Before we get to the mind-blowing kaiseki finale to this 2-day Kyoto jaunt, can we just see some random shots from the street? ‘Vehicle of God’ is, I suppose, an OK translation, but more a funny one (as you can see from the picture, it’s an omikoshi; koshi seems a little archaic to me, so […]
sake
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Jizake Bar Zen, Kyoto (地酒ＢＡＲ 膳)
I almost missed Zen, several times. First, the location on the googlemapz is wrong – the owner has moved it four times since it opened, and one of those was recently (from Gion, as shown on the map, to Oike; he said something like he’s ‘following the foot traffic’). Second, the building is obscure. I knew […]
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Ushitora, Shimo Kitazawa (うしとら)
Heading out to Shimokita to meet Big Bird, I had all sorts of clever quips planned about how Ushitora is Tokyo’s second-best beer bar. Living near Popeye, I have a specific view of these things. But y’know, I’d actually have to say this is better. That means you’re reading about Tokyo’s best beer bar right […]
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Hayashiya, Asagaya (食愉旬感 HAYASHIYA)
Northside Asagaya is a hip, bohemian enclave of over 100 fun little bars and restaurants…that were all closed on the holiday. But no reason we couldn’t walk around and see things, like this hip, bohemian house. They left the window open. I think that makes it fair game, and even fairer with a flash. Don’t […]
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Shun, Kachidoki (いざか屋 旬)
Following the unfortunatosity that was Tsuruya, Big Bird and I ventured over to his ‘home quadrant’ of Kachidoki, where there’s one street with a few decent-looking places. The soba looks pretty good, and so did this place. It turned out OK. Any place with the audacity to call themselves ‘Season’ must have a bit of […]
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Omasa Komasa, Higashi Nakano (大政小政)
Really, apologies to all my sake-drinking friends. I don’t know what possessed me to go to Tachikawa today – and you didn’t miss anything out there, I promise. But on the way back I got to thinking…passing through Nishi Kokubunji always does that too me. I only went there twice. The first time was to […]
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Oumi, Tachikawa (青海)
The waitress from Zukunashi walked me down to this place, introduced me to the master, and then left. She has a business to run, after all. I was left with a two-sided sake menu and a bunch of snack options, in a rustic, deliberately old-style interior. It was kinda bustly, but I just sat and […]
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Luck! Zen, Ningyocho (なごみ屋楽膳)
You and I (and You is my colleague, not you) tried to go to this place tonight that I spotted while jogging after the typhoon. Looked like an abandoned building where people had set up a squatter business grilling clams and squid, with self-service drinks. They have a web site. And they were fully booked. […]
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Koju, Kanda (かんだ光寿 )
We all have our biases, and in this case the thing that kept me from going to Koju much sooner was the web site. It’s spectacularly uninformative, and even confusing – the main picture shows a man in a firesuit, leaning against the front of a racecar. It does not contain the shop’s address. Nor […]
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Kudan, Gakugei Daigaku (件)
There’s a first for everything, and a slightly different personality to every neighborhood of Tokyo. This was my first time to visit Gakugei Daigaku, and I’d like to say its personality reflects a bit of its college roots. The few streets that I saw seemed cheaper and funkier than the average suburb, with a bit […]