Tag - tokyo-food-file

 
 

TOKYO FOOD FILE

Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 31, 2003
Coca Restaurant: Fun food in funky retro style
There is precious little architecture left in central Tokyo these days that has any history attached to it. So when restaurants want to imbue their premises with a period feel, mostly they just have to fake it. The results can range from ersatz Edo-style castles to flimsy, film-set backdrops glorifying...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 24, 2003
Shilingol: From the Mongol steppes to Sugamo
A chill gale of change is gusting through the sumo world, all the way from Central Asia. The demise of the Takanohana era does not, of course, mean we will stop eating chanko nabe. However, in honor of the incipient arrival of the Asashoryu dynasty, we felt impelled to set off in search of Shilingol,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 17, 2003
Izayoi: Fine fowl deeds in Azabu-Juban
The idea of upmarket yakitori -- presenting premium-quality charcoal-broiled chicken in suave settings, often with fine wine and other foreign influences -- is taken for granted in Tokyo these days. But nowhere else in the city is this venerable concept -- the skewering and grilling of fowl -- translated...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 10, 2003
Kanda's shrine to the humble soba noodle
During this most auspicious of Japanese seasons, it seems as if just about every kind of food is imbued with momentous import. From the mochi in the o-zoni soup with which the New Year's morning is greeted to the array of colorful but austere o-sechi ryori tidbits, many of these dishes are appreciated...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 3, 2003
Chic eats for the months ahead
It's prognostication time again and, just like Janus (after whom this month is, after all, named), the Food File likes to look ahead by surveying all that lies behind.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 27, 2002
Let us raise a toast to six of the best in 2002
Just as, after a leisurely banquet, conversation inevitably turns to storytelling and reminiscing, in much the same vein we like to devote our final column of the year to the highlights of the past 12 months. During the course of 2002, we have cast our spotlight on more than 60 restaurants, bars and...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 20, 2002
Vin Picoeur: Le BBQ Franco-Japonais
'Tis the season to be merry, but too many office parties, bonenkai drink fests and lavish yearend dining can quickly take their toll. In the face of hectic schedules and chronic overindulgence, the only remedy is to slow down and concentrate on the fundamentals -- good, satisfying food; fine wine; and...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 13, 2002
Time to say arrivederci to the old-school cucina
Out with the old and in with the new. That's the prevailing state of the game in Tokyo's restless, ever-changing restaurant scene. Sometimes this can be exhilarating, as with the brilliant refurbishment of the top floors of the My City building in Shinjuku. Sometimes, though, the process can feel downright...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 6, 2002
New washoku comes of age
Trends are only ever truly visible in retrospect, but all the indications are that 2002 will be viewed as the year in which washoku -- Japan's native, homegrown food -- finally made its big comeback.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 24, 2002
Old world brews for a new century
Belgians makes the finest, most complex beers in the world. There can be little argument about that. They've been perfecting the craft -- many would call it an art -- for centuries. But just because these brews have a tradition dating back to the era of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, that doesn't mean they...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 17, 2002
Nibblin', sippin' and slurpin'
Shi-an occupies that comfortable middle-ground between the two extremes of kaiseki formal and izakaya casual. It's not unique and the food is not particularly unusual, but its virtues -- quality seasonal ingredients; a deft touch in the kitchen; competent service; and an unobtrusive, stylish setting...
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 10, 2002
Restaurant Kinoshita: New digs, but same culinary magic
When the news came through this summer that one of our favorite chefs, Kazuhiko Kinoshita, was closing his eponymous restaurant in Hatsudai and moving to fresh pastures, it came as no surprise to us. In fact the move was well overdue.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 3, 2002
We'll have 'the usual'
Comme d'habitude. As any linguist knows, that's French for "as usual." As the name of a restaurant, it conjures up images of a run-of-the-mill bistro with standard-issue checkered tablecloths. But the name is both modest and misleading, because Comme d'habitude in Kami-Meguro stands head and shoulders...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 27, 2002
Grazing between East and West
The dining-bar is a strange concept, one that is quite peculiar to Japan. Unlike at regular bars, food is a central part of the experience -- not just beer nuts, but real sustenance. Unlike a proper restaurant, though, you are not expected to order a whole meal from starter through to main course and...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 20, 2002
The garden of heavenly tofu delights
Traditional cuisine intersects with a distinctive modern sensibility at Sorano-niwa. Newly opened on one of Ebisu's quieter back streets, this is an almost textbook example of how some of Japan's most representative foods are being updated and repackaged for the new millennium.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 13, 2002
Fresh, raw Ebisu, on the half-shell
Oysters are definitely in season these days -- and not just because the summer is over and there's an "R" in the letters of the month. Overlooked and undervalued for too long here (or perhaps just overshadowed by all the other superb seafood that's available), these humble bivalves are only now being...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 6, 2002
Iseya: Tempura with a tale to tell
Iseya is a diamond in the rough-and-ready neighborhood that lies to the north of Asakusa. Set between the sleazy, winking red lights of the Senzoku soaplands and the grim and grimy flophouses of San'ya, this is far from tourist territory. And Iseya is no tourist restaurant. But without doubt it's a shitamachi...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 29, 2002
As bistros go, this one is parfait
It's the post-holiday syndrome, the back-at-work midweek slump. You feel like eating out, but you don't want to get dressed up. You need to avoid straining the credit card. And you're certainly not in the mood for elaborate delicacies or rare vintages by candlelight.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 22, 2002
Shinsekai Saikan: Old school from the New World
...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 15, 2002
Simplicity, the mother of perfection
First impressions are everything. You can tell a good restaurant from the moment you walk through the door. It could be a visual cue or the general layout, a subtle feeling that the feng shui is right. It could be the way you are greeted at the door, the movements of the chef or the reassurance of seeing...

Longform

Things may look perfect to the outside world, but today's mom is fine with some imperfection at home.
How 'Reiwa moms' are reshaping motherhood in Japan