How did I end up at this place? I’ll be up front about it – I looked at the map and picked an area I’d never been to. This dense area north of Nihonbashi (broadly Ningyocho, but well outside the more interesting area) has a lot of small offices with a few restaurants sprinkled through […]
Other treats
- Other treats
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Yasube ramen, Akasaka (やすべえ)
Dieting is hard. You tell yourself that you’re going to be all Japanese – just a few drinks, some nibbles to go with, then home to bed – but in reality you end up acting more Japanese – a few drinks, some nibbles to go with, then a bowl of noodles with fatty pork soup […]
- 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 […]
Comme Ca Cafe, Shinjuku
I find myself in the curious position, dear readers, of wanting to recommend a place that really irritated me even while I had a good time. Cafe Comme Ca has a LOT of things going against it, but the cakes are incredibly beautiful and taste pretty good too. Strike 1 – it’s a clothing-branded […]
Itoigawa, Monzennakacho (糸魚川)
What can I tell you? Riding around the city on summer nights is a great pleasure. In this instance, it was just the cruise home from work, but the lighting seemed conducive to snapping a shot of the mothership for prosperity. And after changing, more cruising ensued…eventually ending up a bit south of the river […]
Il Ghiottone, Marunouchi
Let’s not call it a grudge match, but I’ve had an animus against Il Ghittone ever since I went there for lunch one time years and years ago (in the scale of my life; that means early 2005, I think). But plenty of people like it, and some love it, so I was pretty excited […]
- Indian
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Suriya, Kodemmacho (スーリヤ)
A perfectly normal Indian restaurant…just not normal to be out in the middle of nowhere, Iwamotocho. The only things weirder than finding this place out here were that there were a bunch of Indian places in the neighborhood, and there were a bunch of white guys in this one. Seriously, there were eight customers and […]
- 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 […]
Grill Chateau, Yaesu
Ye’ll find this elegant chateau down a narrow alley in Yaesu, the east side of Tokyo station. The crennelations and gothic woodwork are particularly striking against the backdrop of small, worn buildings that populate the rest of the region. As you cross the expansive drawbridge, you’ll be heralded by a row of trumpeters in livery, […]
Okamoto, Asakusa (岡本)
Full-screen If guts are your thing, this whole street is for you. It’s a string of little izakayas with tables on the street, cheap japanese bar food with a slight Korean slant, and a different special ‘beef stew’ at each location. The individual recipes feature varying degrees of nasty bits (if I was writing a […]