Through a weird series of searches on the Google, I came upon this guy Nick’s post for a nice-looking restaurant specializing in mass quantities of off-cuts of good fish. And I gotta admit, I was seduced by his approach of posting only a shot of the street outside the restaurant and not its name or […]
izakaya
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Kyusuke, Ningyocho (久助)
We interrupt this interminable series of posts on eel in Kanda to bring you something that is fundamentally different (at least until lunch!) – oden in Nigyocho. Yesterday feature a few trying times at the office, and I felt a deep need to eat out rather than salad (the verb) at home. Since I was […]
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Bistro Taruya, Kanda (樽や)
There is beauty all around us, if we only look for it. Last night, frustrated by Friday’s unsuccessful attempt to by big-person shoes, I went to another branch of the same store. Lo, despite being only a quarter the size and located in a distinctly down-at-the-heels location next to an unused section of Ueno Yamanote […]
Ikada, Monzen Nakacho (いかだ)
After the minor debacle of the grumpy grandma, I felt a little burned, but also a little hungry. Ever the glutton for punishment (see prior comments about needing to search to find those hidden diamonds), another sign piqued my interest. Ikada was equally a bit scary – a very normal izakaya on a very small […]
Kimiyoshi, Monzennakacho (君代柴)
Hey, it’s time to be rude again! Seems like only yesterday… One time a few months ago, I worked up the courage to try this place in a back street of Monnaka. It’s got a nice aspect from the outside – dark, traditional house, a bright sign with difficult-to-read print, no menu outside…The kind of […]
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Tobu Sakana, Shimo Kitazawa
Wow, the main course. This is close to the station, and one of the first places we saw when we started walking around. Stayed on my mind all day, and I wanted to go back. This being Japan, the good-looking places get packed, as was this one when we got back (at 6:30). Fortunately the […]
S&S, Monzennakacho
Deeeeeep. I’ve only gotten aware of the Japanization of this word in the last year or so, and in the context of something being sorta “way downtown”, i.e. really old-fashioned and authentic, and maybe a little grubby. So I’ve seen this izakaya reviewed as being pretty deep, although the same could be said about half […]
Gojusuzu, Monzennakacho (五十鈴)
Smarting from the poor picking I’d done on Izuro several minutes before and in need of something to redeem my honor (as well as better food), Gojusuzu seemed like a good pick. Again in the near southeast quadrant of Monnaka crossing, it had a pleasantly shabby outlook and a bunch of people inside. No particular […]
Izuro, Monzen Nakacho (いづろ)
Know what kind of restaurant I like best? The kind that’s simple, fun, cheap and yet still blows you away on taste. Despite any evidence to the contrary, I maintain that the flavor’s the thing, and the main reason why I go to higher-end restaurants is that the chances of tastiness are a bit better. […]
Shouya, Otemachi (庄屋)
Man, I feel like writing a capsule review of this place. First day back from vacation, and hitting it hard with a plunge into the basement of the Otemachi Building and yet another new restaurant. Not intentional, I swear it. Shouya is part of the big, bad New Tokyo group, which includes about 15 brands […]