Chain izakayas. Do you think I hate them? I don’t. They fill a niche, and are fun, and the food is never bad even if it’s never surprising or exciting or different. Not liking chain izakayas is, I think, unnecessary snobbery. Despite the funny name (Kyushu Men’s Street?), you can sorta tell from the slickness […]
dinner
- izakaya
- ...
Gingin, Omori (吟吟)
Boy, Woody and I have been talking about going to this place for months. Boy were we not impressed. That’s probably enough as a capsule review, and the lighting was bad so the pictures didn’t even come out so well. But I’ll soldier on. This picture’s pretty cool though, eh? Despite being quite a small […]
- bar
- ...
Wall Street, Kayabacho
There isn’t much of interest to say about Wall Street except that…well, it’s in Kayabacho. When I worked in Roppongi it was my usual transfer point, so I used to transfer there all the time, and would sometimes just get off and walk home, looking for a place to eat along the way. Wall Street […]
- beer
- ...
Popeye, Ryogoku
Well, it comes down to this – I’ve waited until now to write about one of the best places in Tokyo. The WORLD, even! THE WORLD! Phew, this is off to an exciting start. If you like beer, you’ll agree with me. If not, skip the rest. These two guys probably knew what they were […]
- izakaya
- ...
Honoka, Musashi Koyama (穂のか)
Why is it that I find so many places recently worthy of a Recommended tag? (For the record, it’s currently 138 places out of a total 850, and I find that ratio quite acceptable, especially when you consider that some of them are lunch recommendations) I like to think that it’s because I’m such a […]
Wine and Grill Kazusa, Azabu Juban
Do you like that whole ‘private dining’ thing? Kazusa is practically unlabeled, with only a high second-story sign saying the name in stylized, half-unreadable script to let you know that the nondescript building on the quiet stretch of road south of Telebi Asahi is the right one. The door doesn’t open unless you know just […]
Osakaya, Monzennakacho (大阪屋)
Ahhhhh, Osakaya. When people say ‘Monzennakacho’, they’re always thinking of bargain fish specialist Uosan or else they’re thinking of Osakaya. This is probably because it features in various guide books (including the Gauntner sake book, which is in English). It’s not what it used to be, which doesn’t mean it’s not nice. Just…different. The […]
- bistro
- ...
Strasbourg, Yokohama
Let’s say life hands you lemons. What do you do? I know, bitch about it! But in this case the lemons were relatively sweet (not like ‘just chewed a miracle fruit’ sweet, but not so bad) because they were just a trip to Yokohama. I dialed up my good friend Tabelog to see where we […]
Grape Gumbo, Ginza
Remember last year when I went to Mardi Gras? Always meant to go back, but the pressures of needing to try new places have thus far kept me from their door. Grape Gumbo is the father-restaurant of Mardi Gras, with a similar menu and style, so I feel like I’ve been back now – new […]
- French
- ...
Zoogunzoo, Shibuya
You wanna see what a night-in-the-life is like? In addition to having a long and relaxed night on the turps with Swannie, I took pictures along the way. If I haven’t mentioned this before, I think of this blog as something I’ll be able to look back on with amusement when I’m in my dotage, so […]