Uruwashi. How did I miss this place? I’ve been on this street a dozen, a hundred times. The sign is big. The entrance is inviting, or at least the door opens and you can then go down the spare, elegant staircase and follow the tiled, cobbled path into the genkan. It’s this kind of place […]
Kanda
Bario ramen, Ochanomizu (らーめん バリ男)
Hola pendejo. Oye como va and all that. I’d like to write a whole Spanish-themed post, but that’s about as far as I’ll get. Busy days. This place hasn’t been open for long, and I can’t help feeling they’re riding the crest of a crashing wave – surely brick-heavy, artery-clogging ramen can’t have long to […]
- Kanda
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Carp Okonomiyaki, Kanda (カープ お好み焼き 東京支店)
The northeast corner of Kanda continues to yield occasional delights, despite years (years, I say) of exploration and (recently) relatively frequent bouts of despair at finding new, good things. Carp is obviously not new – it’s well-used and a bit greasy. But you’d be greasy too if your main feature was a griddle, and all […]
MaMa, Kanda (中国料理 媽媽)
There are days when I just think “Chinese”. They are few, and they are far between – only twice a year, maybe. This was one of them. After a lot of walking around in a dangerously dithering state (all the untried places looked crappy), I came upon MaMa. And it turned out really well! I […]
- Kanda
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Yoshimuraya ramen, Kanda (麺処 吉村家)
You know I like to bring you the latest restaurants, the ‘hottest things’ on the ‘Tokyo scene’. Well, with the summer shaping up the way it is – low/no-air conditioning policies to save power for those in need – every restaurant is going to be hot soon. It wasn’t even sunny today, but with the […]
- Chinese
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Emmado, Kanda (炎麻堂)
Another lunch, another chain store. Only this was the last day before Golden Week, and I felt festive. Really wanted ramen, but didn’t find anything, and when I saw a mapo tofu specialty store, I was hooked. Spicy is almost as good as ramen, and sort of healthier if you neglect to mention the pork […]
- Kanda
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Morihachi, Kanda (森八 室町店)
It’s always tempting to think you’ve tried something great and unique; I was pretty happy that I finally went in to Morihachi, but it was pretty apparent that it wasn’t a family-run operation. Not that this is a terrible thing. There’s little difference between this place and a family shop – the old woman at […]
- curry
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Crown Ace Curry, Kanda
Very indecisive today. That can tend to happen, either because I’m genuinely indecisive on the day or because I feel like going somewhere new and end up going to an area with few unexplored options left. In this case I rounded a corner after 20 minutes aimless wander, saw ‘curry’ and thought ‘bing!’ Plus, ‘Crown […]
- Kanda
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Tsukesoba Aduchi, Kanda (つけ蕎麦安土)
Walking to work this morning I was reflecting on the near-miss of almost living in Kayabacho Tower when I moved to Japan 7 years ago. Never a big fan of moving, I’ve been in the same apartment in Mon-naka since I got here. And I still think Kayabacho would be a lousy place to live, […]
Izumiya, Jimbocho (神田和泉屋)
Remember a while ago I went to this tolerable-but-expensive izakaya in a really small alley in the fun part of Jimbocho? Since I was in the area for an afternoon’s vacation, I went back to see the store. They’ve been doing it since 1936, and it kinda shows, but not in a bad way. What […]