First off, Dad, don’t get all excited. This has nothing to do with resonator guitars, except in the most glancing way. You’ll remember, I’m sure, that the Dopyera brothers were from Slovakia? And ‘dobro’ means ‘good’ in their quaint native tongue, or else it’s just a contraction of ‘DOpyera BROthers’? Well, this is a Croatian […]
Ginza
Ginza, Ginza
Sorry, no time to get up a real post about dinner (Saturday and Sunday nights were both quite good!), but here’s a little randomness from Saturday afternoon in Ginza, pre-dinner. ‘White Rose’ has always amused me. It’s a hostess club, but it sort of inverts the whole ‘privacy and discretion’ thing that I associate with […]
- Ginza
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Rocky Top, Ginza
It’s a good thing none of you showed up – Rocky Top was jammed last night. Kataoka san was nice enough to let me rock out on his 30’s original 5-string RB-1, and Kojima san stepped up to sing a song for a change. Actual playing starts around 1:15; I’m too lazy to edit the […]
Grape Gumbo, Ginza
Remember last year when I went to Mardi Gras? Always meant to go back, but the pressures of needing to try new places have thus far kept me from their door. Grape Gumbo is the father-restaurant of Mardi Gras, with a similar menu and style, so I feel like I’ve been back now – new […]
- Chinese
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Zenshutoku, Ginza (全聚徳)
When you’re in Beijing, if you say ‘Peking Duck’, everyone will tell you to go to Zenshutoku (I heard this from the waiter and at least one other source – who actually lived in Beijing – so it must be true). When you’re in Ginza, or Shinjuku, you may say Peking Duck with impunity, safe […]
Ginza, Ginza
Hey hey, Ginza! As someone was saying to me just last night, it’s always high on the list of places that people want to go when they visit Tokyo. I’ll flatter myself by saying that I’m an experienced Ginza visitor, and from that dubious position of expertise I’ll also say that I think most visitors […]
- Ginza
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Ginza de Wine, Ginza (銀座でワイン)
Bring Your Own wine is a great concept, and one of the main things I miss about my years in Australia (really!). In Oz, it was usually $0-5 to bring a bottle in, which is nothing compared to the 100% markup restaurants usually impose (a problem unless you’re drinking 2-buck-Chuck). In case you didn’t know, […]
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Nashville, Ginza
After more visits than I care to admit to Rocky Top for live bluegrass, it was finally time to try one of the other Ginza country music live venues. Nashville is the obvious contender (there’s also one near Yurakucho called, enticingly enough, Banjo, but I’m not sure if they hav bands or not), but I had […]
- Ginza
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Mogami, Ginza （最上）
Until now, the only kushiage place I’ve really loved (or been to an appreciable number of times) has been Isomura. I’d probably still tell you to go there first for the funky country-style atmosphere, almost like a mix of American tacky country and Japanese farmhouse, and of course for the great fry at decent prices. […]
- Ginza
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Uzuki, Ginza (うづき)
I sure do complain a lot, don’t I? Well, at least I eat a lot, so there’s usually something to talk about. The thing that reminded me that I complain too much is that I was going to complain about people who say they have ‘culinary adventures’. Going to a restaurant and paying money to […]