Food & Restaurant Reviews in Tokyo, Japan

SSN775 Texas Roadhouse Yokosuka

2011-12-04T17:21:00.001+09:00

The best fries and burgers in Japan, if you can find them.

Ebina service area food court

2011-12-04T17:09:00.001+09:00

This is called the ebina plate, 980 yen. Very good actually. Same thing roku roku in Roppongi hills charges double for. Would be the perfect school lunch.

Keyakizaka Bakery Roppongi Hills

2011-12-04T16:42:00.001+09:00

The fries were good. The melted cheese sandwich was super good. Good location inside Roppongi Hills.

Gogyo Nishi Azabu ramen

2011-12-04T16:38:00.001+09:00

This place is owned by ippudou, but is much better than ippudou. The goma tonkotsu black ramen is especially good. Ordering the cabbage topping on the side for 100 yen is the best deal for a vegetable side dish. Salad and Gyoza were nothing special.

Fuji Speedway restaurant Toyota 86 launch

2011-12-04T16:16:00.001+09:00

Fuji Speedway has one restaurant and it's not bad. Three kinds of curry - red, green, yellow. The chicken katsu was good and juicy, and the salad was cold and fresh.

Tokyo Ritz Carlton 45 breakfast

2011-12-04T16:11:00.001+09:00

Found out today that you can also order French toast - very very creamy and good - as part of the breakfast buffet. Eggs benedict isn't on the menu but can be ordered also.

Kawaguchiko Houtou

2011-12-04T16:10:00.001+09:00

This was the only restaurant open in kawaguchiko tonight. Luckily it was pretty good. The tempura Houtou set was great. Some of the best tempura I've had anywhere. Better than Ginza tenichi. The kimchi Houtou was good too. The stuffed chicken wings were unique and very good. Lots of food!

Kyo Hayashi Midtown

2011-12-04T15:40:00.001+09:00

Midtown parfait and hojicha brown parfait. Midtown parfait is still good, but for some reason seems smaller now. Good for lunch though. The brown parfait wasn't quite as good.

Asian Kitchen lunch truck

2011-12-04T15:36:00.001+09:00

Today was "mix of everything left over from last week" lunch special day. Avoid next time.

A16 California Restaurant Marunouchi Brick Square

2011-12-04T15:27:00.001+09:00

Sitting outside is nicer, and actually warmer than inside. The squid ink pasta wasn't very good. The blood orange juice was not fresh squeezed. The pizza was really really good. One of the best.

Ootoya Kanazawa Daigaku

2011-12-04T15:22:00.001+09:00

Nicest Ootoya ive seen, near Kanazawa university. The fried chicken with vinegar sauce was good. The pork hot pot should be called the vegetable hot pot. They forgot to put in any pork.

Ikea

2011-12-04T15:21:00.001+09:00

Ikea hotdog. Fried onions are good. Not as good as Costco, but people still line up for them here.

Hamamatsucho tempura Komoro Soba

2011-12-04T15:13:00.001+09:00

Good and simple, fast. 490 yen for 3 shrimp. Self serve water, etc

Futako Tamagawa Tsubame Grill

2011-12-04T15:11:00.001+09:00

Near the futako Tamagawa station shopping mall. Went during happy hour, but their specials weren't so happy. Basically they give you free rice. Not very exciting. The cabbage roll was pretty good, and the German hamburger was pretty good too. Not sure what was German about it though. Cute restaurant, but normal food.

Mamenoya Aoyama Chinese restaurant

2011-12-04T14:57:00.001+09:00

Amazingly one of the more authentic Chinese places in Tokyo. The mabo tofu is spicy and very good, the fungus with pork was puny but good. The dumplings were very hot and juicy. Good place for Chinese food that is not too Japanese.

Asian Kitchen Taco Rice cart

2011-12-04T14:56:00.001+09:00

As good as always, some of the best food in Tokyo, out of a lunch truck. Normal size option saves 100 yen and is almost the same size as large. 750 yen.

Aoyama McDonalds

2011-12-04T14:55:00.001+09:00

No 99 cent Big Mac here but the special $2.50 kind tastes just as good

Yoyogi Village Pour Kur bakery

2011-12-04T14:54:00.001+09:00

Pronounced "porker"

Good bread, same as everywhere else really, but nicer environment in the new Yoyogi Village, which is a new retail development built from shipping containers.

Harajuku Tap Room

2011-12-04T14:49:00.001+09:00

Chicken beer curry was surprisingly good. The fried chicken was very very good, better than even Seven Eleven. The teriyaki chicken sandwich was great too but they had to be convinced to make it to go

Yoyogi South Taiwanese Ramen Dekai Gyoza

2011-12-04T14:41:00.001+09:00

Run by mainland Chinese. The ramen was typical Japanese style watery crap, not real Chinese noodles. The Gyoza however are **very** good and worth coming back for. They tune their radio to American Forces Network, which was cool.

Rakuton Nihonbashi under Mandarin Oriental

2011-12-04T14:38:00.001+09:00

This izakaya means happy pig. We ordered everything that was recommended on the menu. More like fast food, it was ok for convenience but not somewhere I would seek out.

Shabusen Ginza

2011-11-21T22:10:00.001+09:00

This is supposed to be the first shabu shabu place in Tokyo. Not sure if that's true or not.

We got the Australian beef special set to avoid any radiation in the Japanese beef.

The beef was good. The sesame seed sauce was good. We saw them reuse the sesame sauce though.

The tofu asparagus was very good.

Got a plate of pork, which we should have skipped. Lots of food, not a bad deal.

Napule Tokyo Midtown

2011-11-21T21:51:00.001+09:00

There was a wait at this place. Supposedly the best pizza in Tokyo. The pizza was pretty good. Soggy like I like it. The pasta wasn't so good.

