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May 11, 2024
 

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RESTAURANTS

Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
May 19, 2002
A marriage guaranteed to last
Designer dining: It's a minefield in this city. In the past few months, we've sat ourselves down in too many places where the surroundings are flashy but the food is at best ordinary, too often misguided fusion dabblings, and at worst close to inedible. We haven't seen such a major outbreak of style over substance since the plague of excesses in the bad old bubble years.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
May 12, 2002
Natural quality, Acquavino style
You don't get to become a successful restaurateur without knowing exactly what it is that people want. As the man behind the Acquapazza and Mangia Pesce stable of ristoranti, chef Yoshimi Hidaka helped to define the new high-end Italian cucina of the cash-flush 1990s. Now he shows he is equally in tune with the more parsimonious, light-eating, health-conscious values of the new decade.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
May 5, 2002
Straight from Tsukiji to Harajuku
What's the difference between an izakaya and a restaurant? Often very little, if the izakaya in question serves good food and comports itself with a degree of sophistication. Perhaps the best yardstick is the noise level. The louder the conversation and more voluble the pleasure, the less likely a place is to style itself as a full-fledged restaurant.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 28, 2002
Toriyoshi: Simplest of pleasures on a stick
What could be more straightforward than yakitori? All that's required is to chop up some chicken into bite-size chunks, skewer and hoist them over a grill, then season to taste and eat. Simple? Yes. Easy to do well? Obviously not, or there would be far more places of the caliber of Toriyoshi.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 14, 2002
Kappo R: And on the seventh day, we dined
Sunday evenings are always the most difficult time for dining out, especially if it's full-fledged Japanese cuisine you're after. With the markets closed and the streets deserted, choices are always limited, even in the most up-market parts of town.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 7, 2002
Harmonie: Harmonizing great food in the key of fine wine
Keen-eyed Nishi Azabu-watchers will have noted the arrival of a whole slew of new restaurants in recent months. The influx has been especially noticeable on the southwest quadrant of the crossing known to old-timers as Kasumicho Crossing and to foreign punsters as Hobson's Choice.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 31, 2002
Manuel: Iberian inspirations
Portuguese cuisine -- much like Belgian fashion and Canadian rock music -- has an identity problem. Overlooked and underrated by the world at large, it inevitably suffers by comparison with the better-known output of its far larger neighbor, Spain.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 24, 2002
Helmsdale: A spot of haggis and ale, lads?
Helmsdale is not so much a pub as a shrine to the "water of life," known to the ancient Gaelic peoples as uisge beatha and to their modern-day descendants as whisky. Almost every inch of space is devoted to it, from the groaning shelves of classic single malts arrayed behind the counter to the empty whisky cartons that almost totally obscure the window.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 17, 2002
Umaya: Dining in the presence of greatness
When the man behind a major new restaurant is a kabuki actor, it's inevitable that there's going to be strong public interest. When that actor happens to be Ichikawa Ennosuke -- the flamboyant superstar of his self-styled "super kabuki" -- you can expect the buzz to be massive.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 10, 2002
Il Pentito: Anyway you slice, it's real Roma
The first thing you see when you walk through the door of Il Pentito is the oven. It's a monolithic, red-brick structure, like a relic from some Industrial Revolution foundry. A massive, dominating presence, it seems to take up half the premises, an impression reinforced by the way the tables are crammed together in careless proximity, as if accommodating customers were an afterthought.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 3, 2002
Substance with style on the side
Any fashion boutique worth its salt has a cafe attached these days. Offering cappuccinos and cheesecake is, after all, a good way to draw reluctant window-shoppers through the doors. Too often, though, style wins out over substance. The requisite ambience is installed along with the espresso machine, but it's all froth and no flavor. Here are two new places, however, that are definitely worth knowing about.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 17, 2002
Shonzui: Right at home with fruits of the vine
We finally made it to Shonzui the other day. Not that it's particularly hard to find, it's just that it has taken us far too long to get around to visiting this friendly little wine bar down in Roppongi.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 10, 2002
Hantei: Kushi-age on a higher plane
There are still people who believe the idea of a classy kushi-age is a downright contradiction in terms. After all, they reason, it's a cross between two basic, blue-collar staples: yakitori and tonkatsu. How could such a mongrel hybrid, better suited to greasy neighborhood nomiya, ever be worthy of genteel consideration?
