Saturday lunch with the kids. More precisely, ‘Saturday lunch where we take turns desperately trying to entertain the kids while our spouse eats ramen’. As usual I was naive. I thought if you got to a 97+-rated shop by 11:30, you’d be kinda safe. What did I think ‘safe’ meant? Because they don’t have a […]
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McDonald’s, Akihabara
I’ve been accused before of over-posting, and commenting on a McDonald’s isn’t going to sway any opinions to the contrary. But to the contrary, you may well need to know about this. Because you can go to McDonald’s across from Yodobashi Camera in Akiba, buy a soda, go upstairs, and look out the window at […]
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Taisetsuken, Shin-Yurigaoka (旭川ラーメン 大雪軒 新百合ヶ丘VIVRE店)
As usual I’m left wondering if this name 維sスッポセdとべあぷん。Oh, sorry. Is supposed to be a pun. Is it like an ‘important’ joke, but it’s ‘Big Snow’ instead? I bet not. It’s just that everything’s a potential pun to me. Jokes aren’t the same in Japan. This ramen is Asahigawa-style (here, read all about the three […]
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Kurazushi, Center Minami (くら寿司 )
With all the professional work I’ve been doing on McDonald’s recently (it’s complicated), it’s interesting to visit the McDonald’s of sushi. I don’t say that lightly – Kurazushi has something like 250 stores, including 10 in the US (all California except Plano, which is good if we ever have to move to Dallas because the […]
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Purple Mountain Chinese Noodles, Tamachi (ラーメン むらさき山)
So here we are again, just me and Todd, passing an enjoyable hour getting away from it all for lunch. It’s a little funny that we’re both in Tokyo. It’s also little funny that ‘getting away from it all’ entails sweating while surrounded by shortish guys in suits, but that’s how we roll. Or stroll. […]
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Misakiko Sushi, Meguro (海鮮三崎港目黒店)
So I had lunch here today. The less said, the better. I don’t even want to tell you about the advances in kaiten technology since I last went to a kaiten. We’re done here. Use this link and I’ll never talk to you again. 03(3442)3266 In other news, Meguro has lots of nightlife attractions.
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Bikkuri Sushi, Shin Yurigaoka (びっくり寿司 新百合ケ丘店)
I’ll just get this joke out of the way up front: “This place is surprisingly good!” Did you get that? Didja? Huh? This particular branch in Shinyuri is a funny one of the 12 in the chain because it closes earliest (10:30, not 4 AM like many of them) and it offers delivery. It also […]
Izumi, Shin Otani (いずみ)
Recently I’ve all about the stepz. 10,000 per day is supposed to be the way to continued health, if not weight loss, and while in Japan it was pretty easy to ‘meet or exceed expectations’ on that, as we say in this crazy world of ‘business’. There’s not a lot near the house, but what […]
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Denmaru Ramen, Kami Asao (伝丸 新百合ヶ丘店)
I got back late, late at night from my first trip to Osaka. I mean, regular salarymen work this late every night, but when I arrive at the station at 11:10, that’s a solid day of work (lunch pictures notwithstanding). There’s an izakaya between home and the station that I’ve been itching to try, and […]
Bistro Isomaru, Machida (ビストロ isomaru)
It’s perhaps intentional that SFP Dining, the group that runs Bistro Isomaru, describes their various store formats as ‘blands‘. I’m not familiar with them – the Isomaru Suisan chain, a fried chicken wing place, and Kizuna Sushi seem to be the biggest ones. ‘Bland’ joking aside, it would be nice if there were more of […]