Nice atmosphere though, especially liked the lights on the terrace

Ishitsuka Soba in Shimoda

2011-11-20T23:21:00.001+09:00

Supposed to be the best soba in Shimoda

Very average

Roppongi Inakaya Ginza

2011-11-20T21:55:00.001+09:00

Roppongi one is bigger and has taiko drums

Mostly foreigners now

Food a bit salty and expensive at 14,000 yen per person

Beef and king crab still good

Salad is good

Whole fish is good

Little fish are hard as rocks

Still entertaining

Selan ichonamiki

2011-11-20T16:39:00.001+09:00

The kuri roll is much creamier than the fruit roll

Que sera sera in Shimoda

2011-11-20T16:38:00.001+09:00

The highest rated restaurant in Shimoda

The pudding and cream puff are really good

Omotesando kurkku 3

2011-11-20T16:06:00.001+09:00

Inside Omotesando hills

The soba with both meat ad vegetables and sauce C, hot chicken soup, is pretty good. Egg not worth it. Negi is ok. Better to mix it all together.

The pumpkin sorbet was very good. The almond jello was not. It tasted like medicine.

The beef tendon rice didn't look too good

Getting everything in extra large size is free, and a must do

Asaba Ryokan Shuzenji dinner two

2011-11-20T09:41:00.001+09:00

Much better than dinner the first night

The crab was great - an entire crab's edible body ripped out and stuffed in his shell.

The fried fish egg was great too

The salt encrusted beef was unfortunately probably from Japan but tasted very good

No one wanted the nasu and ginger ice cream again so we got pudding and melon instead.

The fried red bean stick was great

Jojoen yakiniku Roppongi

2011-11-20T07:56:00.001+09:00

The only yakiniku place that you don't come out smelling like BBQ.

Ordered American beef and it was great

The chijimi wasn't as good as the us.

Overall good. 7000 yen per person average. The large kimchi was $20 and was still small though and the garlic was sprouting.

The green tea ice cream was very good.

Stayed with American beef to avoid problems

The lettuce, which should be free, was $8

One rice big enough for two people

The salads were really good

Asaba Ryokan Shuzenji breakfast

2011-11-19T22:51:00.001+09:00

The Japanese breakfast at Shuzenji

More food than it looks like

The tofu is pretty good, the stuffed mochi ball is very good. The shrimp over rice is good

Best part was the silver ice bucket. Very nice

Miyauch Shuzenji next to station

2011-11-19T22:40:00.001+09:00

Curry rice was really good. The mixed sandwiches were unique - fried omelette instead of egg salad. Very good.

古家 furuya Korean restaurant Isetan Shinjuku

2011-11-19T20:20:00.001+09:00

Korean restaurant inside isetan 7th floor

Very expensive for the amount of food. Good quality though. The dessert pear was super salty and inedible.

Ok but would not repeat

Ritz Carlton Tokyo Azure 45 breakfast

2011-11-19T20:09:00.001+09:00

The restaurant changed names but the buffet is still the same. Still one of the best hotel buffet breakfasts in Tokyo. Includes four hours free parking.

Asaba Ryokan Shuzenji dinner

2011-11-17T09:40:00.001+09:00

Asaba ryokan in Shuzenji is a 350 year old hotel. This is their kaiseki dinner. The scallop is especially good as is the lobster dish. The almond jello was one of the best ever.

Wasabi was very fresh and plentiful. Service was excellent. The pace of the dinner was very good too with not a lot of time spent waiting between dishes.

Dinner was followed by tea and coffee downstairs with a view of the koi pond.

Omotesando subway food court Vietnamese

2011-11-13T15:20:00.001+09:00

Horrible pork kakuni dish

Dry meat, dry rice, salty sauce

Yoshinoya

2011-11-12T23:47:00.001+09:00

Breakfast at Yoshinoya
Matsuya is much better. Yoshinoya doesn't even include miso soup with their menu items.

The store was dirty too.

Coco's Mishima

2011-11-07T02:14:00.001+09:00

Buy The doraemon point card for 100 yen. Then you get free all you can drink soft drinks.

The shrimp onion salad was ok. Not worth the 500 yen set deal. Better to buy the point card and then the salad separately.

Tomato cream shrimp pasta was ok. Would not get it again.

The French fries though were the best I've ever tasted anywhere. Really food especially for 280 yen. Mayo/BBQ sauce better than it looks.

Asaba ryokan Shuzenji

2011-11-07T02:13:00.001+09:00

Went to check out the hotel but were greeted with hot tea and sweets, then cold tea and almond jelly, followed by more tea and ginger ice cream. The almond jelly was bouncy and the best I've ever tasted. All for free. What a deal.

Ramen Zero Omotesando Hills

2011-11-07T01:09:00.001+09:00

This ramen shop specializes in ramen with no added artificial ingredients.

I got the mini ramen with no flavor, a standard size ramen with added flavor and a bowl of tartar rice.

The mini ramen was a good deal - Half the price for half the ramen. There really was not much taste though. Like chicken broth.

The added flavor ramen tasted like normal ramen, very salty.

The tartar rice was interesting. Like a ramen over rice without soup.

Overall I liked the wide counter an clean look. The ramen was ok but not especially exciting.

Royal garden cafe ichonamiki

2011-11-06T21:19:00.001+09:00

Olive oil spaghetti was pretty good. Piping hot. Great view as always. Next time will try the BLT.

Ueshima Hiroo

2011-11-06T21:15:00.001+09:00

Good coffee and very good sandwich

Download their iPhone app for a 20% off coupon. And if you get the coffee to go you get a free size upgrade. It was ultra small anyway so maybe they would otherwise have served us coffee in a kid's size mouthwash cup?

Good quality, good prices with all of the discounts

Hana Maru Udon

2011-11-06T21:01:00.001+09:00

Went to Akasaka

Got two of the 105 yen standard bowls of udon and added toppings

Everything good as usual

Came out to 830 yen total for two people

Best deal in town

Confectionary West

2011-11-04T18:42:00.001+09:00

Across from aoyama cemetery

If you want to feel like you're in the 1930s this is the place. Most people here were probably around in the thirties too.

