Hanabusa, a well-known Japanese restaurant, sits closer to Ueno or Okachimachi than to Akihabara, really. Dinner here is excellent, but the place has a big reputation for its 1,000-yen lunch set, which changes…
I do like chocolate, but I had never paid much attention to Japan’s chocolate specialists – until a visit to Patissier Inamura Shozo the other day changed my mind. Turns out Japan has places that d…
By the time I got back to Tokyo it was already night. Wondering where to go and what to eat, I headed to Rokurinsha, the ramen shop in Tokyo Station. A view of Nakadori What a dazzling night street. A view …
I picked up a copy of Sweets Bancho’s The Ten Supreme Sweets at Sanseido, read the whole thing that evening and went straight into analysis mode. ^_^ Turns out there are so, so many cake shops I still ha…
I was strolling right through the middle of Ginza when I ran into an event for Toyama Black ramen. Toyama Black is a somewhat extreme style of regional ramen, and I had my eye on it because it has been doing w…
My friends and I decided to grab a meal somewhere around Ginza, but there was no obvious place to go. The good spots either need a reservation, or cost too much, or have a queue, or just are not the kind of pl…
Hamamatsucho has great transport links, so knowing a few good places to eat around there comes in handy. I stumbled on this udon shop while passing through and popped in. Konpira is the name of a mountain in S…
The second place we dropped into was La Matière, a French restaurant in Kagurazaka famous for its value for money. It has been well reviewed since the day it opened and is notorious for being all but impossibl…
I came in through Narita and arrived in Ueno, and since I was right there I finally dropped by Dominique Saibron, the croissant specialty shop inside Ueno Station that I’d been wanting to try for ages. …
Kagurazaka is full of high-end restaurants with Michelin stars, but it also has plenty of places that are great value for the money. Brasserie Gus is one of those well-reviewed spots. Precisely because it is s…
I went to a university near Bongcheon-dong (Nakseongdae, I suppose?), but back when I was a student I hardly ever ate at the good places in that neighborhood. There were reasons for that at the time…. An…
I had some business near Chungjeongno — behind Seoul Station, basically — and since I’d rushed out without eating, I ended up sorting out a meal in the area. I asked a friend where to go and he recommend…