This is a new one to the neighborhood, at least since last time I scouted. It was already pretty late, and a lot of stuff was closed or closing (or full, which is how my life continues not to include the experience of entering Shot Bar Funx). This place had the dual advantages of still […]
Monzen Nakacho
Yatsushita, Monzennakacho (和食 やつした)
It’s quirky, right? You stay down in southwest Tokyo, Kanagawa really, for 4 weeks, but something draws you back. Inexorably. Through mysterious circumstances we found ourselves staying for three nights in Monzennakacho, 2 minutes from where I used to live. Incidentally, I totally recommend this hotel. Amazing location, and the Japanese-style room was really sweet. […]
Bistro Agathe, Monzen Nakacho (ビストロ アギャット)
Great idea! Take a place with an awesome exterior but a terrible manager and business model, re-purpose it into a casual bistro – something Monnaka always needs but doesn’t always have. I see where the place a block south of Exit 2 that went through several iterations of declining-quality French places is now a low-quality […]
Napoli Napoli, Monzen Nakacho
If you remember that old, overpriced sushi place called ‘Tamon’ that used to be just north of the highway…eh, no one’s going to remember that. I talked to people who lived in the neighborhood and didn’t know it was there. The point is that it disappeared, and was replaced just before I left with pizza […]
Kushiya, Kiyosumi Shirakawa (KUSHIYA こぬた)
Thassit baby, kinjo-jiman. I don’t give a good goddam if it’s lower-class, it’s my home. We rolled around a lot on this balmy summer night, speculating on whether we would be caught in the rain. Eventually we ended up back at the original intention, where they seemed to have been saving seats for us. This […]
Narita sushi, Monzen Nakacho (すし 成田)
A couple years ago, this place Sushi Yata popped up south of the river in Monnaka. I went there and got really excited, because I thought it was reasonably-priced, sorta creative, and really delicious. Over time, I came to feel like the master was weird, uncomfortably so, and that he had a solid habit of […]
Taniyan ramen, Monzennakacho (深川谷やんラーメン本店)
This is on the outskirts of Monnaka, where Kasaibashi Dori bends down to meet Eitai Dori and it’s hard to cross the street if you’re walking to work – which I was, for several years. And the grease and stains on the yellow awning here kept calling me. Plenty of evenings I’d wobble by on […]
Fukagawahama, Monzennakacho (深川浜)
Fukagawahama. It’s not Fukahama, although that’s not far away (and very worthwhile; in fact,if you just came back from Kyoto I think you’ll agree the cost performance at Fukahama is amazing). Fukagawahama is just a normal izakaya in a normal back alley of Monzennakacho. It’s always been there, at least within the approaching-7-years that I’ve been there. […]
Nagomi, Monzennakacho (串揚処 和み)
Yet another new place that opened in the last few weeks; the orchids are still fresh. This one is on the street by the river, and where we were sitting would have an awesome view of cherry blossoms in a few weeks. It would be worth reserving, actually. Opinions vary on the interior; I thought […]
Orihara Shoten, Monzen Nakacho (折原商店)
The ‘renewal’ of stores in Monnaka continues. You’d swear this was economic vitality, but I still insist it’s the opposite – economic vitality means existing stores stay in business. The number of new shops opening in the last year is more than the sum of the preceding 5 years. Orihara Shoten, run by Ikebukuro’s Orihara […]