Let me ask you this: how often can you get something that’s the best in the world for less than ten bucks? Because today – score! – I had the BEST COFFEE IN THE WORLD for ¥700. It was at a little timeslip of a coffee bar in Ginza called the Café Bechet. Naturally –Continue reading “Where To Get The Best Cup Of Coffee In The Whole World”
Tag Archives: restaurants & cafes
Forever Alone: Japan Version
In The Land of Group Harmony, doing things by yourself is almost un-Japanese. But because Japan is also the country which offers a hot spring resort for dogs, a store that only sells big red underwear for people over sixty, wine matched to your blood type, a club for people who gather in the park everyContinue reading “Forever Alone: Japan Version”
Wait, Seriously, You Can Eat That?!
In case you were wondering if there is such a thing as too much information, take a look-see at this handy chart I spotted recently, hanging outside a “Don’t Waste Anything!” restaurant in Tokyo. Although at first glance it looks like a biology quiz, when you discover it’s a diagram of where all the meatsContinue reading “Wait, Seriously, You Can Eat That?!”
Doggie Diner
Even pooches who haven’t perfected the essential Sad Begging Face can score doggie-licious snacks at the Dog Department café! No trying to choose which knee might belong to the most sympathetic diner, no patient waiting for a gravity-assisted food mishap – all that lucky canines have to do is order off the menu! Choose fromContinue reading “Doggie Diner”
Catch Your Own Noodles
Next time you hoist a brew over the sad story of the one that got away, nobody is going to believe it was a NOODLE. But if you want to snag a tasty bite of nagashi sōmen, that’s just what might happen when you try to scoop the slippery little dudes up with your chopsticksContinue reading “Catch Your Own Noodles”
The Godzilla Of Pancakes
If you are what you eat, right now I’m a righteous tower of these tall boys. This “short stack” came topped with butter and kuromitsu (Okinawan black sugar syrup) and yes ma’am, I ate every single fluffmonster bite. It was so good, I had to return to Hoshino Coffee for an encore. The next time, IContinue reading “The Godzilla Of Pancakes”
Tokyo Steampunk!
Alice In Wonderland X Jules Verne! Gothic Lolita X Victorian Mourning! Manga X Edwardian Gentleman! In the land where costume is king (and often queen, even if you’re not a woman!), steampunk does not disappoint. The Tokyo Steampunk Society has adopted a time travel motif, which allows anybody who already cosplays to reimagine themselves inContinue reading “Tokyo Steampunk!”
Magical Food At The Ninja Restaurant
I have to admit, until last week I’d never been to a restaurant where my waitress brought me an egg, set it on fire and turned it into a chicken. Apparently, when the waitress is a ninja, this is no big deal. A minor exertion, in fact, after conjuring up a drawbridge so we couldContinue reading “Magical Food At The Ninja Restaurant”
Standing Room Only…Restaurants?
Taking the single-guy-wolfing-down-a-microwaved-burrito-over-the-sink to new levels, check out these SRO restaurants! Not uncommon, especially near train stations, these places solve a major problem for harried Japanese citizens: how do you grab a bite when you’ve got 30 minutes from office to meeting and 20 of those are going to be spent in a subway car?Continue reading “Standing Room Only…Restaurants?”
The Fish Bone Restaurant
You know how in America some serious steak restaurants have honkin’ big showcases of marbled beef displayed near the front door? Well, this is the equivalent come-hither to dine at a joint where himono is the specialty of the house! Himono is basically fish jerky, but it’s different from beef jerky because it features the addedContinue reading “The Fish Bone Restaurant”
Extreme Pancakes
In a “foreign food” breakthrough worthy of comparison to the In ‘n Out Double Double, behold the most recent craze in Japanese pancakes: super thick flapjacks! A miracle of batter engineering, these ultra-fluffmonsters are not only perfectly browned on both sides, they’re cooked all the way through with no surprise pockets of sogginess in theContinue reading “Extreme Pancakes”
Genghis Kahn Says Bite Me
For some mysterious reason, this Japanese version of Mongolian cuisine is known by the name of history’s fiercest warrior and pronounced “jingisu kon,” but in no way does that diminish the utter yum of sizzling meats & veggies dipped in a sauce that’s so good you’d die happy drowning in it. When you sit downContinue reading “Genghis Kahn Says Bite Me”
Gateway to Kitty Nirvana
In a country where many people live in places too small for pets, cat cafés are a booming business. For about $10 an hour, anyone (over the age of 12) can sip a latte and pet herds of cats for as long as their wallets hold out or until their allergies kick in. The mostContinue reading “Gateway to Kitty Nirvana”
The Vinegar Cafe
Vinegar is not my favorite thing. Not even close. So I was kind of lukewarm on the idea of going to a café where the house specialty was drinks based on fruit vinegar. How could I have been so wrong? The drinks were so delicious, I’ve been back to Marusan several times since, just toContinue reading “The Vinegar Cafe”
Canine Dining At The Dog Café!
After cavorting at the Dog Petit Resort Joker, Yoko and I took Fuki and Sala to their favorite Odaiba lunch spot: the Puppies Café. Every table comes equipped with a water dish for the dogs and a canine menu. While we ate indifferent “American style” salads, dogs all around us were dining on gourmet steakContinue reading “Canine Dining At The Dog Café!”
The Most Expensive Bonito Guts I Ever Ate
In case you didn’t immediately recognize the gourmet tidbits in the lovely dishes above, the one on the left is “Shrimp and udo plants dressed with salted and fermented bonito guts” and the one in the center is “Hairy crab and butterbur dressed with egg yolk and vinegar.” This was the auspicious first course inContinue reading “The Most Expensive Bonito Guts I Ever Ate”
Only In Japan 