You’ve noticed that photo-taking is an increasing hobby for me, right? It’s temporary and very low-stress, but I still spent 8 hours today cruising around – from Monnaka to Otemachi, Kasumigaseki to Kappabashi, Asakusa. Getting around, you know? Tokyo by bike is the best possible way to see it. At left, the fauna of Asakusa. […]
lunch
- Other treats
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Obana, Minami Senju (尾花)
Tokyo is on the march. Walking through this old, beat little part of Minami Senju on dead hot, overcast August days. Riding bikes, converging from all directions. To wait in line. In the rain. In a LOT of rain. Actually, my fault entirely, we arrived only 25 minutes before opening time. That meant we were […]
Mazeru ramen, Akihabara (麺処 マゼル)
Mazeru? Yes, yes I will. With an offer like that, how could you not get excited? It means ‘stir’, and the implication of the name and the sign is that you’re going to get maze-soba (pronounced mah-zay), a lot like the junk from Junk Garage, for example. And that is a gooood thing. I’m fond […]
- Ginza
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Bernini pizza, Ginza (ピッツェリアロマーナベルニーニ)
Someone came up with the idea that we needed Roman-style pizza after our slightly life-changing visit to Il Tamburello. Have you noticed, gentle reader, that food is the last thing I should need at this point, and yet also the first thing on my mind? By which I mean, who’s to say no? There are […]
- izakaya
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Kamotsuru, Kamoi (鴨鶴,鴨居)
You got transferred out of our team a couple months ago and became the manager of the branch down near the navy base in Kanagawa. He’s gotten pretty into the area, and invited me down to check it out for a day. He took the day off, brought his car over from home (it’s too […]
- French
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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. […]
Hakata Ramen Center, Iidabashi (博多ラーメンセンター)
Meeting everyone’s favorite ‘Cock is a good opportunity to explore rare neighborhoods. I mean, Kudanshita is rare for me, and he doesn’t go out to lunch. For some reason Ikaruga wasn’t doing maze-soba today, and I decided to boycott out of protest. As if all the other people in line cared. And on a back […]
Taniyan ramen, Monzennakacho (深川谷やんラーメン本店)
This is on the outskirts of Monnaka, where Kasaibashi Dori bends down to meet Eitai Dori and it’s hard to cross the street if you’re walking to work – which I was, for several years. And the grease and stains on the yellow awning here kept calling me. Plenty of evenings I’d wobble by on […]
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 […]
Maruzen tempura, Morishita (満る善 まるぜん)
Occasional visitors to Japan (hi Mom and Dad) will recognize this tiny, fading place as the one where we had lunch one day around 2005. Or not. It’s in the row of places across from the north entrance to Morishita station, along with Fuji. It’s a real get-there-before-they-die sort of place. So many of them […]