Bistro Agathe, Monzen Nakacho (ビストロ アギャット)

Great idea! Take a place with an awesome exterior but a terrible manager and business model, re-purpose it into a casual bistro – something Monnaka always needs but doesn’t always have. I see where the place a block south of Exit 2 that went through several iterations of declining-quality French places is now a low-quality […]

Mignonette, Iriya

You’ve noticed that photo-taking is an increasing hobby for me, right? It’s temporary and very low-stress, but I still spent 8 hours today cruising around – from Monnaka to Otemachi, Kasumigaseki to Kappabashi, Asakusa. Getting around, you know? Tokyo by bike is the best possible way to see it. At left, the fauna of Asakusa. […]

Bistro 18-ku, Arakicho

Aaaaaaarakicho. We finally made it here, months and months after starting to think it was worth a return visit. This was really the first time I’ve explored it seriously, and it turns out to be a ‘difficult’ neighborhood. The places that look good also look scary in the no-menu-no-prices way. Believe it or not, we […]

Chez Andre du Sacre Coeur, Ningyocho (シェ・アンドレ・ドゥ・サクレクーレ)

Chez Andre, or Chez to his friends, has been making homey bistro fare ever since immigrating from his native Bangladesh following the poultry riots of ’89. He’s managed to put together a long-standing restaurant that captures a little bit of the magic of the Sacre Coeur, which is a Bangladeshi ritual involving chicken hearts and […]

Bibou, Philadelphia

This Wednesday was supposed to be road-trip day, followed by date-night. Fortunately we had the awkward conversation that let us conclude mutually conclude that the road-trip idea was batshit crazy. Thus evening saw us capping a quiet day by dressing up a notch and navigating the historic streets of Center City PhilaPA to get down […]