Good dessert. All you can drink tea and coffee. Free parking. Good prices. Very old style.

A fun but strange combo

I like it

Gindaco Popup store Hamamatsu

2011-11-04T18:39:00.001+09:00

Gindaco in a unique Popup format

Looks like a temp location but very well done. Sit in or take out.

Tried the tartar sauce Tako yaki. Not as good as egg salad version.

Food truck backpacker's kitchen tono cafe

2011-11-04T18:33:00.001+09:00

Very very very good avocado taco rice with egg. Basically it's a taco over rice with an egg on top. Really good.

750 yen

Trattoria Tanta Bocca

2011-11-02T14:05:00.001+09:00

A great find

American sized portions. The tomato cream crab pasta was big when you get omori for 200 yen more. Very good, lots of crab

The smoked salmon cream sauce pasta was very good too, as was the bread

Highly recommended. Had to wait about ten minutes for a seat. Coin parking in the back.

Joel Robuchon Marunouchi Brick Square

2011-10-31T22:03:00.003+09:00

Nice place for sitting down in marunouchi brick square. Free parking with validation. The mushroom quiche was very good. The crepe lunch set was great too, but you'll leave hungry if you don't order seconds.

Picaggol inside Odakyu Shinjuku

2011-10-31T22:03:00.001+09:00

The parfait was very small, but pretty good. The ice tea was huge, though without refills.

Eggs n Things Harajuku

2011-10-31T22:02:00.001+09:00

Eggs n Hot sandwich - ok, decent size, a normal sandwich.

Hawaiian sampler pancakes were good, large funnel of whipped cream. Pretty good

This is the Tokyo branch of the Honolulu Eggs n Things. Usually a very long line but today there wasn't a line. I think they pay people to wait in line usually.

They did a pretty good job of making it feel Hawaiian, complete with the Japanese tourists.

Royal Garden Cafe

2011-10-31T20:02:00.001+09:00

Overpriced lunch set. The pasta was good but not worth 1800 yen. Really nice setting and great parking though!

Shakey's Shibuya

2011-10-31T19:52:00.001+09:00

1500 yen buffet

The pizza was really good, the best we've had in japan. Better to wait until the new ones come out hot.

Includes one drink, no refills.

The fried chicken is good and boneless. Takes a while to come out though.

The pasta us terrible. The mojos are good when hot.

Pretty dirty store for Japan.

Would be better at lunch where you get the same food for 850 yen.

Katsumaru Ramen Roppongi Hills

2011-10-23T18:55:00.001+09:00

Inside roppongi hills Hollywood plaza. Tetsugama is a better ramen place but this restaurant has fried rice.

The ramen is average. The decor is mid 1980's, which is pretty cool.

They also allowed us to use Roppongi hills gift certificates but no parking validation for those.

Sora Aisu Jiyugaoka

2011-10-22T16:50:00.001+09:00

The dessert place across the street was full so we came here.

The portions are so small you will get angry. The ice cream cone is smaller than a McDonald's child size or a Yogurtland sample cup. It was good but would have been better if there was more of it.

The waffle was good, but again, very small. The Yoku Moku cafe is a much better deal, an better food too!

Tori Yoshi Aoyama

2011-10-22T16:42:00.001+09:00

Went for a feast at Tori Yoshi in Aoyama near Omotesando.

The chicken wings were good as always. No real difference between spicy and not spicy.

The fried chicken with cheese stuffing was good, as were the onion rings. The other fried chicken dish - more brown - was not as good.

The fresh vegetable stir fry was good.

The shrimp with mayonnaise was not good.

The skewers were great.

The tofu tempura was good.

Both salads were really good, especially the gobo salad.

The shrimp tempura musubi were really good, much better than expected.

The egg yaki was ok, no different than anywhere else.

The tofu with tororo hot plate was ok, but not repeatable.

The fried inari with soft boiled egg was great as always.

The fresh grapefruit sour was good as always.

The tempura kakiage ochazuke was great, especially if you don't pour in the soup.

The curry udon was weird. The udon were half raw, and the soup tasted burnt.

The chicken zosui was ok.

The forced appetizer was nothing special.

Overall a good and normal Tori Yoshi experience. We got 10% off by showig a cell phone coupon.

Royal Garden Cafe

2011-10-22T12:31:00.001+09:00

Pasta set with hot tea. The scallop an shrimp pasta was good, if small. The salad had a salt and oil dressing - ok. The bread was cold and came with neither butter nor oil.

The soup was good, but smaller than the free sample size in the US.

Great environment though and location.

Suranje Korean Kitchen Shinjuku

2011-10-20T20:43:00.001+09:00

Korean in Shinjuku takashima tower

We avoided the beef dishes because they are from local beef. Instead we got a mushroom bibimbap and a regular bibimbap set. Both were good, but pretty small. Not nearly as large as in the US or as good. No free appetizers. Just a small pinch of kimchi and vegetables.

The food was good but definitely not worth it to come back!

Yoku Moku Blue Brick Lounge

2011-10-19T18:44:00.001+09:00

We saw Ken Watanabe eating here today. He looks younger in person.

They were sold out of all the cakes so we had crepes. Much bigger than we thought they'd be. Pretty good.

We also got two free yoku Moku cigars

The courtyard seats were great too.

EAT burger restaurant in Aoyama

2011-10-17T23:23:00.001+09:00

Advertising itself as an American burger place we checked this out. It's burritos are actually larger than those in the US. Similar in style to the pan fried burritos of Andales, the chicken stuffed burrito was surprisingly good.

The Kobe beef burger though was not that good. Decent, but not anywhere near in-n-out or Carls Jr. The fries were fresh cut, but not nearly as good as in-n-out's fresh cut fries!

Parking free at night. At lunch the fries are free.

