Romance is not dead. Merely slumbering. It awakens every few years. Like cicadas. With a fortuitous alignment of stars and moon this month, Big Bird and I are both in Tokyo and had a few weeks to awaken the ‘romantic Thursday Lunch‘ tradition we established in 2011. Requinquer is pretty well-known and highly-regarded, so it’s […]
Shirogane
Aeschbach, Shiroganedai
Really, Shirogane has a nice feel. Very genteel. There are copper-covered spaceships everywhere, and up the streets on the northeast side of the main street, big, fancy buildings abound. And cat-themed delivery trucks. Aeschbach’s Japan store seems to be a franchise operation – and if I remember correctly, the woman working there was the same […]
- French
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Ozawa, Shiroganedai
Like me, you may have an impression of Shirogane as stylish and packed with stylish shopping and dining. It’s not. I think the apartments are the most stylish thing; there are certainly plenty of cool-looking ones. The restaurants are sparse, but one that stands out on the main street is Ozawa, which lives in a […]
- French
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Chez Tomo, Shirogane
Ahhh, it’s been simply ages that I’ve been thinking of going to this place. I suppose I had heard of it, but then I ran across it one night while walking randomly around after work (when you worked at the one of 2008’s most spectacular failures, you’ve got plenty to walk and think about). And […]
Oriol Balaguer, Shirokanedai
Well, this was previously recommended in much the same breath as Debailleul (and my sincere apologies that I didn’t share the goods with the recommender). Since I’ve concluded that Debailleul is almost worth the price, if you pick the right flavors (spicy ones, mostly), I’ve kept thinking of trying this also. After months of occasional […]
Chocolatier Erica / Aeschbach, Shirokanedai
Erica has to win the prize for loveliest chocolateier in Shirogane. The white-and-aqua color scheme prevails inside and out, and the atmosphere is bright, clean and somehow cheerful. From the outside, surrounded by trees and stylish streets leading steeply up from Platinum Dori, it’s the kind of place that you just want to go into…especially […]
Zen Cafe, Shiroganedai (禅カフェ)
Tokyo is lacking a few things – two of them are quiet, leafy suburbs and pleasant outdoor cafes. There just aren’t enough of these, and in fact could there ever be? Shiroganedai is one of the places coming closest to the description of ‘quiet, leafy’, and this cafe stands out like a sore thumb about […]
- French
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Quintessence, Shiroganedai (カンテサンス,白金台)
There’s a set of people who apparently spend a fair part of their time and money going to the world’s best restaurants. I don’t aspire to be one of them, because it’s so damn expensive, but I do enjoy reading their reviews and seeing the pictures. In that spirit, here’s what it was like to […]
- Italian
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Per Regalo, Shiroganedai
My fake Italian friend lives in Takanawa, so Shiroganedai seemed like a nice place to meet for fake Italian food (until I remembered what a pain it is to get home). He was laid off recently, so now he’s paid contractor wages but goes home at 5 when it’s a slow day like yesterday. Errrr… […]
- Italian
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Boschetta, Shiroganedai
Boschetta will likely sound very good to you based on the following:– Located in quiet Shirokanedai, in an even-quieter back street, down at the end, just before it dead-ends at someone’s house.– Located, in fact, in what clearly used to be someone’s very expensive house. The entryway feels like an entryway. The stairs feel like […]