Several months ago I noticed this frightening place way up in the back streets northwest of Nizhi Azabu crossing. It just looked too good. But when I started doing my research for the ‘degenerate ladies who brunch instead of work’ series recently, l’Effervescence turned out to hugely-rated and yet strangely reasonable for lunch. Like a […]
expensive
Ohara et CIE
Many years ago I visited the confusingly Irish/Japanese-named Ohara (and who knows what the CIA means either?) as one of the very last lunches I ever ate as a Roppongi-based worker. Reading that review gives me more confidence in my much-derided one-visit policy – it was mainly the same when we went for dinner, although […]
Yoshiki Sushi, Nihonbashi
Yoooooosh (iki). As of today, I no longer lunch in Greater Otemachi. I trust that the 453 entries for Otemachi, Marunouchi, Nihonbashi, Tokyo, and Kanda will tide you over if you need ideas for lunch or dinner. But for now, let’s party! Several weeks ago, Shaft and I entered into a long process of negotiation that […]
Onodera, Kagurazaka (おの寺)
There are a few places in Tokyo that I believe in enough to go back to, and a very few that I feel compelled to post more than once about. Obviously Onodera is one of them. The cooking is, if anything, better than I remembered. Onodera himself is a great guy. I offered him a glass […]
Ogura, Jinbocho (割烹 おぐら)
What’s uuuuuuup! I was trying to take a random picture on the street while Volleyball and I waited for the light to change, just something to say “Jimbocho is the sports-store neighborhood.” These women were pretty in-the-spirit, so I took another one with them posing better. And then got lost for 5 minutes looking for […]
- Other treats
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Rusai Doshin, Shintomi (潤菜 どうしん)
Years ago I used to read Tokyo Calendar all the time. I was really looking for the little places that were reasonably-priced but still lived up to the standards that I like to think Tokyo Calendar sets for all the restaurants that they allow to buy space in their pages (just guessing here). Rusai Doshin, […]
- French
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Eleven Madison Park, New York
Whoa, attack of the rainy season. Someone and I didn’t have umbrellas, so when the minimal patter of raindrops in Brooklyn became a thuddingly heavy downpour in Manhattan, we were stuck in the subway exit with a hundred of our closest friends. A strolling umbrella vendor wandered through, but that was for suckers – rain […]
Mast Brothers Chocolates, New York
Six months ago I couldn’t even spell ‘hipster’, but now I’ve been scorned by them, repeatedly, and bought their chocolate. Look, it’s Mast Brothers, “we’re so green we ship our beans by sailboat“. Seriously, what’s up with Brooklyn? Why is it that when we go into the tasting room / retail outlet of MB’s factory, […]
Ebbitt Room, Cape May
Good heavens, the Virginia Hotel is an awesome sight in the twilight. Just in the middle of Jackson Street, the heart of the preserved neighborhood, it’s the best hotel in Cape May. It’s only fair that it should have what’s generally regarded as the best restaurant, and it’s only fitting that we should go there. […]
- bar
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Hugo’s Frog Bar, Chicago
No visit to New Jersey is complete without a daytrip to Chicago, that’s what I always say. So Thursday saw us up at the crack of dawn, suffering through three hours of mechanical, technical and weather delays plus in-flight turbulence that had more than one fellow flier screaming in terror. Once the day’s business was […]