Japan's infatuation with ramen can seem bewildering to the uninitiated. When you see lines around the block outside nondescript noodle joints in remote locations, with waits of up to an hour, it's hard not think the obsession is verging on ...
Squeezed in between towering modern neighbors, Akimoto's traditional low-rise architecture is so self-effacing you barely notice it. From the tiled eaves to the wood-slatted second-floor windows and the sliding door set back from the street, all is inscrutable. ...
It's been a very long time since we got excited about curry rice. In fact, this is certainly the first time that we've gone on record extolling the virtues of Japan's blanded-down version of the spicy stew that is British ...
Location, location, location. It's the cardinal rule, the holy trinity of real estate, the prerequisite for success in many a trade — and almost an essential for any restaurant. So how come one of Tokyo's most happening little diners is ...
Regular readers of this column will know it doesn't take much to lure us to the Shonan Coast of Kanagawa Prefecture, especially when there's good eating to be done at the end of the journey. And since the spring, there's ...
Nestled in the backstreets of Higashi-Azabu is El Caminito — which means the little path — a bar-cum-restaurant that serves authentic Argentine food. ...
Enjoying good food is a fundamental pleasure. But the slow-food movement asks whether "good food" can mean more than simply the flavor and presentation of a meal....
"Go around the beaches and let's have a list of the best seaside bars," said my editor. In this heat? Not a chance. But here's something better: five refreshing cocktail recipes from a quintet of great bartenders. Each of these ...
From the marketing bumf, you'd think all mineral waters tasted alike. The aquifers are ancient, the nature is untouched and blah blah blah. But H2O is such a great solvent it steals a bit of anything it passes through, resulting ...
I know, I know, bottled water is terribly unethical these days. Pinching a natural, life-sustaining resource and flying it to rich people in faraway lands is a bit naughty, all that packaging is trashing our planet, and our taps dispense ...
If you know Nikka Whisky only as the producer of the extraordinarily cheap peatless Black that fills the nether regions of Japan's whisky market, you might be surprised to learn that the company makes around 40 other styles — and ...
Las Chicas was the first to reappear. The old Chicas had been a fixture on the Aoyama nightlife scene for 20 years. It was a bar, restaurant, bookstore, hair salon, art space and all sorts else in a three-story, open-plan ...
The smell of freshly mowed lawns and of gunpowder in the air signifies one thing: summer is now in full swing. Whether you're a peaceful soul who likes to spread out a plastic picnic mat in the local park under ...
Last month, Tokyo's wine community was given a rare treat: Two of the most famous names in the wine world descended to hold forth on subjects including the bright future of Japan's Koshu grape and Bordeaux's stellar 2005 vintage. ...
After the period when the aging of sake was rarist, some breweries and retailers rediscovered the genre by accident. Stock that for some reason was left over would sit forgotten or neglected in a dusty corner, only to be later ...
In most sake breweries, the brewing season is over by May, a month marked by the announcement of the National New Sake Awards, the biggest public prize to which a brewer can aspire. (Those interested can taste some of the ...
Now the home country of Che Guevara is enjoying somewhat of a revolution. In the past few years, world-class winemakers, including such luminaries as Michel Rolland and the Lurton Brothers, have come to take advantage of the excellent climatic conditions ...
