Having Invited a Friend to Supper (the Curmudgeonly Old Bastard, in fact) and failed to make a reservation, I arrived fashionably late, if you, gentle reader, consider rudeness to be in fashion. After paying my respects to the pheasant hanging around (by his feet) outside the door, I found the COB comfortably ensconced in his […]
expensive
- Other treats
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La Colina, Roppongi (Midtown)
I enjoyed the Mexican lunch I had today in Tokyo. Let me repeat that. I enjoyed the Mexican lunch I had today in Tokyo. Phew, I feel like a new man. Who ever would have thought that ‘Mexican’, ‘enjoy’ and ‘Tokyo’ could be in the same sentence (without a ‘not’, at any rate)? La Collina […]
l’Auberge de l’Ill, Roppongi
Well, now I have some inkling what 3 stars in France would mean. The recently-released Michelin guide rates l’Auberge at 1 hoshi, which feels distinctly miserly after today’s lunch. I can imagine taking today, amping it up, adding some courses and doubling the price, and then we’d be about right. This will sound weird, but […]
- Italian
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Boschetta, Shiroganedai
Boschetta will likely sound very good to you based on the following:– Located in quiet Shirokanedai, in an even-quieter back street, down at the end, just before it dead-ends at someone’s house.– Located, in fact, in what clearly used to be someone’s very expensive house. The entryway feels like an entryway. The stairs feel like […]
Merveille, Nihonbashi
I approach this 100th review with some trepidation (And a busted liver.). After all, Merveille IS my favorite restaurant. This is really a weird thing to say – it’s a French restaurant in Japan, and I don’t like to have favorites in anything. But I’ve been going to Merveille for almost 5 years (I can’t […]
- French
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Narukami, Ginza
I was pleasantly excited about Narukami – the lunch course looked like (and proved to be) quite good value at Y6000 (ish). The food was interesting for a number of courses, the service was attentive, and the ‘counter’ seating was fun. Overall I’d give this about a 6 out of 10, with potentially a small […]
Ciao Bella, Roppongi
Faced with the upcoming decampment from Roppongi, the denouement of my Roppongi lunching career if you will, I feel a burning need to get around to as many restaurants as I can manage. And if I have to spend a bit to do it, well, them’s the breaks. We also need one more leisurely lunch […]
Aux Amis Tokyo, Marunouchi
Continuing with our series on overpriced Marunouchi top-floor restaurants, here’s Aux Amis. Unquestionably terrific views combine with an unquestioned 10% service charge to produce a slight feeling of discomfort at payment time. Nuts. Why does this happen every time I go to the Marubiru upper floors? In this case, Aux Amis came about because Lauburu […]
- Other treats
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Fifty Seven, Roppongi
I decided to buy myself a steak for my birthday. I dunno why, but that’s what I was fixated on. This was probably unfortunate for my friend visiting from Singapore and his HK girlfriend (who may well have been expecting Japanese!), but they were good sports about it. Roppongi is challenging to me for nice […]
The Kitchen Salvatore Cuomo, Roppongi
There’s a whole raft of restaurants in Roppongi Hills that I haven’t been to recently and thus haven’t written about. Now that I’ve been to it recently, here’s one of ’em. Wait, didn’t I say this yesterday? Ah well, another day, another lunch. Let’s not debate this – The Kitchen Salvatore Cuomo is expensive. The […]