Costco Maebashi

2011-10-17T21:10:00.001+09:00

Hokkaido soft cream at Maebashi Costco

Exactly the same as everywhere else

Just as good

McDonalds

2011-10-17T21:09:00.003+09:00

5 piece nuggets for 120 yen with coupon from their website. Japanese nuggets are far better than American ones now after mcdonalds changed their recipe in the US.

The shrimp burger was good too, but not as good as Lotteria!

Ten-ya tenya tempura Ginza with English menus

2011-10-17T21:09:00.001+09:00

After eating Gyoza we were still hungry. So we went to Ginza tenya which always has a good tempura rice bowl.

We got the timeless jyo tendon, which is two shrimp for 580 yen and the matsutake tempura bowl for 780 yen. You can choose to get less rice for 50 yen less, which we did.

Very good as usual, and Ginza remains one of their best stores.

Free parking on the side street right next to the shop.

Check out the rare pictures of their English menu!

Chao Chao Hitokuchi Gyoza Ginza

2011-10-17T21:06:00.001+09:00

Under the train tracks in Ginza 1-chome. Looked good from outside, and it is good but micro size portions.

We asked to sit at a booth for four people - the restaurant was empty - and the idiotic woman who worked there told us it was impossible. We sat down anyway and she told us we may have to move if more people come. No more people came.

The beef stew was fairly large, and good with rice. The dan dan Gyoza soup were horrible.

The pan fried Gyoza were good but really tiny, even for Japan. About a third of the size of normal Gyoza. Four orders would be enough for one normal person.

The shrimp Gyoza were good, but again way too small.

We left hungry and won't be back.

Tony Roma's Aoyama

2011-10-15T17:29:00.001+09:00

Surprisingly busy. 1000 yen lunch special hamburger using American beef.

Includes a drink and choice of bread or rice. Average taste. Fries weren't crisp.

Hibiki Ginza

2011-10-13T08:47:00.001+09:00

This place used to be in Ginza 7 chome, but moved to this new, darker location. It's right next to Chanel and Apple.

The old Hibiki was a buffet lunch for 1000 yen. The new restaurant is a half buffet. You order a dish and then get to go to a salad, soup, and dessert buffet that's not as extensive as it was previously. They're able to raise the price 20-30% this way.

We got the chicken rice bowl and the hamburger "steak".

The chicken was charcoal grilled and pretty good. Not a lot of chicken though.

The hamburger was a mix of pork and beef, very soft and oily, and quite good.

The buffet was average - the pea salad and goma string beans were good. The green tea jelly was good too. The pink jelly is plum and not good.

Good thing is the miso soup and rice are all you can eat.

The lunch overall was not as good as Crayon House in Omotesando.

Patisserie Chez Aoyama

2011-10-11T20:17:00.001+09:00

Inside the Aoyama Passage shopping center.

1700 yen for a three course lunch with soup (very small), chicken risotto (small), and a peach dessert (size of a cracker).

The soup was chicken broth, and was pretty good. The risotto was very good, but way too small. If it were 3x larger it would be the same size as Nest Robe.

The dessert was basically sliced canned peach on a graham cracker. Good though.

A drink was included in the set, but not refillable.

Not worth 1700 yen, but a good place to have a lunch meeting.

Costco Kanazawa Bayside

2011-10-10T21:39:00.001+09:00

Costco recently lowered the price of a hotdog by 10%, a pizza slice by 50 yen, and a whole pizza by 20%.

It also started serving larger 1/4 lb hotdogs.

The hotdog was good as usual, and the pizza especially cheesy. The Hokkaido soft serve ice cream is still one of the best in the world, but it's only half the size of the US version, and double the price. The Japanese version has a huge hollow hole in the middle while the American one is solid.

Bills Shichirigahama near Kamakura

2011-10-10T15:11:00.001+09:00

Since Bills in Yokohama was too full yesterday we decided to try their first store near Kamakura.

There was still an hour and a half wait when we got there so we had to shop a bit while we waited.

The place is right across from the beach with a very good view. We had to take a counter seat first before being moved to an ocean view seat.

We ordered:
Parmesan Chicken Schnitzel 1500 yen
Herbed fries 500 yen
Full Aussie Breakfast 1800 yen
Macchiato 500 yen
Iced Coffee 500 yen

The waiter told us we ordered too much food for two people, but we ignored him.

French fries were ok but nothing special. Certainly not a big order, maybe a supersize McDonalds portion. I think the herbs were just Lawry's garlic salt.

Full Aussie breakfast is good. The eggs were fluffy and creamy. Would have been really really good if there were enough eggs to take a full bite without being afraid that you'd be eating everything at once. Came with two micro sausages which tasted exactly like Farmer John sausage links, but 1/3 the size. This was a good deal for Japan though.

Parmesan Chicken Schnitzel was very good, especially with ketchup, but again, very small. Each schnitzel was about the size of a fried chicken burger patty.

The macchiato and iced coffee were both ok.

Good food but certainly not "too much"!!

Parking was 400 yen per hour and no validation.

Afuri Ramen Harajuku

2011-10-09T22:27:00.001+09:00

Number one rated ramen store in the Harajuku area. Here to see if it stacks up against Jangara.

Free parking near the train tracks after 8pm.

Yuzu tan ramen is good with light chicken broth soup. All pork is charcoal barbecued. 850 yen

Kurenai maro ramen is a spicy and heavier soup but not as thick as Jangara. 880 yen

Tan means light soup
Maro means thicker soup

I'd come back

Omotesando Koffee

2011-10-09T20:46:00.001+09:00

Temporary store until January 2012. In a back street of Omotesando. The owner is pretty famous in Japan and this is his hobby, so we decided to check this out.

Store is in a 60 year old Japanese style house and very small. The owner makes every cup of coffee himself which translates into good coffee but a five minute per person throughput rate.

The 400 yen cappuccino was very good, with dense cream. Better than Starbucks.

The 600 yen cafe gelatan or his version of a Frappucino, was very light but good. Starbucks was better though.

With prices the same as Starbucks and better coffee, would recommend. No seating though!

