Why is it that I find so many places recently worthy of a Recommended tag? (For the record, it’s currently 138 places out of a total 850, and I find that ratio quite acceptable, especially when you consider that some of them are lunch recommendations) I like to think that it’s because I’m such a […]
sake
Shoujou, Monzen Nakachou (猩猩)
Sometimes I have an existential crisis, a dark night of the soul where I wonder if there’s a point to all this looking for great restaurants – because lately it just seems so easy to find them, you know? There’s an expression in Japan if you like the taste of something, it ‘meets your tongue’. […]
- izakaya
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Fish Research Center, Shinbashi (魚研究所)
Several weeks or months ago, coming home from a particularly disastrous meeting (this one, but I’m sort of a gentleman sometimes so I didn’t mention the disastrous aspects in the original post), I was so disgruntled that I got off the train and walked around Shinbashi. It always seemed like a grubby, seedy area for […]
Takaban, Jinbocho (鷹ばん、小川町)
Having some time to kill after work and before 8, I spied out something on the map that looked like it would pass the time. Takaban will bear further investigation since I just sat and read and nibbled and drank for an hour, but it could well be my new favorite place. The food seemed […]
Yamakyu, Kanda (山久)
Every time I eat an oyakodon I think of Paul Simon; I can’t help it. It’s not very original (because I write it every time as well) but that’s one of my favorites among his songs. Oyakodon itself is a hard thing – I think it’s not really appealing to foreigners in its truest form. […]
- bar
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Good One, Kanda
Good one indeed. Woody and I were set to re-visit Hanakago (yeah, it’s that good, especially if you reserve so you can get sashimi from the shop next door). I had reserved for 7 but it turned out we could both get there earlier, and that left us standing outside with 30 minutes of freedom (except […]
Usataro, Monzennakacho （うさたろう）
Usataro is quite close to Monnaka crossing, on one of the southside streets. It has an appealing facade with big windows, lots of bottles, and red paint on most of the exposed surfaces. Looks like the kind of place that could be good even if it’s a bit formulaic. Why did it take me almost […]
- izakaya
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Hanakago, Kanda (花かご)
So I was leaving work, and it had been a funny up-and-down day, and I thought ‘What the hey, I’m going to Kanda to relax.’ There was a place that I had seen just down the street from Mimasuya – tiny, shabby, really small, and not all that well-preserved, but on the bamboo screens outside […]
Seigetsu, Kagurazaka (霽月)
Things wound down naturally as the crew worked through the sake menu at Shutoan. After 2 hours we started thinking our business was pretty near complete, and we were itching to visit another establishment. Poshand put in a quick call to Seigetsu, in nearby Kagurazaka – previously recommended by Journey and also pre-confirmed as being […]
- izakaya
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Shutoan, Yotsuya (酒徒庵)
Oysters are a powerful aphrodisiac. Seeing Sarah Jessica Parker, larger than life on a billboard in a Tokyo train station, is not. I’ve never been a fan of S&tC (in fact I’ve never seen an episode, let alone the movie), but even I can pick up the style clues that are supposed to drive the […]