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Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jun 15, 2007

Tofuya Ukai: Below the Tower a Garden of Edo

Tofuya Ukai is one of those "only in Japan" experiences. In the heart of the city, minutes from Roppongi and at the very foot of Tokyo Tower, you round a corner and find yourself in front of a samurai-era merchant's residence, its low-slung wooden gateway announced by an imposing white lantern and a...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
May 4, 2007

Manuel Churrascaria: Portuguese bistro-casual with a grill

Another week, another new building complex. After working our way through Tokyo Midtown, Velviakan in Ginza and the new Shin-Marunouchi Building, we'd had it with the hype and the crowds. Craving simple, honest sustenance in a quiet neighborhood setting, it came as a pleasure to return at last to Manuel...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 19, 2007

Ebisu Imaiya So-Honten: Skewered or simmered, rare birds

The evenings are long and dark. Icy winds whip through the streets. Comfort food is called for, and it pays to know where to find it. If we're in Ebisu, as often as not we head straight to Imaiya So-Honten.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
May 19, 2006

Beacon: Power dining that shines

The stock market's up and ditto consumer spending. Real estate is rebounding and there's even talk of another bubble. No surprise then that we've been seeing plenty of upmarket restaurants opening in recent months. Better still, some of our favorite restaurateurs are getting into the action.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
May 5, 2006

Ukai Toriyama: Time to head for the hills

Sunlight filters through fresh young foliage, dappling mossy thatched roofs. On the hills above, the wind sighs through stands of pine. In the background, birdsong and the constant trickling of a mountain stream; outside our wood-framed window, blossom floats on the surface of a placid pond. Spring has...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 17, 2006

Casa Vecchia: Good local fare with uncommon flair

A trattoria is by definition a neighborhood institution, usually a small, family-run affair with modest prices and few pretensions, serving down-home cooking for a local clientele. Casa Vecchia fits that description perfectly.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 6, 2006

Kanda Matsuya: pick your century of soba

New Year in Japan brings with it all manner of ritual and circumstance. Observing the first sunrise. The all-important hatsumode shrine visit. Receiving (and assessing) nenga greetings. Perhaps even the sipping of otoso, the medicinal-tasting sake that guarantees health throughout the next 12 months....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 16, 2005

A few more before we go

It's always the same story: So many restaurants, so much great food, so little time. The Food File never has enough columns in a year to feature all of the excellent places we've enjoyed over the past 12 months. So, quickly, before we get sidetracked on pouring the mulled wine and carving the turkey,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 4, 2005

In search of the real flavor of Yokohama's Chukagai

In some quarters it's become almost knee-jerk to denigrate Yokohama's Chinatown. Too clean and tidy, they sneer, it feels like a theme park. It's just for tourists. And, the most serious charge of all, the food just isn't authentic. To which the Food File would retort: Perhaps so; not necessarily; and...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 7, 2005

Ebisu Imaiya Saryou: A yakitori pavilion that rules the roost

A brave new Year of the Rooster has dawned -- so what better way to celebrate it than by eating one? On such auspicious occasions as this, naturally, only the finest fowl will do -- and it's hard to find any that taste better than the variety known as Hinai jidori.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 17, 2004

Food fit for a doge on canals of Venice

Eating where the tourists eat is always a risky proposition, especially in a city like Venice, whose sole raison d'e^tre is tourism. Along the city's main arteries and tourist sites, the restaurants are often disappointing -- and sometimes even disastrous. But, as we found on a quick visit there earlier...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jun 4, 2004

Zen-modern cuisine on a higher plane

Like a lotus growing from the mud of a murky pond, Gesshinkyo is a still point of serenity amid the hubbub of Harajuku. Its simple wooden door lies just steps away from Omotesando's fashion boutiques and preening temples to high-end spending. But when you step past the the coarse-woven hempen noren you...
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
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
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
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
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
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.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 14, 2003

Cafe Eight: Vegetarianism for all

"Eat Your Vegetables." This is not your mother speaking, admonishing you at age 5 to clear your plate. It is the cheerful philosophy -- think of it as an invitation, not a command -- that underpins Cafe Eight, perhaps our favorite vegetarian restaurant in all of eastern Japan.
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 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
Sep 1, 2002

Lime: Sublime fare, out of the blue

Just what Tokyo needs -- another Asian-themed dining bar that features exotic interior flourishes and caters to the youthful Ginza office crowd. But hold the all-knowing, world-weary sarcasm. In the case of Lime, it's unfair and quite uncalled for.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 11, 2002

Vietnam Alice: It's summer, so lighten up

The Vietnamese know all about hot weather. And one of their ways of dealing with the heat has been to make their food light and appetizing. Using plenty of aromatic herbs, colorful garnishes and condiments that are fragrant yet not overwhelming to the palate, theirs is the most subtle cuisine in all...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 12, 2001

The life of spice in the big city

Our column last month on looking for laksa in Tokyo generated a good number of comments and recommendations. One correspondent felt we had not properly pointed out that these spicy noodles are also hugely popular in Singapore, not just in Malaysia. It was certainly not our intention to ignore or slight...
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 5, 2001

A trattoria that's simply delizioso

Delizioso Italia is a pretty unimaginative (and possibly ungrammatical) name for a restaurant. But there's very little else that feels out of place here. It's not a clone of the cheap-chic Capricciosa concept but a fine and friendly trattoria that turns out some highly enjoyable cucina.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 8, 2001

Hot on the trail of spicy laksa

How can it be that laksa, one of the classic dishes of Southeast Asia, still has not achieved recognition in Japan? You would think a nation that worships the noodle in any shape or form -- and is no longer afraid to flirt with "ethnic" (that is to say, Asian and hot) flavors -- would have embraced laksa,...
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jun 3, 2001

Kihachi China moves uptown

When Kihachi China moved a few blocks across Ginza last November, it was not just a change of address -- it signified a definite change of status. The old premises, hidden away behind Printemps, were smart but lightweight. The new restaurant is a mere five minutes' stroll away -- just around the corner...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 12, 2000

Cardenas Charcoal Grill: Californian fare grilled to perfection

Fumihiro Nakamura does not affect the expansive personality and well-studied bonhomie of a born restaurateur in the classic European mold. Nor does he in any way exude the slick professionalism and marketing savvy of the streetwise MBAs who scheme up and preside over flash designer eateries for cash-flush...
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 12, 2000

Californian fare grilled to perfection

Fumihiro Nakamura does not affect the expansive personality and well-studied bonhomie of a born restaurateur in the classic European mold. Nor does he in any way exude the slick professionalism and marketing savvy of the streetwise MBAs who scheme up and preside over flash designer eateries for cash-flush...

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Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?