Well, it’s been simply ages since I’ve been to a good museum, and when presented with the opportunity to visit Theobroma’s “Museum of Chocolate” gelateria in Kagurazaka, it seemed like an obvious thing to do. Scratch any lunch plans, let’s have ice cream instead… This is on a quiet side street in Kagurazaka, but a […]
mid-price
- izakaya
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Torafuku, Futako Tamagawa (寅福)
Hey, what a nice izakaya! I’ve been reading lately, on various bulletin boards, the posts from people who come to Japan for ‘culinary adventure’ trips. This means they try to eat at Sukiyabashi Jiro and Sushi Mizutani, Ryugin, and then branch out to Japanese soul food like ramen, izakaya, okonomiyaki, etc. There seems to be […]
- 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 […]
- 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 […]
Marble Gelato Premium Soft, Toyosu
I actually look forward with no little delight to further difficulty in the global economy, as I have a feeling it will curb some of the ‘premium’ excesses of the last 10 or so years. But in the meantime, things like ‘premium soft ice cream’ continue to pop up, meeting needs no one knew they […]
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’. […]
Okuyama Ryokan, Doroyu Onsen, Yuzawa
If you saw this while out for a Saturday drive (ominous smoke, signs warning you not to get out of the car…) you’d hardly get excited, no? The pleasant approach to Doroyu Onsen (yay, “Muddy Hot Water”, sounds great) looked like we were entering Hell Town. Get ready for a long digression. This reminded me […]
Motoyu Club, Yuzawa
Not being really in the business of reviewing onsen (nor foreign prefectures, for that matter), EOITwJ will concentrate on the food at the various Akita onsen where we just stayed, and probably just the interesting food at that. If you’ve ever been to an onsen you have a pretty good idea what to expect; variations […]