Late lunch, limited time…I still don’t want to let a day go by without trying something new. After all, I’ll probably only work in Otemachi for another…oh, 300 business days (pleasant thought!) so I have to make the most of it. There’s a row of restaurants under the Yamanote sen / Chuo Honsen tracks just […]
lunch
En, Marunouchi (だし茶漬け えん, 新丸ビル)
I swear that the current boom products are ochazuke and tsukemen. Both of these are, for me, in a class of “nice, but a little too subtle”, and for some reason I want to describe ochazuke as ‘pallid’. It’s a very gentle sort of snack. Anyway, En is a counter fast food ochazuke place that […]
- Otemachi
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Asaji, Otemachi
Ohhhhhh, now we move deep, deep into depressing territory. Descend to the basement. Low ceilings. Sad little places cranking out teishoku, curry and Chinese. Smoke-yellowed walls and customers. You know you’re in Japan. This was my first visit to the basement of the JA Building, and one might reasonably expect it to be exactly this […]
The Orchid, Otemachi (Oazo)
Day 2. There are a decent number of big buildings around. It’s a little too far to walk to Maru and Shin Maru, but there’s that Sankei building where we went yesterday, this First Square place, and Oazo, among others. This may have been my first time in Oazo – it was trying to do […]
- Otemachi
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Manhattan Bleu, Otemachi
Getting the “we lunch in Otemachi now” derby off with a resounding…thud, it’s a Y1000 buffet in the basement of the Sankei building (which also has that bistro French place and casual Italian place that both look nice for after work!). Buffet is buffet – quality is low and you always overeat. At least we […]
Villa Surabaya, Toyosu
Wow, LaLaPort Toyosu – the closest thing to being in America without, well, going to America. I hadn’t been there before, despite (and I didn’t know this) it’s less than 30 minutes walk from home. Yesterday I walked, and was pleasantly comforted by the overwhelming mall-ness and hugosity of the place. It being the Saturday […]
Didean, Monzennakacho
Well, it was a strange idea to go for healthy ethnic food on New Year’s Eve (lunch). Didean moved some time ago, froma dead-zone location several blocks back from Eitai Dori and into the more glamorous environs of the main approach street to the Fukagawa temple. I thought it was a ‘healthy cafe’, but inside […]
Shimada, Monzennakacho (しまだ)
For some reason I had it in my head that this was a good and recommended soba place. I’m pretty sure this was because of the hand-made aspect – they have a room in the front window where they make the soba, and even when I was there Jiji was up there rollin’ and foldin’. […]
Murasaki Takumi No Tsukemen, Monzennakacho （紫匠乃)
A new tsukemen place opened in Monnaka a while back. In fact, I have a feeling it’s going on 2 years, but time moves more slowly for us 江戸っ子. I’ve thought many times about going, but never pulled it together. Partly it’s the plethora of other options in the dining paradise that is Monnaka, and […]
Nadaman, Shinagawa (なだ万)
My friend Mayu was visiting for a weekend wedding (I only mention this because it’s funny that he’s a Sri Lankan visiting Japan and yet his name sounds fully Japanese-girl) and I wanted to take him someplace impressively Japanese (read: kaiseki), yet within easy reach of his Shinagawa hotel. This proved surprisingly difficult – there […]