The Café Space at Brasserie L’ecrin in Ueno
I’d known for ages that Brasserie L’ecrin, the casual-dining offshoot of L’ecrin, the famous French restaurant in Ginza, was in Ueno (not that I ever had a reason to go all the way to Ueno fo…
I’d known for ages that Brasserie L’ecrin, the casual-dining offshoot of L’ecrin, the famous French restaurant in Ginza, was in Ueno (not that I ever had a reason to go all the way to Ueno fo…
Kanda is famous as the neighborhood where legendary soba shops like Kanda Yabu Soba and Kanda Matsuya are clustered. I heard a strong new contender called Nemurian had opened in the area, so I went to check it…
Soba is at its best in autumn when the new-harvest buckwheat comes in, but I think the time you crave it most is the middle of summer. Just like ice-cold naengmyeon. I heard there’s a specialist shop ser…
Isehiro is an 80-year-old yakitori place in Kyobashi, between Ginza and Tokyo Station. I’d heard a rumour that its lunchtime yakitori-don is the best in Tokyo, so I went to check it out. The sign ItR…
Last holiday I opened a Fritz Haag Riesling 2005, completely unplanned, just to test my new sommelier knife, and it was delicious. Fruity aromas tickling the nose, a refreshing acidity, and little bubbles popp…
I’ve lived in Tokyo for a while, but there were still quite a lot of places I’d never been to, so now that I have some time I’m getting around to visiting them. When you say Kichijoji, the fi…
It’s a treat to have a famous restaurant near home. A place called Yang, famous from all sorts of magazines and restaurant guidebooks, is just a stone’s throw from where I live. The head chef is fr…
I had a lunch date with an acquaintance in Shirokanedai. Platinum Street in Shirokanedai is lined not only with well-known famous restaurants but with plenty of hidden gems too. (For example, the three-star re…
Roppongi and Akasaka are the heart of Japan’s political and business world. They’re also very close to each other. After a meal in Roppongi, I went over to Akasaka to take a look at Akasaka Sacas, …
Rokurinsha is famous right now as the ramen shop with the longest line in Tokyo. It’s tucked away in a corner of a residential neighborhood in Osaki, the kind of place only people in the know go to, and …
Center Gai is pretty much the heart of Shibuya, but honestly there aren’t many places there worth eating at. Probably because the rent is so high. Shibuya itself has a fair number of good restaurants, bu…
A ramen shop I dropped into by chance while passing by. I’d actually meant to go to the place next door, which is the famous one, but it had closed early, probably because it’s so popular. This pla…