Coco Donuts Aoyama

2011-10-09T17:36:00.001+09:00

A high end donut store in Aoyama. The donuts taste more like bread, are not bad, but not worth $5 each.

We got the Yuzu cream donut and the Kurumi donut.

Total 760 yen.

Some of the menu - like the glazed donut - is only available for eating in.

Tachibana Omelette Rice in Yokohama Akarenga

2011-10-09T12:21:00.001+09:00

Disappointed with donuts we tried omelettes next. Tachibana seemed popular so we gave it a try.

There was a 2100 yen mega omelette but it looked overpriced so we skipped it. It's pictured below.

Got katsu curry omelette rice with potato salad and ice coffee set for 1480 yen. Very good egg and katsu. Potato salad is ok but not as good as in Hawaii.

Also got a regular omelette rice for 890 yen. Not bad, Demi glace sauce. Not as good as the curry.

The guy inside makes the omelette in front of you and then flips it on to the rice, which they use a special mold to form. Fun to watch!

Recommended

Chez Madu yaki donuts Yokohama Akarenga

2011-10-09T12:06:00.001+09:00

Waiting for Bill's today - 3 hour wait - so trying out other food in the food court.

The name of this place should be "yucky donuts" not yaki.

The donuts were dry and hard. We got the carrot and orange (disgusting) and the marron (chestnut) donut, which was much better but still not worth $3.

Total spend 440 yen

Not recommended

Goemon pasta

2011-10-09T09:22:00.001+09:00

2700 yen for two. Average pasta. Hokkaido soup pasta wasn't bad. Drink and soup set for $2.50 extra not worth the price.

Devilcraft deep dish pizza

2011-10-09T09:11:00.001+09:00

Good deep dish pizza
We got the Eden Large which was not that large, 2000 yen. The chicken wings were cut in half, so even though it says 7 pieces it's really only 3 and a half wings

Denny's Nogizaka

2011-10-09T07:51:00.001+09:00

Breakfast "omelettes" at Denny's in Nogizaka.

Daikokuya Tempura Asakusa (大黒屋天婦羅浅草本店）

2009-01-18T14:30:00.003+09:00

We saw a couple of dozen people lining up for Daikokuya Tempura in Asakusa, so we decided to give it a try too.
The line moved pretty slowly, so it took about 30 minutes for us to get through it.
Japanese wait so quietly in line, it's both amazing and a bit weird.
We're at the front of the line finally, and the line has reliably filled up behind us.
Here's the front door to Daikokuya above.
Inside, Daikokuya is actually pretty small, which explains the line outside. It's a really basic setting - nothing fancy.
Here's the full Japanese menu above.
Here's the English menu above - open fully to see the details.
The second page of the English menu above.
This is the tempura teishoku for 2050 yen - the main feature here is that the tempura isn't dipped in the dark sauce they put on the rice bowls. There's one shrimp, one fish, and one mixed shrimp fry along with a bunch of vegetables.
A closeup of the tempura.
Here's the tendon teishoku - basically the same as the tempura teishoku except that the tempura is on top of the rice bowl, with sauce. Also 2050 yen.
With the lid taken off now - the tempura is overflowing.
The soup isn't miso soup, but rather a clear soup I can't name. It's really good.
This is the appetizer dish you also get with the teishoku - makes it kind of worth 2050 yen.
Here's the bill above. The tempura is pretty good, but definitely not worth the long wait. Tenya has better tempura and sauce I think, is a lot cheaper, and usually has no wait.

Click here for Daikokuya's official website
Click here for a Japanese review of Daikokuy a

Address:
1-38-10 Asakusa, Taito-ku, Tokyo-to
東京都台東区浅草1-38-10
Click here for Google Maps

TEL: 03-3844-1111

Hours:
Monday-Friday & Sunday: 11:30～20:30
Saturday & Holidays: 11:30～21:00

Jaga Butter & Osaka Yaki Asakusa (浅草屋台じゃがバターと大阪焼き）

2009-01-18T13:00:00.002+09:00

Walking around Asakusa makes you hungry, so when we stumbled upon these yatai - or street stalls - towards the western end of the shrine grounds, we stopped to get some snacks.
The first one we stopped at was a Jaga Butter stand - or steamed potato with butter.
This guy has an easy job - peel potatoes, steam potatoes, serve potatoes, collect 400 yen. Simple.
Here are the potatoes steaming. No smell at all.
Next stop: Osaka yaki.
Here's the Osaka Yaki stand, basically a mini okonomiyaki with an egg inside. Total cost: 200 yen.
This guy does a LOT more work than the potato man, for half the price. I kind of wonder why everyone doesn't just sell potatoes - they even sell better than the other snacks we saw.
Here's the 400-yen Jaga Butter, and 200-yen Osaka Yaki. Both are really quite good, though the Osaka Yaki is a bit overcooked.

Click here for the Asakusa Shrine website

Address:
2-3-1 Asakusa, Taito-ku, Tokyo-to
111-0032　東京都台東区浅草2-3-1
Click here for Google Maps

Asakusa Agemanju (あげまんじゅう　浅草店）

2009-01-18T12:00:00.004+09:00

The crowd at Asakusa was huge - even on a normal weekend. I wonder if it's like this every Sunday?
The typical postcard picture of Asakusa - the main shrine - as seen from the shopping area.
This agemanju store had the most people, so we crowded in with the rest of them and got a few.
I've never seen people in Tokyo pushing money at a store like this before.
The agemanju don't really have a smell, but you can hear them frying in the oil.
Every one is freshly made, then immediately sold and eaten. I don't think any of them stay around for more than a few minutes.
We got the back sesame manju and also the pumpkin manju.
The pumpkin manju was better than the black sesame. Both were crunchy outside and soft inside, but we liked the pumpkin taste better.

