You’ve gotta eat, and as we walked around the Kitayama / Kamigamo area, things evolved into lunch time. Passing this little place sequestered in a small street, the smell of soup stock was overpowering and sorta bewitching. Inside was very ‘timeslip’, as we say here in Japan. Time had definitely slipped for the two women […]
udon
Nezameya, Kyoto (祢ざめ家)
Not everyone is fascinated by Fushimi Inari, Japan’s greatest shrine to the fox god. Some people, in fact, just get sleepy walking through all those gates. For propriety, you’re supposed to walk through them off-center (humble), and bow as well, but with thousands of gates, it ain’t happening. In fact, it never happens. I can […]
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Sanuki Chaya Udon, Tokyo (讃岐茶屋 八重洲店)
Sometimes I go on about how much you can get done in an hour when you work somewhere as convenient as Otemachi, but this is really it – for today’s lunch, in 45 minutes I walked through Tokyo station, bought train vouchers (from a ticket shop, major routes are 7-8% cheaper as long as it’s non-holiday […]
- Other treats
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Suginoko Udon, Tokyo (すぎのこ、東京駅キチンストリート)
Yesterday, my friends, marked the end of our three month ‘experimental’ period here at EOITwJ. For the first three months of Otemachi life, we resolved to 1) Wear no tie that we had previously worn in our old lives, but only ties that we bought over the New Year’s break and 2) Eat lunch at […]
Sato Yosuke, Yuzawa (秋田県。本当。)
Sato Yosuke is a fairly good-sized chain of udon shops, with their spiritual home in the Yuzawa region – the town of Inaniwa, source of the eponymous udon (there’s also a Ginza branch, making this review genuinely relevant). Pictured at left, I kid you not, is Inaniwa Castle, though you could be forgiven if you […]
Usagiya, Monzennakacho (Ginza)
Not a situation I like to be in, walking around Ginza with only 30 minutes to choose a place, eat, and get to an appointment. Difficult times call for desperate measures, which in this case involved noodles, rabbits and plastic. Usagiya is a hand-made udon place. These are of the nice, rough-but-springy texture that I […]