Have you read any of my rants about ‘old French’ in Tokyo? This is a term I coined soon after arriving in Japan, when I ate at Chartreuse in Roppongi. It refers to the abundant class of ‘first wave’ Japanese-French restaurants. These were opened by quirky guys who thought Europe was awesome 25 years ago and went […]
dinner
- French
- ...
Les Tonneaux, Hatchobori
More hot Friday-night Fowl-On-Fowl action, wherein we visited the restaurant of Peacock’s colleague’s husband, and it turned out to be a cool neighborhoody spot. And when I say ‘neighborhood’, I mean, like, y’know, from the block, because inadvertently or not, they’ve done a great job of creating a downtown New York vibe. It’s the exposed […]
Guns and Meat
Hellz Bellz, Golden Week is rapidly drawing to a cloze over (more posts to come, sooner or later). What have we learned? Well, for one thing, I have officially become a big fan of Gunsmoke. Not sure why it never occurred to me, considering how much I love 50’s western movies, but there are years and […]
Seigetsu, Kagurazaka (霽月)
Things wound down naturally as the crew worked through the sake menu at Shutoan. After 2 hours we started thinking our business was pretty near complete, and we were itching to visit another establishment. Poshand put in a quick call to Seigetsu, in nearby Kagurazaka – previously recommended by Journey and also pre-confirmed as being […]
- izakaya
- ...
Shutoan, Yotsuya (酒徒庵)
Oysters are a powerful aphrodisiac. Seeing Sarah Jessica Parker, larger than life on a billboard in a Tokyo train station, is not. I’ve never been a fan of S&tC (in fact I’ve never seen an episode, let alone the movie), but even I can pick up the style clues that are supposed to drive the […]
Bubby’s Pie & Diner, Yokohama
Big afternoon in Yokohama – after pushing through the crush of Chinatown, we used a combination of solar navigation, animal instinct and an iPhone to find our way up the hill to Yamate Bluff. The Tin Toy Museum, just down the street from St. Maur International School (or YIS, as the case may be) is […]
- izakaya
- ...
Orenchi, Kawasaki (おれんち)
Long post ahead, watch out. OK? OK. Let’s begin. As begin so many of my best posts (or rather, my worst posts but best memories), The Woodsman was eager to take me to his ‘local’, i.e. the izakaya down the street from his wooded compound in the forests of Kawasaki. The whole family went along […]
- beer
- ...
Baird Taproom, Harajuku
This could seem like a public service, posting something about a very American-style micro brewery and their central-Tokyo brewpub outlets (Harajuku and Nakameguro), but based on the traffic yesterday, when Swannie and I spent 6 hours perched on their stools (holy shit, 6 hours?!), every foreigner in Tokyo knows about this place already. I was […]
Betterave, Shibuya
I had been meaning to call the Peafowl to go out during Golden Week. Specifically I was thinking of the 30th, but I started thinking I should rest between some of the other engagements and never called. Then Peacock called in the morning of the 30th, and with a smidgen of serendipity, all was set. […]
- Other treats
- ...
Matsusou, Yurakucho (まつ惣)
When Roofie and I agreed to meet for dinner in Yurakucho, visions of cheerful-cheep-chicken excellence at Tonton danced in my head. Unsurprisingly, they had started dancing in the heads of dozens of others long before we got there. This is why I always reserve these days; it’s just not worth the risk. And that’s how […]