After mixed feelings at Konakara, Woodchips and I were keen to try another venue. I attracted a lot of laughter for my preparedness (when I went to Otsuka before by myself, I made a map showing the 5 likeliest places, and I had it with me tonight too), but I also knew exactly how […]
cheap
- Kyoto
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Kamo Mitarashi Chaya, Kyoto (加茂みたらし茶屋（亀屋粟義))
Love was in the air as we walked down to Shimogamo shrine. Seriously, this is a sweet picture, isn’t it? And despite, or perhaps because of, a volumific but uninspiring luncheon, we were more than willing to eat more. Especially given our love of sweets, and generic desire to eat mitarashi dango while in Kyoto. […]
- Kyoto
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Suehiro, Kyoto (末広)
You’ve gotta eat, and as we walked around the Kitayama / Kamigamo area, things evolved into lunch time. Passing this little place sequestered in a small street, the smell of soup stock was overpowering and sorta bewitching. Inside was very ‘timeslip’, as we say here in Japan. Time had definitely slipped for the two women […]
- Kyoto
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Nishinotoin Shokudo, Kyoto (京 小町食堂 西洞院店)
I’ve been accused of excessive blogging, but only once or twice. (I’ve also been accused of a few other things in relation to this blog, but mostly they were inspired by Canadia and her denizens.) Anyway, For the 3 minutes it’ll take to upload and type, I think it’s interesting and maybe useful to point […]
Kaiun Yokocho, Bakuroyokocho (開運横丁)
One thing about Ant – he does like his drinks. Even after finishing a full schedule at Okanaga’s place, he was eager to have another sake in a smaller group. Well, let’s not cut it off at ‘another’, he’d probably say. We started walking toward his hotel in Ningyocho (it’s freezing now, by the way. […]
- Kanda
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Beaver, Kanda (ビーバー)
Not too long ago, Big Bird and I walked by this place. I thought it might be unseemly for a big bird to enter a beaver – too obvious, not funny, old plastic food – so we let the sleeping beaver lie. But I wanted to get in there, for irony value if nothing else. […]
- Otemachi
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Bangkok Stand, Otemachi
Have you been to one of these places? I think they were emboldened by the success of Tinun in branching across Tokyo, and decided they would do their own thing. The difference is that they do it in convenient locations, like the basements of two buildings near my office. They’re serious about the ‘stand’ thing. […]
- Other treats
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Raku Raku, Kichijoji (楽々)
There’s no point just standing there and looking at it, folks. You have to go in if you want to get fed. RR, or R^2 to his friends, likes to bill as Kichijoji’s Best Ramen – #1 on Ramendb, Tabelog, Ramen Walker, and a few other resources that they list on their sign down the […]
Tenpou ramen, Kanda (天宝)
There are some weird things in the back alleys of Kanda; not all of them have proper signs. This one does, and in some ways it would be better not to see it. To put it simply, it’s maid barbeque. To put it a little longer, it seems you can pick which skimpy cartoon costume […]
Orihara Shoten, Monzen Nakacho (折原商店)
The ‘renewal’ of stores in Monnaka continues. You’d swear this was economic vitality, but I still insist it’s the opposite – economic vitality means existing stores stay in business. The number of new shops opening in the last year is more than the sum of the preceding 5 years. Orihara Shoten, run by Ikebukuro’s Orihara […]