Boy do the hits keep on coming. Coming a little too fast, but we have to soldier on in the name of fun, sociability, and education. Ippou is in a small street on the east side of Ebisu; depending on your proclivities, you may know it as the street also containing Aotea Rangi, the New […]
sake
- izakaya
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Ishii, Shinbashi (いし井)
Boy do the hits keep on coming. Coming a little too fast; I kept sitting back contentedly while eating and drinking with Woody, thinking “Phew, that was a hard week. Glad it’s Friday night!” It was Tuesday. What’s happening in Shinbashi around quitting time? I mean this semi-rhetorically, because if you have to ask, you […]
- izakaya
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Hanya, Kitami (はん家,喜多見)
A funny thing about Tokyo – doesn’t matter where you are, no matter how small the station or how little you’ve previously known about it. There’s always a good chance that somebody has opened up their dream restaurant there, be it an izakaya, bistro, trattoria or food truck. But usually it’s an izakaya. Hanya occupies […]
Umejin, Kiyosumi Shirakawa (梅仁)
Mmmmmm, rollin’ around on a Friday night, after the sun goes down and after practicing guitar for an hour. Nothing particular in mind, but I took a book, so I was ready to settle in and read. After 20 or 30 minutes of aimless cycling, I passed Umejin, and remembered that it had looked sorta […]
- izakaya
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Dajare, Akasaka (駄洒落)
Seemingly ages ago, I went to Akasaka for dinner. If you’re an overly-careful reader, you might remember that I scouted the neighborhood before dinner and found a place that looked likely – their shtick being ‘comparing pure-rice sake’. If you’re a reader who actually uses the site as god intended it, to find places to […]
- izakaya
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Takaban, Awajicho
Tuesday night, I wanted…information. I figured if I got You drunk, then by hook or by crook I’d get some. He was already unstable as we were leaving the office – look how blurry he is here. We walked up to Takaban, which I visited some time ago alone, sans camera, while waiting for someone […]
- izakaya
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Nekoya, Tsukiji (ねこ屋)
How would you come up with this concept? “Stylish, private basement izakaya with homey food served by a youngish female master in kimono, with an outstanding sake selection. And everything cat-themed.” Everything. Well, it’s a good place, and the Woodsman deserves all credit for coming up with it when the rough plan was an evening around Tsukiji. Neko-san […]
- izakaya
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Yamato, Morishita (山登)
Sometimes people ask how I find all these places. Much like Eddy Merckx describing his approach in training to be the world’s best cyclist as ‘Ride lots,’ I spend an inordinate amount of time looking. Seek and ye shall find. I actually find the looking almost as enjoyable as the finding and eating, because it’s […]
- bar
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Shu Salon, Shinagawa （酒茶論）
I’ve always thought Shinagawa is an odd place – the station is big, and a little confusing, and it’s really just anchored by hotels. If you’re not there for a wedding, why are you there? In this case we were planning to go to the aquarium, but being a cheap bastard in many ways I […]
- izakaya
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Gingin, Omori (吟吟)
Boy, Woody and I have been talking about going to this place for months. Boy were we not impressed. That’s probably enough as a capsule review, and the lighting was bad so the pictures didn’t even come out so well. But I’ll soldier on. This picture’s pretty cool though, eh? Despite being quite a small […]