Y’all are not going to get any modesty from me regarding my ability to pick places to eat. Someone and I had business to conduct with the gods, or at least the one god who lives at Suitengu, and thus we planned a whole event around it. As regards the lunch portion, I delivered handily. […]
Nihonbashi
Merveille, Nihonbashi
What would YOU do if you were returning to America after 7 years in Japan, leaving behind a visa-less fiancee and going off to get a real job? I hope you’d get an excellent bottle of champagne at Takashimaya, go to Merveille, and then take a taxi to Haneda (unless your flight was leaving from […]
Yoshiki Sushi, Nihonbashi
Yoooooosh (iki). As of today, I no longer lunch in Greater Otemachi. I trust that the 453 entries for Otemachi, Marunouchi, Nihonbashi, Tokyo, and Kanda will tide you over if you need ideas for lunch or dinner. But for now, let’s party! Several weeks ago, Shaft and I entered into a long process of negotiation that […]
Gyoro-Gyoro, Nihonbashi (魚櫓魚櫓)
Yooooooshta. It’s official. I have now been to all of the good sake places in Tokyo. Think you know another? Nope. Not good. This is the last one. Boo-yah! Good, I’m glad we could all agree on that. I mean, it’s pretty obvious that they’ve got something going on; with a head store elsewhere (Shibooya, […]
Kajima Liquors, Ningyocho (加島酒店)
As foreigners, and especially as foreigners with an interest in ‘deep’ Japanese culture, we get cut a lotta slack. We get to go to some of the weirdest, localest little places you can imagine, and people are by and large nice. Or better. Now that I mention it, they’re usually welcoming, interested, and friendly. It’s […]
Janoichi sushi, Nihonbashi (日本橋 蛇の市本店)
Back in Tokyo as of today, eating lunch in the greater Otemachi area. You know that expression in English, ‘In a pig’s eye’? Well, there’s no corresponding expression in Japanese involving snake eyes. But there do seem to be some places called ‘snake-eye sushi’. This isn’t one of them – it’s ‘snake market sushi’. What […]
Nagasaki Rou, Nihonbashi (二代目 長崎楼)
Yeah, the amazing ten-don place was full again, and had 10 people in line again. With a small but heavy sigh, I walked around the neighborhood and settled on one of the other places I hadn’t been to. Nagasaki food isn’t so famous, is it? The only thing that springs to mind is the ‘junk […]
Yoshioka, Kyobashi (地酒屋 よしおか)
Yooooooshta. It’s official. I have now been to all of the good sake places in Tokyo. Think you know another? Nope. Not good. This is the last one. Boo-yah! Well good, I’m glad we could all agree on that. And how could you not agree that it’s a good place? Look at that banner! It’s […]
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 […]
Tenman Tempura, Nihonbashi (天ぷら 天万)
You could convince me that this was a 4th-generation, 100+-year shop if you wanted. Wouldn’t be hard. It’s harder to understand how they can stay in business. The reason I ended up here is pretty simple – they’re right around the corner from absolute greatness, and I’ve been trying to eat tempura at that absolutely […]