Rebecca Milner is a freelance writer living in Tokyo since 2002. She writes for A Taste of Home and Japan Pulse, and she is the co-author of Lonely Planet’s travel guides to Tokyo and Japan.
For Rebecca Milner's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Something newsworthy has happened (well, newsworthy if you follow dining micro-trends): A new restaurant from Hawaii has opened in Tokyo and it doesn’t serve pancakes.
People have opinions about xiao long bao. And for good reason: xiao long bao (or XLB, or soup dumplings, or shoronpo as they're called in Japanese) are enchanting: semi-translucent satchels of dough encasing balls of minced pork suspended in, curiously, soup. In that magnificent ...
Dear readers, I have made a wonderful discovery: Finnish cinnamon rolls, korvapuusti, are not just cinnamon rolls. They are cinnamon and cardamom rolls and they are delicious. Also, korvapuusti translates to "slapped ear" — perhaps because the dough is rolled rather than coiled — ...
A peculiar culinary milestone took place last month: the 400th anniversary of the first English roast beef dinner served in Japan. You're forgiven for missing the fanfare; there wasn't any, save for a commemorative meal at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo. This ...
Forget Shin-Okubo's Koreatown. When I asked Korean friends and acquaintances where to go to find authentic Korean food in Tokyo, several pointed me in the opposite direction, to Akasaka. Specifically, I was told to try the soup at Akasaka Ichiryu Bekkan (2-13-17 Akasaka, Minato-ku, ...
"Hamburger shops are a dime a dozen in Tokyo these days, but there are very few places doing barbecue," said Lauren Shannon, owner of Bulldog Barbeque (www.bulldogbbq.jp). By barbecue, Shannon doesn't mean any old thing thrown on a grill, but rather the tradition of the ...
"There are no palm trees. It looks like a typical Caribbean restaurant. Like home, not the beach," says Petra Laptiste, a Canadian of Caribbean descent, describing her favorite Caribbean restaurant in Tokyo, JamRock (1-21-15 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; 03-3478-2364; www.jamrockcafeonline.com). JamRock doesn't peddle hackneyed images of ...
Bamboo baskets of steaming dumplings, fluffy buns stuffed with sweet-and-savory barbecued pork, crisp spring rolls and endless pots of jasmine tea ... Dim sum (or yum cha), that Hong Kong tradition, is a staple of Chinatowns the world over. Except, it seems, in Japan. ...
It's terrace season, and the thought of a drawn-out weekend brunch — sunglasses on, cocktail in hand — is likely to make any American go weak in the knees with homesickness. Fortunately for those in Tokyo there are several places that do a classic ...
Authentic British food is hard to come by in Japan, and the food at the theme-pub chains isn't often great. However, there are a handful of expat-run places that get it right — and should hit the spot for homesick Brits. Having heard encouraging things ...
