Ginza is hard. If you’re at all price-sensitive, you’re likely to be disappointed by the quality level of places. Italian is the same way for me. But The Wagon is largely a winner, and it has an associated restaurant in Azabu Juban that’s open just as late as the Ginza branch (well after midnight). My […]
Italian
- Ginza
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Gustoso, Ginza
I’ve always had a fear of the mid-priced places on the main streets of Ginza, the ones with the big, colorful signs at street level. That’s why I never went to one until now – I expected them to be adequate but dull and overpriced for the quality level. Now I’ve been to one, but […]
Ander, Marunouchi (新丸7回)
Have I mentioned how I go to a different place every day for lunch? No? I haven’t mentioned it today? Good. Always nice to have an opportunity to show how clever one is. Today saw a relatively broad chast of charachters heading down to Chin Maru, where my enthusiasm is newly rekindled by the remembrance of […]
- Italian
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La Testa Dura, Awajicho
In a quirky and completely unexpected twist, the organizer of today’s lunch unceremoniously ushered the umbrella-less Koala and I outside into the rain and a taxi. We pitched up several traffic lights away, a bit north of Awajicho, to sample the Italian cooking of La Testa Dura, cleverly hidden a touch off the main street. […]
- Italian
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Kimuraya, Tokyo
Tokyo Station truly contains a wealth of options. I used to think it was oddly barren, but as I’ve come to understand it better, all I can think now is that I don’t know how I was missing everything before. One recent area I’ve been browsing is ‘Number One Street’, a long corridor in the […]
Essenza, Marunouchi
This has been on the target list for a long, long time – must have been July or August that I tried to go but had it rejected by my dining companion on grounds of cost. I grant you, Y1900 is not a normal lunch, but this is a good place. As we were leaving […]
- Italian
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Sabatini di Firenze, Tokyo
Being graced with the company of my good maaaaate Rin-ji, I felt like it was time for something special (besides, it was her turn to pay). Out of the choices I offered (any building with ‘Maru’ in the name) she chose Daimaru, which is largely unknown to most Otemachi dwellers. This is because it’s far […]
- Italian
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Kitchen Ishigaki
Well, I’m all tired out today and can’t work up any concept for today’s post. On the other hand, I was really impressed with Kitchen Ishigaki (KI; I like to think it means ‘rock oyster’, but the kanji doesn’t appear anywhere) and would recommend it to you for lunch if it weren’t a good 10-minute […]
Da Paulo, Marunouchi
Many’s the time I’ve been mistaken, and many times confused. And many’s the time I’ve thought of having lunch at Da Paulo, but all the seats were being used. Today Linji and I were luckier. Being 1:30 had something to do with it. Da Paulo turned out to be pretty good, but less exciting than […]
Otemachi Chubo, Otemachi (大手町厨房)
Late lunch filled me with desire to eat a big plate of pasta as well as a yen to knock off some more places in the neighboring Otemachi Building. It was close to 2:30 by the time I got down to the basement (these meetings get longer every week), and a lot of places were […]