As a public service, I meant to post a comment that plenty of tables were available at all the major hotels for New Year’s Eve dinners. Seriously – I decided at the last minute (30th) that I wanted to go somewhere glamorous and started calling. Park Hyatt, Penninsula, Shangri-La and others all had tables for […]
French
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Albente Champagne Cafe, Ebisu
Several champagne cafes have opened around Ebisu in recent years (I say this like I know). Now that I have a little more experience of them, I’d say that they’re oriented toward luxury consumers – hardly surprising for champagne. Check out this place – they distinguish themselves by being your champagne-drinking home-away-from-home, and also by being […]
Brasserie Yoshi, Ginza
Ginza is a hard neighborhood for the casual diner or eager bar hopper who’s not on an expense account. It’s easy to wander into a place (well, easy if you’re not scared to see what’s behind Door Number 3) and find that they have a solid seating charge plus healthy drink and service fees. Still, […]
La Scene, Kagurazaka
Kagurazaka is famous for French stuff. It’s funny, but there really ARE a ton of little French (and Italian) places lurking around. It’s not that they’re clustered in one place; this one, which appeared in a Hanako article, is actually a bit north of what you may think of as the ‘main drag’ (Waseda Dori), […]
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Ca Marche, Tamagawa
This is a puzzlement – I didn’t expect to find a decent French place right near the station in Tamagawa (not Niko-tama, the one farther south). But there it is – walk toward the river, cross the tracks, and there’s a very palatable, brick-fronted restaurant. If you live there, I’m sure you already know. The […]
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Comme d’Habitude, Sangenjaya
As the latest in our series of neighborhood explorations, Sangenjaya had a few things against it. I’m unreasonably biased against the Denentoshi line (dunno why), and as far as I could tell, Sancha was a bit too…industrial. Finally, the weather was gloomy all day. but after a late start we persevered and headed there. It […]
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Mardi Gras, Ginza
Once in a while everyone comes to a point in their life where they visit a famous restaurant. Mardi Gras is a famous restaurant in Tokyo, being as the chef left another famous restaurant, Grape Gumbo, to set out on his own. I’ve seen it featured in various ‘celebrity chef’ features in Tokyo Calendar et […]
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l’Edge d’Or, Gaienmae
This will certainly merit a return visit – on the evening in question all we could manage was a plate of ham and a few grapefruit juices since the kitchen was already closed. Still, the ham (and chorizo) was excellent, as was the dark, stylish, green-heavy bistro interior. With birdcages and brass. I recommend that […]
Mikuni Marunouchi, Marunouchi
Health food is something I’ve always been suspicious of (sorry Mom). I associate ‘healthy’ with a lack of flavor, which is unfair except that it often seems to mean limiting salt to a stultifying degree and reducing cooking techniques to steaming (you may disagree on this one, but I think steamed things are boring). Mikuni, […]
Bistro Lyon, Otemachi
You’re not going to believe this one – I hadn’t been to the casual bistro place in the basement of the building across the street? Well, no. It’s generally kinda crowded, but it’s more my contrariness menifesting in a desire to avoid buildings that more people frequent. With a late lunch promising limited crowding, I […]