Click here for Agemanju's official website

Address:
2-3-1 Asakusa, Taito-ku, Tokyo-to
111-0032　東京都台東区浅草2-3-1
Click here for Google Maps

Telephone： 03-3841-9386

Hours：
Everyday - 9：30～19：00

Bourbon Street Tokyo New Orleans Bar & Grill * CAJUN FOOD * Roppongi

2009-01-17T18:30:00.007+09:00

A friend recommended the Bourbon Street Grill to us today. The Bourbon Street Louisiana Kitchen is known for authentic Cajun food and big portions... yeah right we thought. Located in a little side street in Roppongi right across from Tokyo Midtown, the restaurant is pretty well hidden from the crowds. In fact, we've passed by it a number of times and had no idea at all that it was there. The picture above is the Bar, which is Bar Bourbon Street, which is located directly across the street from the restaurant.
Our reservation - they're required here - was at 6:30pm, so we had some time to sit at the bar before going into the restaurant. The place was completely empty at 6pm, so that's a good time to drop in.
This is something called a Sazerac - 1500 yen - and it was horrible. It probably tastes great to some people, but I hated it.
After about 10 minutes at the bar, the restaurant called over and said that our seats were ready. Since no one had finished their drinks, we were able to bring them out and walk them across the street.
Here's the chef - the kitchen is almost as big at the seating area. There are only 5 tables or so in the entire restaurant.
Here's the entire menu below. Notice it's English only. I don't think they have a Japanese menu. There were no Japanese diners at all in the restaurant. The steaks are listed in ounces only, not grams. Very cool.
Here's the bread basket. The corn bread wasn't very good, mainly because it wasn't moist. I didn't like it. I prefer the wet Marie Callendar's kind with honey butter.
Here's the shrimp appetizer. A pretty good size - I think about six large tiger-style shrimp. Pretty good, but not distinctive. If I didn't take the picture, I would have forgotten about them.
This is the soft shell crab - this is the first time I've seen this dish cooked with corn meal batter. IT IS REALLY GOOD! Would definitely get this again and again.
The meat ball appetizer. Interesting. The peppers were great. But not worth the price - get two soft shell crabs instead. Or get a crab cake to try next time.
Here's the Jambalaya - it's super spicy and tastes very good. The dish is a good size - not huge by American standards - but gigantic for Tokyo.
Here's the grilled chicken - it's about half a chicken - a REAL chicken, not the quail that most Japanese restaurants try to pass off as a chicken. The meat is super tender, really good.
Here's the bread pudding dessert. The bread pudding and ice cream were pretty good, but not that memorable.
This place is expensive - about 10,000 yen per person - but the food is great. It's the ONLY place in Tokyo outside of a military base that makes you feel like you're in the US. We'll be back.

Click here for the restaurant's home page (English)

Address:
7-8-16 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0032
106-0032 東京都港区六本木７－８－１６
Click here for Google Maps

Bar Tel: (03) 5786-2887
Restaurant Tel: (03) 3478-8473

Hours:
Bar: 6PM - 2AM (LO 1AM)
Restaurant: 6PM - 11PM (Last Seating 9:30PM)

Nesupasu Niigata-Kan Omotesando (ネスパス新潟館表参道）

2009-01-17T16:00:00.005+09:00

A long line of people attracted us to the Niigata Kan in Omotesando - which is right next to Omotesando Hills, well, more like right behind it. The big draw was the 200 yen bowl of noodles that they were selling.
This is the view looking straight out from the sidewalk stall - Omotesando Hills is right next to us.
Mozukumen - 200 yen - I guess that's what the noodles are called.
The noodles were fresh made, and actually really good. 200 yen is about as cheap as it gets for sidewalk food and this stuff was great.

Click here for a link to Niigata-Kan Nesupasu's website

Address:
4-11-7 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo-to
東京都渋谷区神宮前4-11-7　
Click here for Google Maps

TEL：03-5771-7711

Hours:
Every weekend morning to dusk

Cafe-Creperie Le Bretagne Omotesando Jingumae (カフェクレープリールブルターニュ表参道・神宮前店）

2009-01-17T13:30:00.003+09:00

Cafe Creperie Le Bretagne always has a line in front of it, and today was no different. This is the front of the restaurant, easily recognizable with the orange woman in front. Today we had to wait about 20 minutes for a seat.
From the side of the restaurant, you can see the outdoor seating area covered by the clear plastic tarps.
There were a couple of open air outdoor seats in front, but since it was a little cold, most people opted to sit inside.
Here's the full Japanese and French menu underneath. Open it fully to see the detail.
Here's the English menu below. The owner ran over to tell me not to take a picture of the menu, but well, too late. You're not likely to find this picture anywhere else on the web.
This is the latte, which has some alcohol in it - nasty.
The green salad was very small and totally not worth 600 yen.
This is the Iberico Ham Crepe below - the ham looks a lot like pepperoni, but tastes a lot better. The dish is actually a lot bigger than it looks. Very good.
This is the "Artichoke Complete" crepe - with ham, egg, and artichoke. The crepe itself is very crispy. Very good also.
Here's the bill - next time skip the drink and the salad - totally not worth it. Stick with the crepes and it becomes a good deal!
One of the better crepe shops we've been to anywhere in the world, not just Japan. Definitely recommend it!

Click here for Cafe Creperie Le Bretagne's official website

Address:
3-5-4 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
東京都渋谷区神宮前３－５－４
Click here for Google Maps

TEL: 03-3478-7855

Hours:
Mon-Sat: 11:30 - 23:00 (LO)
Sunday: 11:30 - 22:00

Starbucks Omotesando Jingumae (スターバックス神宮前表参道店）

2009-01-17T12:00:00.002+09:00

I usually wouldn't write about a Starbucks, but this one in particular is really nice. It's one of the few Starbucks in Tokyo that have a real lounge area - with couches, carpet, and a view.
You can see all the way to the Audi building on Meiji-dori from here, and right in front is the Farmer's Table cafe. Lots of greenery.
I bought the cheapest smallest thing on the menu - and they certainly delivered on smallest. I think this must be a 4 ounce cup - 410 yen for a coffee frappucino - pure margin for Starbucks. It's more like a ticket to sit at the lounge for an hour. The only problem with this place is that it closes pretty early - 10pm.

