Cheap and tasty eats on your feet

| Jan 21, 2011

Cheap and tasty eats on your feet

Now that the holiday feasting is just a fast-fading memory, it’s time to tighten the belt and rein in the spending. No more high-end splurges: These days we’re staying strictly street level. Not that we’re complaining: We know plenty of places to eat and ...

Wine that stands out

| Jan 21, 2011

Wine that stands out

The idea of the wine specialist “stand bar” has been around in Tokyo for quite a few years, melding the blue-collar tradition of the tachinomi (standing-only) sake counter with the more contemporary enthusiasm for the fruit of the vine. But adding a proper food ...

Slurping soba in more formal surroundings

| Jan 7, 2011

Slurping soba in more formal surroundings

There are a number of places around the city these days that combine carefully crafted te-uchi handmade noodles with refined Japanese cuisine. Few, if any, do it with greater accomplishment than Sasuga Hanare, the third in this group of innovative, stylish soba restaurants. Where ...

Dec 31, 2010

The simple but profound flavors of Buddhist temple cooking

Hidden away in the quiet backstreets of Azabu-Juban, Itosho is a self-effacing little restaurant that has been serving shojin ryori (Buddhist temple cuisine) for 40 years, remaining — until recently at any rate — one of the city’s better kept secrets. But even now, ...

Dec 31, 2010

Eat temple style at home or find the right Tokyo eatery

It seems implausible these days but, until 150 years ago or so, Japan was essentially a vegetarian country. Certainly, river fish were caught, seafood was eaten by people on the coast and hunting was part of life for those living in the inhospitable interior. ...

Dec 31, 2010

Living and eating with appreciation

A writer, author and longtime authority on Japanese cuisine, Elizabeth Andoh has been even busier than usual since the publication of her latest work, “Kansha: Celebrating Japan’s Vegan and Vegetarian Traditions.” Beside the extra demands of promotional commitments, for the past several years she ...

| Dec 3, 2010

Buzzing new bistro moves in for the grill

The great guide Michelin has again spoken, and lo! Tokyo has yet more stars in its firmament, and with even greater numbers anointed to the most exalted echelons. Further confirmation, should it be needed, that this is the foodiest city on the planet. But ...