Not that long ago, Zone and I wandered deep into the wilds of Yaesu for lunch and found buried treasure (if shabby, cheap, retro standing izakaya count as treasure!). This has been on my mind for some time and has been engendering a deep desire to explore further in this ‘deep’ neighborhood (where we take […]
izakaya
Kappogi, Otemachi (かっぽうぎ)
A recent spate of mediocre to bad lunches have left us worried, my friends, that we’ve exhausted all the good lunch options in Otemachi. Today’s sojourn at Kappogi did only a little to ameliorate that trend, but it did afford us the opportunity to use ‘sojourn’ and ‘ameliorate’ in one sentence. There’s a signboard outside […]
Tsurugi, Monzen Nakacho (鶴来)
I admit, I’m not sure if that’s the right sound for the name. But it’s a nice name regardless. Reminds me of Rio’s wedding, where his grandmother sang a little of the traditional ‘Crane and Tortoise’ song as a sort of long-life blessing for the kids. Tsurugi is in the line of restaurants going south […]
Torahachi, Otemachi (とら八)
Our introduction to Torahachi was momentarily a bit of a worry – the overhead speakers were playing a 70’s power pop song that I like but couldn’t identify. Really an embarassment. After that it was more comprehensible, if less exciting, as we cycled through late-70’s favorites across a number of genres. The Eagles treated us […]
Uossu, Otemachi (魚っす！、新大手町ビル)
This is one of those places that I walk by frequently and never go into. Usually I’m walking by coming from the train, when they’re not open, or going to the train, when I’d like to stop in but am trying to avoid extraneous calories when alone. Today lunch had to wait until almost 1:30, […]
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Kaba, Daimon (かば)
Only on the way out did I notice that the kaba of the restaurant name was in fact 河馬 – hippopotamus! What relation does that have to fish flown in daily from various markets around Japan? Not much? With its noisy, crowded atmosphere and long, iced ‘fish market’ counter up the front, Kaba is a […]
Ogawa, Monzennakacho (緒川)
The trouble with restaurants, my friends, is that I like them too much. Even after a pleasant and satisfying Italian lunch at Chailly, there was no lack of desire to eat out for dinner…in fact it’s usually a struggle to get past all the wonderful options of Monzen Nakacho and into the grocery store. Fortunately […]
Fukagawa Tei, Monzennakacho (深川亭)
This little place popped up a while ago, perhaps as much as a year, and it looked like the sort of simple izakaya that would deliver some fresh and tasty food. I put off going for a long time because it doesn’t look that exciting, but when I was feeling tired and just needed to […]
Hanabishi, Monzennakacho (花菱)
EOITwJ is not dead, my friends, merely having computing problems. Thanks for your kind wishes. There is now an unfortunately huge backlog of eating out ‘experiences’ to get through, from Tuesday night, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Argh. Hanabishi turned out to be more of a history lesson than a culinary extravaganza, but since it […]
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Torafuku, Futako Tamagawa (寅福)
Hey, what a nice izakaya! I’ve been reading lately, on various bulletin boards, the posts from people who come to Japan for ‘culinary adventure’ trips. This means they try to eat at Sukiyabashi Jiro and Sushi Mizutani, Ryugin, and then branch out to Japanese soul food like ramen, izakaya, okonomiyaki, etc. There seems to be […]