Ode: Yusuke Namai creates poetry in his eclectic dishes
First impressions are everything. At Ode, it's the gun-metal gray wall by the front door and the row of white orchids lined up against it. Even before you go in you can tell chef Yusuke Namai's new restaurant has the look and style to ...
Ata: A Tokyo seafood bistro that does so much more than seafood
Bouillabaisse, fish and chips, beef Parmentier, foie gras dengaku. For a self-proclaimed seafood bistro, Ata certainly covers a lot of territory — much like its dynamic owner-chef has done in his short career. Satoshi Kakegawa started out at Auberge au Mirador, the pioneering gourmet getaway ...
Ramen Kugatsu-do: Delicate broth and fine noodles for a slurpsome summer
Born in China and raised in Japan, ramen's hybrid heritage has evolved into a wide range of different guises. At one end of the spectrum are the alpha-male turbo-charged tonkotsu counters. At the other, you find lightness, delicacy and refinement. That's the way Kugatsu-do ...
Patinastella: French cuisine by way of California in Shibuya
From the hubbub of central Shibuya, the walk to Patinastella takes only five minutes, but it feels like jumping several time zones. This spacious, glass-enclosed dining room could have been beamed from an affluent neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Where German-sausage fans can find the best of the wurst
"After 11 years I finally found it," a German colleague told me over lunch the other day. He wasn't talking about the perfect job. He was talking about currywurst, sliced sausage smothered in ketchup and curry powder. It's a diner or street-food dish, most ...
Maishin: Safe haven in Shibuya for sake-loving adults
Shibuya is not a neighborhood where you head for haute cuisine. But all that window-shopping, people-watching, hanging out and having fun can be hungry work. So it's good to have a few places up your sleeve that offer sustenance and respite from the crowds ...
'Baby cafe' lets moms unwind while the children play
Tokyo has long been a city that caters for pets, with its countless cat cafes, dog cafes and even rabbit cafes dotted across the capital. But what about cafes for babies of the human variety? The fact that there seem to be more places to ...
I heard a rumor that there was a New York-style pizza shop in Tokyo Station that was importing water from New York City. That's how hard they were trying to make their pizza taste authentic. This was exciting news: New York-style pizza, served by ...
Where to find brunch in Tokyo, and just the way you like it
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 ...
