With the long weekend well underway, Monday seemed like good timing for a day trip. And Enoshima has been on the list for a long time – a standard place to go, hence a somewhat glaring omission from my catalog of touristy experiences. Getting down there around lunch time, we walked on to the island […]
washoku
- Otemachi
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Kakoiya, Otemachi (かこいや)
It’s great to see things through other people’s eyes – today’s lunch featured some overseas guests, and the most normal things on the plate were suddenly strange and bizarre. And fishy. I got the sense that their overriding sense was a sense of fishiness. They were right, all those things did have fish in them. […]
- Otemachi
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Zen, Otemachi (然)
Mmmmmmm, natural and healthy. I don’t mean that sarcastically, actually. Despite being focused on healthy food (and serving brown rice), this place was quite tasty. That’s probably why this visit marked an unheard-of third visit for Shaft (though of course a first for me). It’s in the basement of the new JA building, which I […]
- Kanda
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Edoshigusa, Kanda (江戸しぐさ)
In its luxurious form, the Japanese lunch box is a collection of various forms of protein. And this was a pretty luxurious form. I think I counted 5 types of protein, but let me reflect. I’ve developed a theory on Healthy Japanese Food over the years, mainly triggered by the fact that it’s often difficult […]
- izakaya
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Sakura, Tsukishima (さくら)
Through a weird series of searches on the Google, I came upon this guy Nick’s post for a nice-looking restaurant specializing in mass quantities of off-cuts of good fish. And I gotta admit, I was seduced by his approach of posting only a shot of the street outside the restaurant and not its name or […]
- Kanda
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Gyosai Tozai, Kanda (魚采東西)
After a brief respite, Kanda lunches resumed today with this recommendation from Waka-pon, herself resuming in the office after a short trip to the country. I do love it when people recommend places, especially when they’re new to me, and even more when they help to fill in areas on the map that are somewhat […]
- Ginza
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Sasahana, Ginza (ささ花)
Sasahana is up in the northeast corner of The Ginza, behind Printemps or Marronier or Velvia (as you like). After seeing the door, I realized that I walked by right around the same time last year, picked up a brochure, and never thought any more of it. Glad I went back! It’s not a particularly […]
- Other treats
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Kidori, Tokyo (紀どり,東京駅北町ほろよい通り)
Today I was thinking of Italian, but Zoner said ‘Fish’, and this popped into mind after I had seen it just yesterday. I may be re-calculating my remarks about the relative sadness of this 2nd-floor area of Tokyo Station, because the shops seems to be OK (if a little sad. Ooops, there I go again!) […]
- Other treats
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Okazuya Heikuboncho, Marunouchi (Oazo)
You’d be for given for thinking I’d sneezed in some spectacular way,what with the length and glottal spasming of that name. But no, that’s what they call it! The first part is something like ‘side-dish seller’, and that’s a pretty accurate capsule review here – great side dishes, lackluster mains. (I feel unusually compelled to […]
Ichino ichino ichi, Nihonbashi
Fire, water, wind…an elemental dining experience is on offer here at Ichinoichinoichi (can I abbreviate that as ‘hey you’ or ‘the place’?). I first saw this n a magazine and was mildly impressed by the outdoor terrace, big torches, and overall resort-y aspect…until I saw the address was Nihonbashi! ‘Where could that BE,’ I thought […]