Shinkansen Ekiben at Tokyo Station
My schedule on this Tokyo trip was tight right up to the end, so there was just no time for a proper meal. It was already mealtime when I got on the Shinkansen, and since they don’t sell a decent bento o…
My schedule on this Tokyo trip was tight right up to the end, so there was just no time for a proper meal. It was already mealtime when I got on the Shinkansen, and since they don’t sell a decent bento o…
I took advantage of the New Year holidays to pop over to Tokyo for a bit. I was planning to see friends I hadn’t seen in a while, do some shopping and hit some good restaurants, but almost every place wo…
Maknae Hoe Center in Singil-dong is an old regular haunt of mine. Though I can’t really call myself a regular, since I don’t manage to go that often. I wanted sandfish, a winter delicacy, and while…
This is my second time at Il Cipriani. I don’t usually go back to the same restaurant twice, but this place is handy whenever I have plans near Jongno, so I ended up visiting again. It’s easy to ge…
I heard that Payard, the famous dessert shop from New York’s Upper East Side, had opened on the 6th floor of the Shinsegae department store’s flagship in Myeongdong, so I went to check it out. (App…
It was a short trip, but here are photos of the places I dropped into in Osaka. Rikuro Ojisan’s cheesecake Rikuro Ojisan’s cheesecakes always have a long line, but you can also eat one right away …
Lotus root tempura Nice and crisp. It’s not quite the skill of a top tempura house, but every dish is good. By this point I think I get this place’s style: I’d call it casual kaiseki that us…
I’d heard there was a pretty good Japanese restaurant in Shinsaibashi, the heart of Osaka’s nightlife — think Kabukicho in Tokyo — so I went to check it out. It had been a while since I’d see…
As soon as we sat down, they brought out matcha and a sweet rice-cake-like treat called warabimochi. I guess it’s meant for us to enjoy before the food arrives. Matcha Judging from the so-so aroma, I do…
After stopping by Kotoin and soaking up the autumn atmosphere, I headed straight to Izusen, a shojin ryori (Buddhist vegetarian) restaurant inside Daitokuji, for a meal. It’s not some storied old establi…
I finally made it to Futaba, said to be the hardest to get into of Ueno’s big three tonkatsu restaurants. It’s closed on Mondays, Thursdays and Sundays, and on top of that it’s only open from…
There was a game show in Makuhari, so I went along. The atmosphere of the show has changed a lot. There weren’t any huge events this year, but the mobile booths have grown enormously. The likes of KDDI a…