Once, many moons ago, I went to a nifty exhibit of Japanese postcards culled from the collection of a rich Bostonian who had a yen for taking home thousands of Japanese art objects (I bought the exhibition catalog too; it’s on the bookshelf in the bedroom, bottom right). I never really understood where the museum […]
cheap
- beer
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Beer Restaurant Old Station
Before I ate, I was all set to write a snarky post about this place, but I kinda enjoyed the ‘fried curry udon’, which is their speciality item and comes on a sizzling skillet which rapidly cool, letting the curry congeal, which is a little gross but significantly better than sizzling, spitting, and thoroughly threatening […]
Yasube, Takasaki (安兵衛)
Some of my favorite restaurants ever have been recommendations from local people (I’m thinking in particular of Hida Takayama’s Sakana, which was recommended by the owner of a pottery store). I wanted to hit as many places as possible in Takasaki, so I left the first establishment after 1 drink and 2 dishes. This oden […]
Coca Restaurant, Yurakucho
After all that speechifying last week about the last work day of the year and the relative freedom to go anywhere for lunch, the first day of vacation naturally brought with it a trip to a new restaurant. This Coca is a branch of a bigger one right by Bic Camera that specializes in Thai […]
- bar
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Sunny Spot, Ikebukuro
Emboldened by success at Rocky Top, I decided to branch out and explore some of Tokyo’s other live country music venues. Sunny Spot is on the west side of Ikebukuro, and turns out to be a smallish, friendly one-room bar in an odd basement that contains at least 3 live-music venues. And a decent sake […]
Misozen, Marunouchi （みそ膳）
My ramen knowledge has expanded a bit recently due to concerted efforts to indulge (ugh), but I’m still pretty ignorant about what makes each regional ramen unique. I DO associate Hokkaido ramen with miso (and as my boss says, Northern people like saltier food. At least he does.), and Misozen, as the name implies, offers […]
- Kanda
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Daizan Ramen, Kanda (大山)
Appearances are deceiving. I went into this place expecting normal ramen in a normal environment. It turns out to be shrimp ramen in a decidedly old-school space. I enjoyed the old posters, and especially liked the full-length one from Tora-san’s 1976 year-end feature Tora’s Pure Love. Koala and I both had ordering fails, but mine […]
- izakaya
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Nezu no Jinpachi, Nezu (根津のじん八)
Nezu is a veritable wonderland for the intrepid izakaya explorer (a class in which I would like to count myself a junior member; guys like this are longstanding pros). It’s not packed with options, but plenty of nice things are spread sparsely over the alleys east of Shinobazu Dori, stretching up into Sendagi and over […]
- izakaya
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Amenbo, Ogikubo (あ麺ぼ)
Well, the first review on Tabelog pretty much nails this place with the description ‘Tons of fish, cheap’. We just stopped in Ogikubo on the way home from Takao san as a way to kill some time before meeting others for dinner. It’s not as much fun as Sancha, let alone Shimokita or Kichijoji, so […]
- curry
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Omiharashitei, Takaosan (大見晴亭, 高尾山)
First time for me to hike Mt. Takao, the 599-metre beauty spot whose primary claim to fame is that it’s still in Tokyo (much like all the parts of East LA that have been annexed for tax reasons, only going west). All the claims are true – you can get there in 45 minutes from […]