Three things right off: 1. The delights of Kayabacho seem dubious and limited, but I keep finding places that I think are quite good. 2. This is one of them. 3. Kayabacho is under-served by Tabelog; even the good places have relatively few respondents, and the scores are unnaturally low. Ignore them. Right, so after […]
mid-price
- Otemachi
- ...
Tatsutano, Otemachi (立田野)
Man, I’ve been thinking of going to this place for weeks now and it turned out to be lame. Actually that’s not true – the food was every bit as lame as expected, while the retro atmosphere was about as cool as expected (marginally). That leaves us right around expectations, and strangely unfulfilled. The attraction […]
- Otemachi
- ...
Burian, Otemachi
In a weird way, I can actually recommend this place. The plates of food are positively American-sized, and based on today’s experience they don’t taste bad either. So for volume and variety, this isn’t a bad choice. Of course there are many things you might prioritize above those factors, which is why I can only […]
- Kanda
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Toki Ramen, Kanda (斗樹)
Hey, I’m feeling kinda sick today, so let me keep this to a minimum, OK? My project to enjoy tsukemen continues (there was the shared snack bowl yesterday that didn’t even make it to a post, but should have) with a Kanda location that’s right next to Y’s Ramen. Judging by the t-shirt of the […]
Cafe Mobo Moga, Shibuya
What the heck is a Mobo Moga? All African tribal jokes aside, this is a pleasant place to drink and dine. It was just late-afternoon snacks for us, which is not its best use. This dark stairway is also not its best side…but at least it gets you prepared for the dark, rustic woodiness that […]
Hoang Ngan, Shibuya
In this unassuming Shibuya basement (near the back side / high side of Tokyu Hands – I didn’t know this was called ‘Spain Slope’ until now) lurks…an unassuming Vietnamese restaurant with decent food, mediocre service, and weak cost performance! Sorry. Fresh spring rolls, which did pretty much what it said on the tin – fresh […]
Pivoine, Monzennakacho
Friday I took the day off from work to get legalized again – as they say, it’s no fun being an illegal alien, and I’m not interested in deportation. But getting legal doesn’t take very long, and the weather and my spirits were both so good that I wanted to do something nice. There are […]
- Kanda
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Aburaya Seimen, Kanda (油屋製麺)
Pon pon. Pon and I went for an early/late lunch (horribly late for her, a bit early for me) and found ourselves heading toward Kanda, which we evidently do all the time in various other groups as well. With no clear plan, we were seduced by the lure of noodles, and in particular tsukemen, which […]
Taikourou, Yaesu (泰興楼)
I’m starting to feel like a Shitamachi dining insider – this very good recommendation from Ricky is a gyoza specialist (with a broad menu) whose branch is Gyoza Bar Fei, in Kayabacho, tidily reversing my own dining trend between last night and today. I don’t really remember the gyoza at Fei, but I’ll remember the […]
- bar
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Beer Bar Talo, Kayabacho
This post is for distant reader and longtime Tokyo dining expert John Wood (hi Woodie) who was kind enough to point out that there are restaurants on The Map that are not featured in posts. This is because The Map features all places that I can remember visiting, while the posts are only for new […]