No great service is being visited on the world because I’ve visited Aji no Machidaya, but it was pleasant to walk there from Ochiai station, then backtrack and ‘urban hike’ over to Mejiro for dinner at Le Mont. This little liquor shop has featured in various online writeups over the years, but I saw it […]
sake
- izakaya
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Sakanatei, Shibuya (酒菜亭)
Hey hey, it’s the first year-end party of the year-end. I would have just called it a party, but Journey was in the holiday spirit already, and we all have plenty to forget, so it was billed as a year-ender (which is traditionally and literally ‘forget-the-year-meeting’). With Jimmy Dean, Carter of Mars and Woodrow also […]
Moromiya, Nihonbashi (もろみ家)
The two masters here at Moromiya are working on their collection of sake labels. It doesn’t really need more work, does it? Actually, nothing about this place needs more work. It’s just about right, across the board. You’ll love it even as you leave lighter in the purse (or not, if you can get your […]
- izakaya
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Toyokichi, Kameido (亀戸 豊吉)
Recently the exploring bug hits every few days, leading to bouts of random bike-riding in medium-close neighborhoods. Last week was Kinshicho (weird, uncomfortable, some good places), tonight was Kameido (quiet, dull, not recommended. And I’m not just saying that to hide the good places.). Eric Clapton’s followup to the awesome 461 Ocean Boulevard (This is great, […]
- bar
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Sakura, Shibuya (円山茶家 さくら)
First, a little train-themed digression. What’s funny about this photo? The cloth coat? The sensible shoes? The heavy stockings? No! The $1000 handbag! I’m being generous – they have $2k and $3k versions also, and this could be one of them. I hope I didn’t accidentally and unfairly underestimate this woman’s status. Without meaning to […]
- bar
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All That Jazz, Arakicho (オール・ザット・ジャズ)
You have to admire courage and conviction. If you were a regular salaryman who liked drinking sake, would you get off the treadmill around age 40 to open a little bar in Arakicho with a focus on southern sake and a mild theme of 50’s memorabilia and pinup girls? No, you would not. But if […]
- Other treats
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Harajima Liquors, Otaba (Okutama) (原島商店, 大丹波)
The Woodsman and I had a bit of a walk today. It’s a tourist special to take the train west from Shinjuku and go ‘hiking’ at Mt. Takao (where you have your choice of fully-paved road, cable car or chairlift to get you up and down), but in the same area there are plenty of […]
- izakaya
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Kitayama, Otsuka (きたやま)
Recently I wrote something about how my friends and I have been to all the good places. I’m not going to link to that post. I just wanted to say I’m sorry. That was a really stupid thing to say, and I’m very embareassed. It won’t happen again. Here’s another good place. Actually a whole […]
- izakaya
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Shiba no Ura, Tamachi (芝の浦)
Recently I’ve been feeling like we’ve ‘done all the good stuff’ regarding sake in Tokyo, i.e., visited all the famous izakayas and even the hidden gems. With that in mind, I consulted my ‘targets’ map for something a bit more out of the way for Poshand and me to try this evening. Being sorta between […]
- bar
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, Ikejiri Ohashi
Stop me if you’ve read this one before. Several years ago I saw a post by a foreign visitor that talked about a restaurant he’d visitied and how aMAZing it was. But, he said, the owner’s wife had asked him not to blog about it. Too secret. Too great. So he just posted a picture of […]