How do people decide they’ve had enough – learned enough, pushed enough, grown enough – and it’s time to settle in?Moreover, is it wrong to do this? Especially if you’re doing your thing better than most people could?And is it indicative of a deeper pathology that I read restaurant reviews while eating lunch? (This has […]
lunch
Panino Giusto, Otemachi (Oazo)
Mucho Gusto! Wait, what does that mean? Panino Giusto is a little confusing too – an indoor/outdoor Italian restaurant specializing in hams? As with many of these things, the reality is a bit less interesting than the first paragraph.The big Oazo building has always felt a little under-baked to me. It’s big, but strangely empty […]
- Chinese
- ...
Ten Ten, Kanda (天天)
Man, Kanda is brutal around noon. You know I like to eat late, but Zoner is a pain about eating early. Today we compromised at 12, which turned out to be exactly the wrong thing to do. When we got up to Kanda at 12:15 (my brilliant idea), we were turned away from 4 places […]
Delizioso Firenze, Marunouchi
The happy days are over, folks. As of this week, technology issues have removed my ability to post at will. I’ll continue to post relentlessly on indiscriminately-selected dining venues, but the updates may not make it live in the afternoons. And they may be shorter and even more typo-ridden.Today’s venue is anything but indiscriminately selected. […]
- Italian
- ...
Al Porto Don, Tokyo
Whoo, that was close my friends… 鈴時さん and I actually got all the way to the table of Suginoko before the sight of the menus reminded me that I had been there before. Oops. Fortunately this was the penultimate day of new-venue restrictions, and in the future such little slips won’t risk endangering mt, errr, […]
Ichino ichino ichi, Nihonbashi
Fire, water, wind…an elemental dining experience is on offer here at Ichinoichinoichi (can I abbreviate that as ‘hey you’ or ‘the place’?). I first saw this n a magazine and was mildly impressed by the outdoor terrace, big torches, and overall resort-y aspect…until I saw the address was Nihonbashi! ‘Where could that BE,’ I thought […]
Hazu Sushi, Mitsukoshimae (寿司筈、三越前)
Sometimes the most tenuous things link us together in this beautiful dance called life. For instance, today I ended up at a restaurant just because there was empty space on my map and I thought it would be fun to explore a little. If the food had been better I could talk about serendipity, but […]
Gala, Tokyo (伽羅)
Well, notch off another one under the tracks. After this we’re down to branches of Kassen Ichiba, Takadaya, Beck’s Coffee and Nakau (oh, and one tiny noodle place). It’s going to be a slog, my friends. But we will persevere because…well, there’s nothing much better to do some days. This was very ordinary Chinese food. […]
- Other treats
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Shigenoi, Tokyo (繁の井,東京駅キチンストリート)
Yup, the Delicious Link Group is getting all my lunch dollar$ this week. Straight up. Seriously, I think the whole basement of Tokyo Station’s Kitchen Street is controlled by this same shadowy organization. Well, they’ve got a bit more style than many other restaurant groups, so I’ll let them pass. Shigenoi is a bait and […]
- Other treats
- ...
Kashira, Shimokitazawa (頭,下北沢)
When I got to Tokyo, McNoonan was living in Shimokita. This seemed like a slightly odd place to live, but he swore by it despite the small apartment and long commute (Roppongi isn’t convenient. Opening the Oedo line helped, but it’s still not that convenient except for foreigners who live right around there.). Of course, […]