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Omasa Komasa, Higashi Nakano (大政小政)
Really, apologies to all my sake-drinking friends. I don’t know what possessed me to go to Tachikawa today – and you didn’t miss anything out there, I promise. But on the way back I got to thinking…passing through Nishi Kokubunji always does that too me. I only went there twice. The first time was to […]
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Oumi, Tachikawa (青海)
The waitress from Zukunashi walked me down to this place, introduced me to the master, and then left. She has a business to run, after all. I was left with a two-sided sake menu and a bunch of snack options, in a rustic, deliberately old-style interior. It was kinda bustly, but I just sat and […]
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Zukunashi, Tachikawa (ずくなし)
After spending some time reading, trying to nap, and swatting ants in the big Showa Kinen Park, I started walking around when I thought shops would be opening. Sometimes my approach lets me down. Much as I love picking an unfamiliar area and just rolling around, freestyling, looking for good stuff, the whole woody-exterior, bottles-outside […]
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Kaeru ramen, Nakano
Setting out for a day of adventuring in the hinterlands, I decided to stop off in Nakano for a rousing spot of…well, lunch. Nakano seems like a place that would be famous for ramen, but I don’t think it is. Certainly there were not that many places looking likely – a couple in the covered […]
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Luck! Zen, Ningyocho (なごみ屋楽膳)
You and I (and You is my colleague, not you) tried to go to this place tonight that I spotted while jogging after the typhoon. Looked like an abandoned building where people had set up a squatter business grilling clams and squid, with self-service drinks. They have a web site. And they were fully booked. […]
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Murata, Iwamotocho (むらた)
Another of those ‘fill in the map’ days. However, it seems the map has stopped working now that there are over 1,000 points on it…that could take some work. That kind of work is much less fun than actually going to restaurants… Anyhoo, here’s the shady doorway or Murata, offering respite from scorching sun (one […]
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Country House, Akasaka
After repeated success and enjoyment at Rocky Top, and really quite serious letdown at Nashville, I’ve been gun-shy about trying more country music live venues in Tokyo. Part of the problem is that, in so many ways, my economic mentality is mired in the 90’s (or so). I think a concert ticket should cost about […]