Click here for the official Starbucks Japan website

Address:
5-11-2 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo-to
150-0001 東京都渋谷区神宮前 5-11-2 B-SIDE 1F
Click here for Google Maps

Telephone: 03-3797-6821　

Hours:
Everyday: 8:00 ～ 22:00
Open everyday

Pronto Kita Aoyama (プロント北青山店）

2009-01-17T10:30:00.002+09:00

Dropped by Pronto in Kita Aoyama for breakfast. Lots of choices in the area but their clam chowder looked pretty good.
Inside is dark wood - almost like a 1940's British style. The entire place was filled with smoke.
They have a huge selection of breakfast breads - all freshly baked.
These are pretty good - the toast with egg, cheese, and ham. Kind of like a French Croque Madame.
They have a selection of chilled sandwiches too - kind of like the convenience store.
This is the 500-yen Clam Chowder & soft mushy bread set - which was really quite good. The break is the 120 yen egg/cheese toast which was also quite good. The iced tea was 220 yen, which was ok, but not worth $2.50.
Overall, except for the smoke, a decent place to try. Wouldn't make it a destination I seek out though.

Click here for Pronto's official website

Address:
3-12-7 Kita Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo-to
東京都港区北青山3－12－7　秋月ビル
Click here for Google Maps

Telephone： 03-5485-5968

Hours：
Weekdays:　7：00～23：00
Fridays until 23：30
Saturday: 8：00～23：00
Sunday: 8：30～22：30

Maisen Tonkatsu Aoyama (まい泉とんかつ青山本店）

2009-01-16T20:00:00.004+09:00

We've passed by Maisen dozens of times while shopping in Omotesando, but never once went inside. We've had their sandwiches before, but mainly at the train station during long distance trips on the Shinkansen. Why today? Because we needed a parking space. Maisen has a parking lot! This is rarer than RARE in central Tokyo.
Here's the obligatory fake food display outside. Tonkatsu all kind of looks the same though.
There it is, a full 10 or so spaces of parking. What a concept - letting customers park their cars. Tokyo's almost as bad as San Francisco when it comes to parking. At least here, they won't tow you if you park illegally...
You get two choices at Maisen with regards to seating: Japanese-style or Western-style. DO NOT PICK WESTERN style. You'll see why if you try it. The Western room looks like a 1950's DMV cafe. In other words, unimagineably lame.
The Japanese seating isn't the best, but it's spacious.
Here's a custom painting on their wall - it showcases all of their side dishes and their signature tonkatsu teishoku.
Here's this month's recommended menu.
Once you sit down, you're given the shredded raddish sauce. You're supposed to use this with your tonkatsu sauce when your main dish gets here. Don't eat this as an appetizer. It would be like shaking some pepper into your mouth at Ruth's Chris while you're waiting for your drinks.
We each ordered the Mizuki Teishoku for 1575 yen. It looked like the best value by far - and I think it was.
You get three pieces of fried food - one shrimp (500 separately), an oyster (200 yen), and a fried fish (300 yen)
You also get some sashimi, two egg slices, two sweet shrimp, and a ball of FAKE wasabi. Too bad it's not real wasabi.
The tartar sauce is an EXTRA order... 105 yen. At least it's really big... HUGE.
Total for two came to 3255, with the added tartar sauce. Not bad for Omotesando and a famous place with FREE PARKING!
Total w/o tartar above. We would come back, but probably not soon. Too many other places to try. Also, we didn't know that they give FREE REFILLS on the cabbage - until we saw the next table asking for it. Next time, we're going to get lots of cabbage.

Here's the restaurant's official home page
Click here for a link to a Japanese review

Address:
4-8-5 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo-to
東京都渋谷区神宮前4-8-5
Click here for Google Maps

TEL: 03-3470-0071

Hours:
Everyday: 11:00～22:00(L.O)

PG Cafe Paris at Shin Marunouchi Building (新丸のうちビル）

2009-01-16T14:00:00.002+09:00

Had a late lunch today with a friend at PG Cafe in Shin Marunouchi Building near Tokyo station. The cafe is ultra-modern and looks great from the outside. A great place for a relatively quiet place to talk.
I ordered the 1200 yen special chicken curry set of the day, shown above. The red ring around the left dish is a fruit jello. They don't give you enough rice, but the two curry sauces are VERY good. The chicken is OK, and the rice is like Uncle Ben's.

This is a fun little cafe, but the food is too little for the price. The food quality is high though, and the dishes are unique.

Click here for the official web site of the restaurant
Click here for a review page in Japanese

Address:
1-5-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo-to Shin Maru Biru
〒100-6501 東京都千代田区丸の内1-5-1 新丸の内ビルディング1F
Click here for a Google Map

TEL: 03-5224-3455

Hours:
Mon-Thurs　11:00～21:00(L.O.20:30)　
Fri/Sat　11:00～23:00(L.O.22:00)　
Sun/Holidays　09:30～21:00(L.O.20:30)　

