From somewhere, I got the idea that Ito city would be good for a several-hour walk around on the way home from Izu. Minus the ‘several’, that statement could sorta be true, but much less so on Sundays. As usual I spent too much time obsessing over which place to visit for our obligatory fish-and-rice […]
washoku
Akatsuki, Jogasaki (暁、城ヶ崎海岸、静岡県)
Let me start off by saying that I don’t particularly want you to go here – we got a really weird last-minute deal (65% off? What were they thinking?) that made it worthwhile. If you paid full price, you’d be disappointed despite the excellent location just north of Izu Kogen, within walking distance of the […]
Mikura, Atami (海蔵、熱海)
Woo hoo, weekend away. It’s been some time, eh? Atami, at the head of the Izu penninsula, is called the ‘Monaco of Japan’. Really, my colleague tried to convince me of this. I laughed at the time, then I went there…and I still think it’s funny. Sure there are dramatic hills falling down to a […]
Iseju, Kodenmacho (伊勢重)
You might want to skip this post, ok? It’s not really food-oriented until the A5 wagyu starts sizzling at the end, which is marked with the big red text. There’s a reason why I like modern art – to me, it’s more stimulating. The encumbrances of form and realism, while pretty, tend to distract from impact, […]
Hannariya, Nihonbashi (はんなりや)
It’s always a sad day when someone leaves a great firm like mine. It’s even worse when it’s one of the very few people that you can really count as a friend. I wanted to find something a little special for this lunch with Linji; Hannariya turned out to be really nice, but not that […]
- izakaya
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Yoshiharu West, Kashiwa (吉春、柏)
Kashiwa is a bit out there, to the northwest, but worth a late-afternoon trip since there are a bunch of nice-looking izakayas scattered about the town. It’s surprisingly big, having a Takashimaya, Marui and various other department stores; clearly a major outlying town and one of the bigger in Chiba. First on the agenda was […]
- Other treats
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Ichi, Roppongi (いち)
Not exactly what I was expecting, getting a recommendation for a very nice course kappou place in the back of Roppongi from Koala, who I always think of as a Korean / Chinese / hotpot specialist. But very nice it was indeed, and along with several peafowl I enjoyed it very much. This place is under-reported […]
- Other treats
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Iijima, Tokyo (割烹 いゝ島、八重洲)
Honestly, Ding and I have been trying to get together after work for several months. Whenever one of us thinks of it and suggests something, there’s always been a problem. Last night, the only problems were the rain, the fact that Fukube was full, and the fact that I was carrying only my ’emergency’ camera, […]
Itadori, Tsukiji （築地虎杖）
Tourists are always writing about how the fish they ate at a little restaurant in the inner or outer market of Tsukiji was the best possible fish EVER (especially if they waited 2 hours to eat at Daiwa). I don’t think that’s really true; whatever fish is identified as the best is almost certainly going […]
Chacha Yufudachi, Shinjuku (茶茶白雪)
Never ceases to amaze me how pretty good places are hiding all over in plain sight…CCYD is sequestered in the top of an average building, the entrance to which is not too obvious from the street. It’s meant to be Kyoto style ‘banzai’ food, and while being decent quality is very good value. This would […]