Tag - tokyo

 
 

TOKYO

Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 16, 2004
The great outdoors -- on a plate
All it takes is the first hint of warm spring weather and we start thinking of the great outdoors. By that, we do not mean sea kayaking, a vigorous hike in the hills or a jaunt to some provincial onsen. For us, it is quite sufficient to salute the first blossoms and leaves from the vantage point of a...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 2, 2004
Higashi-yama: 'Designer washoku' for all seasons
Cometh the season, as the saying almost goes, cometh the man. And every year when the hanami season rolls around, you are likely to find us strolling down by the Meguro River in Naka-Meguro. It's a favorite spot for us, not just for the superb cherry blossom that lines both banks, but also because there...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 19, 2004
Stefano: Faustro conjures up magical Veneto cucina
You don't have to go far in Tokyo to track down good Italian food. Virtually every neighborhood boasts its own ristoranti and trattorie these days, many of them with impeccable standards. The problem is, though, the places with the best cucina tend to be overhyped and overpriced, overweening or simply...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 5, 2004
Shinpachi: A 'low town' izakaya with high standards
Of all the long-established nightlife neighborhoods in downtown Tokyo, Kanda is the one that has done the best job of retaining its no-nonsense shitamachi credentials. Of course a certain gentrification is inevitable -- indeed, the station could almost be called salubrious these days -- but wander into...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 20, 2004
Yakitori for gourmets: a 1-2-3 guide
There was a time when yakitori shops were hole-in-the-wall grills, often under railway tracks, where cheapness made up for the lack of sophistication and rotgut sake or rocket-fuel shochu were the libations of choice. Much has changed, though, and "upmarket yakitori" no longer seems a contradiction in...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 6, 2004
Dhaba India: a South Indian oasis in central Tokyo
Fans of Indian food -- and the Food File is a lifelong member of that happy congregation -- are always pleased to discover new places to satisfy those insistent cravings for the spicy flavors of the subcontinent. As we sat down for dinner at Dhaba India, though, we felt overjoyed.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 16, 2004
Layer up against the cold with chanko nabe
With winter in control and showing little sign of abating, it's time to search out warmth and sustenance of the kind that only nabemono can provide. And no heartier form of the genre exists than chanko, the hotpot that has nourished generations of sumo wrestlers.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 19, 2003
'Tis the season to eat, drink -- and be opinionated
'Tis the season again when the Food File anoints itself as demiurge, handing out gongs and accolades, winnowing the worthy from the weak, and pronouncing unashamedly subjective opinions about the past 12 months. So here's our annual toast to all those restaurants and stores -- most of them new, but also...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 12, 2003
The Oak Door: Steak a claim to heavyweight dining
The first thing you see as you enter The Oak Door is the bar, surrounded on three sides by sleek, glass-fronted wine racks packed with boutique New World wines. The second thing that grabs your eye is the warm, flickering glow emanating from the bank of wood-fired ovens by the kitchen, and the white-clad...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 17, 2003
Sushi-bun: An altar in the temple of fresh fish
Why does sushi have to be so expensive? Granted, a modest meal at your neighborhood sushiya shouldn't involve too great an outlay. And when it comes to the mass-produced offerings that chug around conveyor belts on color-coded plates, you will never want to eat enough of them to seriously dent your...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 3, 2003
Luxor: Pride of Italy, transplanted
You eat better at Italian restaurants in Tokyo than you do in Italy. A preposterous statement of unreconstructed chauvinism? An urban myth propagated by a few disgruntled tourists ripped off in Rimini? No, that is the considered opinion of a growing number of people familiar with both countries and their...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 26, 2003
Tama: Pour a libation to summer's end at a stylish washoku hideaway
At last that spell of late summer heat has broken. At last we can generate something approximating an appetite. And -- all praise to the gods of zymurgy -- at last the first of the fresh-season sake is starting to arrive on the shelves and menus of our favorite ryoriya (restaurants) and izakaya.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 12, 2003
Water Grill Oyster Bar: 'R' you ready to crack open oyster season?
Rules are made to be broken. Change is the only constant. Culture is porous and tradition must be fluid. These are the guiding principles for all life. How can they not apply to what and how we eat?
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 22, 2003
O, I do like to eat beside the seaside
Just because the rest of the country is heading back to work at the fag end of this cool summer doesn't mean the beach season is over. In fact, now that the crowds are thinning out, this is probably the best time to plan a day trip (or overnight) down to the Shonan "Riviera" -- that stretch of Kanagawa...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 8, 2003
Keeping your cool this summer
Summer is here, the season of lethargy and listlessness, of sweat and stunted appetites. There are ways to ameliorate (if not actually beat) the big heat, but very few of them involve eating. For us, summer is about sitting outside in the cool of the evening, a nice cold beer at hand, or a bottle of...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 25, 2003
L'Ecailler: Why shell out?
One thing should be made clear from the outset: L'Ecailler is not a restaurant for everyone. This has nothing to do with location or exclusivity, though it must be said that tony, well-heeled Shirokanedai does boast a distinctive demographic all its own. Neither is it a question of finances. L'Ecailler...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 18, 2003
This Ricos is posh, new -- but is it improved?
It was with considerable anticipation that we made our way to Akabanebashi last week to try the new Ricos, which opened June 10. After all, this is the latest from the people who brought us Ricos Kitchen near Yebisu Garden Place, which was one of our restaurants of the year in 1999 and remains a reliable...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 11, 2003
Thien Phuoc: Vietnamese cooking puts a spring in your step
It's hard to think of a food that has achieved greater upward mobility -- at least here in Japan -- than goi cuon, those delectable, rice-paper-wrapped spring rolls that almost single-handedly define Vietnamese cuisine. Over the past decade, they have moved out of the minority ghetto of back-street ethnic...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 4, 2003
Taverna Vivace: A hearty 'buon gusto' that's a bargain
It is one of the enduring conundrums of eating out in Tokyo: How come, when we are blessed with so many great little bargain bistros, there aren't just as many no-frills trattoria?
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jun 27, 2003
Museum Cafe: On top of the world
It's one of those universal truths we hold self-evident. Fine food plus city lights from way up above, multiplied by one significant other, equals romance. And the great thing is, that equation always adds up, no matter what city, climate or time zone you're in -- even in Roppongi Hills.

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Things may look perfect to the outside world, but today's mom is fine with some imperfection at home.
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