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 3, 2002
Tower's Bar Bellovisto: You're the tops, baby
There's not long to go till we see off the cold days of winter with pagan festivities of fertility and wild abandon -- no, not Mardi Gras and the Rio Carnival but the ritual observances of St. Valentine's Day. Some people like to send out cards; others mark the occasion through the selfless receiving of chocolate. The Food File, however, is a firm believer in the Western tradition, in which romance is inseparably linked with the pleasures of the table.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 27, 2002
The genuine Korea Town article
Times are changing in Korea Town. Those couple of kimchi-scented blocks just north of Kabukicho are still the best place in the city to find home-style cooking as spiced up as you'd get on the Korean Peninsula. But, slowly, the inexorable process of gentrification is under way.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 20, 2002
Aramasa: The nostlagic taste of the great north
To duck under the rope noren at Aramasa and slide back its sturdy front door is to take a step into the past. Not a giant, disorienting leap all the way back to feudal Edo or the gilded age of Taisho, but an unthreatening half-pace back to the postwar days of Showa, when salarymen ruled the roost and it took the local train the best part of a day to reach even the more accessible parts of Tohoku.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 13, 2002
Matsugen: Noodles at the cutting edge of Azabu
To call Matsugen a new-wave soba shop would be misleading, since the noodles it rolls, cuts, cooks and serves are entirely traditional. But judge it on looks and attitude alone, and it belongs without question to the present century, not the last.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 6, 2002
Oh, what will they think of next?
It's never a good idea to start a new year by looking over your shoulder. But there's no harm in saluting the trends that have emerged over the past 12 months, especially if they represent a significant slippage in the gourmet zeitgeist. After all, yesterday's dabblings by the food fashionistas become the TV hype of today -- and, before you know it, they've insinuated themselves onto the mainstream menus of tomorrow.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 30, 2001
Delicious plum choices from 2001
In a city the size of Tokyo, it is simply impossible to visit every single new restaurant or to keep track of changes at all the established places. For that reason, the Food File does not presume to assign year-end rankings or pronounce its best-of lists for the year, especially since, in the end, it is just a matter of subjective preference and personal taste.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 23, 2001
A gift from the South of France
At this time of year, the frigid streets of Tokyo feel a very long way from the sun-baked hills and turquoise seas of the South of France. But they have cold weather down there too. And for that we should be thankful -- because if they didn't have winter, the local fisher-folk might never have developed their most famous recipe, bouillabaisse.
How the discovery of a giant sword in Nara offers clues into ancient Japan
Archaeologists say a 1,600-year-old wooden coffin at the Tomio Maruyama tumulus in the city of Nara was kept in good condition probably because it was protected by a layer of clay and copper ions that had seeped out of the mirrors that were buried together.
Japan bread recalled after rat parts found inside packs
Pasco Shikishima has recalled 104,000 packs of its white Chojuku bread after parts of a rat's body were discovered in two of them.
What we know so far about the case of the burned couple in Tochigi
Flowers are laid on the bank of a river in Nasu, Tochigi Prefecture, where the charred bodies of a Tokyo couple were found last month.
Japanese students' English proficiency is improving
An education ministry survey has shown that the English proficiency of public junior and senior high school students in Japan is continuing to improve.
Is Modi’s party heading for a stunning election loss?
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's campaign tactics have escalated, including anti-Muslim rhetoric and fearmongering, reflecting his ruling party's desperation.
Japan's logistics firms seek partnerships to cope with driver shortage
Japan Post CEO Tetsuya Senda (right) and his Seino Transportation counterpart Satoshi Takahashi announce their companies' agreement on joint long-haul truck operations, in Tokyo on Thursday.
How the discovery of a giant sword in Nara offers clues into ancient Japan
Archaeologists say a 1,600-year-old wooden coffin at the Tomio Maruyama tumulus in the city of Nara was kept in good condition probably because it was protected by a layer of clay and copper ions that had seeped out of the mirrors that were buried together.
Unlike 10 years ago, Japan's new security bill sparks little debate
The Lower House starts discussing a security clearance bill on April 19 in Tokyo.
Japan’s tween skateboarders get head start on preparations for 2028 Olympics
Ibuki Matsumoto competes at an event in Osaka on April 21.
Will Australia’s next frigates come from Japan?
The Mogami-class frigate, which features stealth capabilities and is operated by Japan's Maritime Self-Defence Force, falls within the very broad guidelines of what is being sought by Canberra.

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