Robbie Swinnerton - The Japan Times

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Robbie Swinnerton

Robbie Swinnerton has been living, eating and writing about food in Tokyo for over 30 years. His column, Tokyo Food File, has run in The Japan Times since 1998.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE

Jul 15, 2014

Kazahana: 28th-floor restaurant offers fine food with a view to match

Very few Japanese restaurants in Tokyo can boast a view to rival that from Kazahana. Sitting 28 floors up in the Conrad Hotel, you gaze out over the centuries-old Hamarikyu garden on the waterfront and across to the Rainbow Bridge and the malls of Odaiba in the mid-distance.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE

Jul 1, 2014

Kaiseki Ikku: Stave off the unagi eel crash with this fine alternative

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE

Jul 1, 2014

Jean-Georges Tokyo: New York super-chef adds Japan to his list of global outlets

France-born, New York-based super-chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten has some two dozen restaurants, spread over six countries on three continents. Now he's added Japan to that impressive list.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE

Jun 17, 2014

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.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE

Jun 17, 2014

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 does it.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE

Jun 3, 2014

Kagura: Refined traditional dining minus the airs and graces

Akasaka's restaurants are an eclectic mix. Cheek-by-jowl with the raucous pubs, ramen counters and Korean kimchee kitchens, you find inscrutable anonymous facades, many of them exclusive ryōtei (traditional restaurants) reserved for politicians and captains of industry.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE

Jun 3, 2014

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.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE

May 20, 2014

La Bonne Table: French cuisine between informal and upscale

This spring brought more than cherry blossoms to Nihonbashi. It also saw the wraps removed from the two new Coredo Muromachi Buildings. Both have multiple floors of restaurants, bars and food stores. The pick of the lot is without a doubt La Bonne Table.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE

May 20, 2014

Nihonbashi Dashi Bar Hanare: Take stock of the best broth

Next January, the eyes of the gastronomic world will be fixed on Nihonbashi as Denmark's Noma restaurant, recently voted top again in the World 50 Best list, opens for an extended pop-up inside the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. No need to wait that long to discover this rapidly reviving neighborhood, though:...

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink

May 1, 2014

A golden time to dine outdoors

Now is the golden season in Tokyo: balmy days, mellow temperatures, low humidity and no mosquitoes. There's nothing better than a nice, leisurely (and maybe even boozy) lunch outside — dinner, too, as long as you bring a warm jacket or throw.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE

Apr 15, 2014

Butagumi Dining: Quality tonkatsu pork cutlets to eat and go

What's not to like about the original Butagumi? Tokyo's temple to high-end tonkatsu (deep-fried pork cutlets) really is the finest in town. Where else serves such beautiful cuts of premium pork — from hand-reared breeds of "heritage" pigs — and in such a classic setting?

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE

Apr 15, 2014

Muto: Handmade soba noodles with their own Michelin star

Who would choose to become a teuchi soba specialist? Kneading and rolling the dough, cutting it by hand, then carefully cooking and serving the delicate buckwheat noodles — it's a long, laborious job to prepare a meal that can take mere minutes to consume.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE

Apr 1, 2014

Pizzeria Tonino: Some of the best Italian pizza in town

Any al fresco seating is good now that the weather's warming up. If there's a view, that's an added bonus. At Pizzeria Tonino, you get to watch colorful streetcars going past from the luxury of your terrace seat.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE

Apr 1, 2014

Ostü: Great Italian across the way from Yoyogi Park

The only drawback to the sakura season is that no matter how beautiful the blossoms, the celebrations can get very chilly. You need somewhere you can repair to for warmth and sustenance. If you're anywhere near Yoyogi Park, you won't do better than Ostu00fc.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE

Mar 18, 2014

Saru: Fresh ingredients take center stage at bistro

The little enclave underneath the expressway flyover at the intersection of Shirokane and Ebisu has always attracted an interesting and idiosyncratic selection of restaurants. Saru fits in there perfectly.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE

Mar 18, 2014

Ajisen: Seasonal seafood and more in Tsukishima

There are many reasons for heading across the Sumida River to Tsukishima. Most of them involve monja, those griddle-splattered, dogs-dinner "pancakes" that are Tokyo's unconvincing answer to the okonomiyaki of western Japan. The one blessed anomaly is Ajisen.

Japan Times

LIFE / Lifestyle

Mar 10, 2014

There is a giant serving of culture in one bowl of rice

Rice. A bland, white carbohydrate? Staple food that forms the nourishing core of every meal? A crop that has molded culture and society? Or primal sustenance imbued with mystic life force of the gods?

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE

Mar 4, 2014

Kagari: Creamy soup and noodles worth lining up for

Tracking down tiny, one-counter restaurants in Tokyo's narrow backstreets can often feel like the proverbial haystack needle-search. No such problem finding Kagari. The giveaway is the perpetual line of people outside.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE

Mar 4, 2014

Fuku: Your new local yakitori stop

Yakitori is neighborhood food, not destination dining. When you feel like nibbling on skewers of grilled chicken, you don't go across town; you head for your local. If you're lucky, it will be good. But it's unlikely to be as good as Fuku in Yoyogi-Uehara.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE

Feb 18, 2014

Bettei: Duck shabu-shabu you'd be quackers to miss

Even a lingering winter has its upsides. The longer and harsher the conditions, the more appealing it is to sit down to a bubbling, warming nabe hot-pot — especially if it comes with a dash of contemporary style, as it does at Bettei.

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