Bangkok Stand, Otemachi

Have you been to one of these places? I think they were emboldened by the success of Tinun in branching across Tokyo, and decided they would do their own thing. The difference is that they do it in convenient locations, like the basements of two buildings near my office. They’re serious about the ‘stand’ thing. […]

Soi Thong Lor, Yaesu

It’s always weird when it turns out that a place I’ve been eyeing for a while is actually a place that someone else has been to. Repeatedly. When we got to this place, Ding said it was a favorite of someone on his team, and thus an occasional destination when they felt like walking. Welcome […]

Taihei, Otemachi

In the basement of the new(ish) JA building, this is a tolerable Thai place that I think opened recently – not in the initial batch of places that opened at the same time as the building, at any rate. They have nice lunch sets spanning the usual Thai lunch choices. Red and green curry for […]

Blue Papaya, Kanda

It’s always Kanda, isn’t it? I’ve been meaning to take a picture of this shop for months. I think you’ll understand why. Anyway, after another 10 minutes of random walking I came upon Blue Papaya (no pun intended), which I had seen before at some point, like pretty much everything else. There are lots of […]

Kaotai, Marunouchi

Today really didn’t start out that well – a little rainy, went for a run, thinking about an unfortunate email overnight, walked to work, quiet. For lunch I wanted to get more exercise and thus walked down to My Plaza like yesterday, bringing the total restaurants I’ve been to in their food floor to 3 […]

Mangrove, Ebisu

Mangrove is like a funny corner of Bali stuck around the back of Garden Place (near Wansu, if that helps; it’s a cool little corner, and I think there are a bunch of other explorable places). On the day it was cold and rainy, so it was nice to get in and sit by the […]

Fireking Cafe, Yoyogi

Arrrrr, the King of Fire. No idea what this has to do with fire and kings, but a comprehensive walk around Yoyogi Uehara has led me to believe that this is the coolest place going. I want to say this is like being in hip parts of Brooklyn, only I’ve never been there. Somehow I […]