The Moon Cafe Roppongi HIlls （ザ・ムーン・カフェ　六本木ヒルズ）

2009-01-15T22:30:00.003+09:00

There's a special limited time "The Moon Cafe" this week in Roppongi Hills. We've always wanted to try one of these limited-engagement cafes. They have these when big movies are coming out, or if a company pays to create a special theme - like Panasonic just did over the winter, or VW did in the fall. There's a special "MOON Menu" above - ridiculously, each of the special items are only limited to TEN servings per DAY.
They had a full-size space suit on display.
The waiters and waitresses are dressed up in JAXA uniforms - Japan's equivalent of NASA.
The space used was pretty big, and there were "The Moon" videos, flyers, decorations, everywhere.
Here's the cafe's menu. I think this stays the same regardless of the theme.
They were playing clips from the movie on the wall - which was pretty cool.
More decoration on the wall... sad thing is, I don't even remember this movie coming out in the US.
Here's the tuna sandwiches. THEY WERE HORRIBLE. Hard, dry bread, tuna that seemed to have freezer burn, etc. The fries are OK.
This is supposed to be a half-chicken dish. You may be wondering where the chicken is - I wondered the same too. Its hidden under the small green twig. If this is a chicken, then a turkey is the size of Godzilla... the chicken, once we found it, was relatively decent.
Here's the special... a dessert parfait shaped like a rocket. Apparently we got the last one for the day... should it bother us that throughout the entire day they were not able to sell even 10 of these?
Here's a closeup of the fins - cookies and chocolate.
Here's the spaceship without the capsule on.
Way too expensive for this place. The food is horrible. Conbini food - DAY OLD even - is better. Avoid at all costs. Only good if you really love the Moon movie.
There's also apparently some tie-in with Snoopy... though I couldn't figure it out.
Here's the business card above. The space changes themes weekly or monthly.

Click here for a Japanese article

Address:
6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo-to
106-6108 東京都港区六本木６－１０－１　六本木ヒルズ　ヒルサイド２F
Click here for Google Maps

Phone: 03-6406-6833

Hours: 11:00-23:00 every day

Zoka Coffee Akasaka 〔ZOKA コーヒー　赤坂）

2009-01-15T13:00:00.005+09:00

After lunch we decided to go Zoka Coffee, which is on the right side of this busy street in Akasaka.
The Zoka coffee logo on the door - apparently this chain has been around for a while. It's a US transplant to Japan.
Here are the three Zoka sizes.
The interior is nice, airy, modern. Pretty empty though, lots of people coming and going.
Here is the coffee machine they use - I have no idea if it's any good!

Here's the full lunch menu. Not many choices...
They specialize in coffee art - like this one.
Here's the real cup of coffee - looks BETTER than the pictures!

Here's my kuromitsu latte - 500 yen - over ice. Very good, but not as good as Starbucks in terms of quality I think.

Here is a link to the official Zoka site

Address:
3-2-2 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo-to
東京都港区赤坂3-2-2 アマンド赤坂ビル1F・2F
Click here for Google Maps

Phone：03-3560-7251

Hours：
Monday - Friday　7:00～22:30
Sundays - Holidays 8:00～18:00

Food & Restaurant Reviews in Tokyo, Japan

SSN775 Texas Roadhouse Yokosuka

Ebina service area food court

Keyakizaka Bakery Roppongi Hills

Gogyo Nishi Azabu ramen

Fuji Speedway restaurant Toyota 86 launch

Tokyo Ritz Carlton 45 breakfast

Kawaguchiko Houtou

Kyo Hayashi Midtown

Asian Kitchen lunch truck

A16 California Restaurant Marunouchi Brick Square

Ootoya Kanazawa Daigaku

Ikea

Hamamatsucho tempura Komoro Soba

Futako Tamagawa Tsubame Grill

Mamenoya Aoyama Chinese restaurant

Asian Kitchen Taco Rice cart

Aoyama McDonalds

Yoyogi Village Pour Kur bakery

Harajuku Tap Room

Yoyogi South Taiwanese Ramen Dekai Gyoza

Rakuton Nihonbashi under Mandarin Oriental

Shabusen Ginza

Napule Tokyo Midtown

Ishitsuka Soba in Shimoda

Roppongi Inakaya Ginza

Selan ichonamiki

Que sera sera in Shimoda

Omotesando kurkku 3

Asaba Ryokan Shuzenji dinner two

Jojoen yakiniku Roppongi

Asaba Ryokan Shuzenji breakfast

Miyauch Shuzenji next to station

古家 furuya Korean restaurant Isetan Shinjuku

Ritz Carlton Tokyo Azure 45 breakfast

Asaba Ryokan Shuzenji dinner

Omotesando subway food court Vietnamese

Yoshinoya

Coco's Mishima

Asaba ryokan Shuzenji

Ramen Zero Omotesando Hills

Royal garden cafe ichonamiki

Ueshima Hiroo

Hana Maru Udon

Confectionary West

Gindaco Popup store Hamamatsu

Food truck backpacker's kitchen tono cafe

Trattoria Tanta Bocca

Joel Robuchon Marunouchi Brick Square

Picaggol inside Odakyu Shinjuku

Eggs n Things Harajuku

Royal Garden Cafe

Shakey's Shibuya

Katsumaru Ramen Roppongi Hills

Sora Aisu Jiyugaoka

Tori Yoshi Aoyama

Royal Garden Cafe

Suranje Korean Kitchen Shinjuku

Yoku Moku Blue Brick Lounge

EAT burger restaurant in Aoyama

Costco Maebashi

McDonalds

Ten-ya tenya tempura Ginza with English menus

Chao Chao Hitokuchi Gyoza Ginza

Tony Roma's Aoyama

Hibiki Ginza

Patisserie Chez Aoyama

Costco Kanazawa Bayside

Bills Shichirigahama near Kamakura

Afuri Ramen Harajuku

Omotesando Koffee

Coco Donuts Aoyama

Tachibana Omelette Rice in Yokohama Akarenga

Chez Madu yaki donuts Yokohama Akarenga

Goemon pasta

Devilcraft deep dish pizza

Denny's Nogizaka

Daikokuya Tempura Asakusa (大黒屋 天婦羅 浅草本店）

Jaga Butter & Osaka Yaki Asakusa (浅草屋台じゃがバターと大阪焼き）

Asakusa Agemanju (あげまんじゅう 浅草店）

Daikokuya Tempura Asakusa (大黒屋天婦羅浅草本店）

Asakusa Agemanju (あげまんじゅう　浅草店）

Maisen Tonkatsu Aoyama (まい泉とんかつ青山本店）

The Moon Cafe Roppongi HIlls （ザ・ムーン・カフェ　六本木ヒルズ）

Zoka Coffee Akasaka 〔ZOKA コーヒー　赤坂）