Weather like this, I want to persist forever. Even better, the feeling of leaving the office, getting on my daft light-blue mama-style bike with basket and bell, and flowing along downtown Tokyo streets…relaxing on the worst of days, magic on a day like this when the air is clear and a little cool and the […]
mid-price
Barbara Marketplace, Marunouchi
No kidding, that’s what they call it. I asked them to consider changing the name to Barbara Martieplace, but they didn’t seem to get the joke (and neither will any readers, except 3 by my count). Y’know though, this was a really nice lunch! I’d even think about it for an after-work sorta dinner. Their theme is ‘A […]
- Kanda
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Tsujita Ramen, Kanda (二代目つじた、淡路町)
You’ll be thinking from the title that I’m stooping to double-posting about ramen shops. But you’ll be WRONG about that! Hoo-ahh! Gotcha! Woo! That’s because the Tsujita I went to a few weeks ago is across the street, and has a different name involving miso (plus th menu to match). When I went there, I was […]
- Other treats
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Bigakuya, Toyocho (美学屋)
There’s no question that Tabelog is the single greatest resource for Tokyo eaters. It’s a terrific example of crowdsourcing gone right, far from a regular occurence. There are only a few shortcomings that I’ve found over time. One is that popularity is self-perpetuating; the scores of the top places tend to get pushed up over […]
- izakaya
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Shutoan, Yotsuya (酒徒庵)
Oysters are a powerful aphrodisiac. Seeing Sarah Jessica Parker, larger than life on a billboard in a Tokyo train station, is not. I’ve never been a fan of S&tC (in fact I’ve never seen an episode, let alone the movie), but even I can pick up the style clues that are supposed to drive the […]
Bubby’s Pie & Diner, Yokohama
Big afternoon in Yokohama – after pushing through the crush of Chinatown, we used a combination of solar navigation, animal instinct and an iPhone to find our way up the hill to Yamate Bluff. The Tin Toy Museum, just down the street from St. Maur International School (or YIS, as the case may be) is […]
- beer
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Baird Taproom, Harajuku
This could seem like a public service, posting something about a very American-style micro brewery and their central-Tokyo brewpub outlets (Harajuku and Nakameguro), but based on the traffic yesterday, when Swannie and I spent 6 hours perched on their stools (holy shit, 6 hours?!), every foreigner in Tokyo knows about this place already. I was […]
Okamo’s Diner, Monzennakacho
Yo Okamo, whassup? You’ve been doing business in my town for years (2), I dunno why I never stopped by. Misguided effort to limit caloric intake on weeknights, I suppose. Okamo is here, hiding below a much bigger sign for a pub. (Yes, a “pub”, if you know what I mean. But not like you’re […]
- Other treats
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Junren Ramen, Takadanobaba (純連)
Really great weather today, and with no particular responsibilities I decided to wander through the Okubo guitar stores (as well as the little street of Halal food stores, did you know that was there? Opposite the station exit, jog to the left.). The way to Okubo for me involves changing trains in Takadanobaba (or walking […]
- bistro
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Le Mont St Michel, Mejiro
Yves Ringler was a soldier in the Jimmy Cayne mob, running numbers out of Tokyo. They called him “The Wringer” even though that doesn’t really sound like his name if you pronounce it properly. He managed to give up the life a few years ago, showing a good deal of prescience. As you may know, I […]