These solitary Friday night excursions are getting to be a habit. It’s just nice to decompress from all the stress of the week with a glass of sake, a plate of fish, and a new copy of Nuts magazine. Hey, what are you laughing at? Wakamatsu languishes in the middle of the square described by […]
dinner
Chacha Yufudachi, Shinjuku (茶茶白雪)
Never ceases to amaze me how pretty good places are hiding all over in plain sight…CCYD is sequestered in the top of an average building, the entrance to which is not too obvious from the street. It’s meant to be Kyoto style ‘banzai’ food, and while being decent quality is very good value. This would […]
- Ginza
- ...
Uzuki, Ginza (うづき)
I sure do complain a lot, don’t I? Well, at least I eat a lot, so there’s usually something to talk about. The thing that reminded me that I complain too much is that I was going to complain about people who say they have ‘culinary adventures’. Going to a restaurant and paying money to […]
Vin Picoeur, Marunouchi
This is an odd position to be in – needing to recommend a restaurant from the Aux Amis chain. After a series of mediocre experiences at the Maru Biru glamour outlet and the Brasserie outlet, I don’t know what I was doing steering this work dinner toward yet another one (in the same building as the Brasserie, […]
Okonn, Yoyogi Uehara (おこん)
DAMN, I know how to pick restaurants. This one is a little hard to describe, but let me rattle off some ideas that describe it: secluded, stylish, simple cooking but great ingredients, and a lot of care and concern. First, the location – it’s 7 minutes walk from Yoyogi Uehara, which sounds close but feels […]
- beer
- ...
Kura Kura, Kanda (蔵くら)
After a dining fail at di Andoh, the work party I was in took a turn towards KK. I’ve walked by this place, oh, at least a hundred times, and also seen it on maps during my various sake searches. I didn’t take it that seriously because I rarely have an opportunity to go to […]
- Italian
- ...
di Andoh, Kanda
Even by the standards of a group dinner for 20 people, this casual Italian place was poor. $40 for food plus all-you-can-drink is cheap, sure, but there’s no sense in it if the cost performance is still low. I swear the pizza was premade at someone’s apartment, not in the brick oven pictured on the […]
Fukahama, Fukagawa （深はま、深川）
You know it’s not often that I double-post places – it means I really like them. I really like Fukahama. When readers Kwong and Hachi came to town (and this was not a short trip by any means) and suggested we meet, I quickly thought of Fukahama as a place that does really well at […]
Le Caprice, Roppongi
Let’s just skip over the convoluted path that led me to be drinking wine by myself in Roppongi on a Wednesday night pissing with rain. It’s not that interesting. What you should know is that Le Caprice is a pleasant little wine bar with decent food that’s trying hard, and I think they deserve your […]
- izakaya
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Asahi, Kasai (ろばた旭、葛西)
After leaving Uogokoro, I felt like the night was young. I had neither eaten nor drunk much, and more to the point I hadn’t found any funny people to hang out with. The closest was the really rough looking party down the counter who were talking about me until I mentioned that I could understand […]