What would YOU do if you were returning to America after 7 years in Japan, leaving behind a visa-less fiancee and going off to get a real job? I hope you’d get an excellent bottle of champagne at Takashimaya, go to Merveille, and then take a taxi to Haneda (unless your flight was leaving from […]
expensive
- Italian
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Rusticanella, Akasaka (ルスティカネラ)
Many times I’ve scoured Tabelog for dinner places in Akasaka and come away disappointed. One that was always on the cusp but never got picked was Rusticanella; here it is. (Incidentally, if I was looking now and had the money, I’d try this Uoshin place. It’s almost across the street from Rusticanella, which is why […]
- bar
- ...
Sakaoto, Yotsuya (日本酒BAR 酒音)
Someone’s on the go. Part two of our Arakicho adventure…honestly, it was part 4 after we walked out of the first two places without ordering. Finicky we are. This ‘Sakaoto’ place caught my eye on the first walk around the half-dozen blocks that make up Arakicho. It looked small, cute, maybe friendly, and after all […]
- French
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Les Enfants Gates, Daikanyama (レザンファン ギャテ)
The style and food at the now-departed Les Enfants Terrible in Juban were both good; didn’t you always wonder what the main shop was like? Wonder no longer. It’s s stylish place, pitched a bit to appeal to stylish women, but with food good enough to keep anyone happy. And terrines. The point here is […]
- coffee
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Cafe de l’Ambre, Ginza (カフェ・ド・ランブル)
Coffee only. Only coffee. While things like that ordinarily make me want to request a danish on the side, maybe a sugar cookie, I feel a lot of respect for this place and have always wanted to go. It’s just down the street from my Ginza bar of choice, Fal, so it’s weird that it […]
Narita sushi, Monzen Nakacho (すし 成田)
A couple years ago, this place Sushi Yata popped up south of the river in Monnaka. I went there and got really excited, because I thought it was reasonably-priced, sorta creative, and really delicious. Over time, I came to feel like the master was weird, uncomfortably so, and that he had a solid habit of […]
- French
- ...
La Rochelle, Minami Aoyama
The happy couple. Big Bird and I are discussing wedding venues as our Thursday-romantic-lunch series continues, and La Rochelle bills its chapel as Tokyo’s Most Romantic. Not many restaurants have chapels at all, of course, so it’s awfully convenient. Also convenient is being expected, and they were nice enough to thank us for our coming. […]
- izakaya
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Kanemasu, Kachidoki (かねます)
There’s nothing like an expensive and deeply disappointing French lunch to put you in the mood for an expensive and pretty gratifying…standing izakaya?! Yes, this is the place Big Bird and I failed to enter previously because we arrived on a random closure day (“We will humbly take and honorable holiday on this day.”) Fortunately […]
Aile Blanche, Azabu Juban (エルブランシュ)
Juban, damn your branded hide. The last time I was this disappointed in a well-hyped restaurant was at Piatto Suzuki, just around the corner from Aile Blanche. In this case I at least had Tabelog on my side, saying AB is 25th best out of Tokyo’s 1700 French restaurants, but for once even the rating […]
- izakaya
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Uoshin, Akasaka (赤坂とゝや 魚新)
It’s a task, folks, picking restaurants all the time. When someone visits from out of town as has time for lunch, it’s not such a burden. Chewy lives in Singapore and was staying in Aoyama, so Japanese in that area was required, and Tabelog came up trumps as usual. Uoshin is a quite expensive kappo […]