Name: Delirium Cafe
Neighborhood: Kasumigaseki
Style: Belgian Beer Cafe
Website: http://www.deliriumcafe.jp/
Wow, I'm really behind on the blogging. I went with my friend Manny to Delirium months ago, and had forgotten to write it up until I found the business card today.
Delirium is located in the very business-y district of Kasumigaseki; fortunately, that's easy for me to get to since it's on the Hibiya line. It claims to be a branch of the famous Delirium Cafe from Brussels, which got into the Guinness book in 2004 for having the most varieties of beer commercially available (also 2,004). It's pretty plausible, since even the Tokyo branch has a huge selection of beers.
Most of them are indeed of the Belgian variety -- sweeter Trappist-style ales. It's going to take you a while to make your pick from the beer menu, and if you're not familiar with the Belgian beers they really are quite different (certainly all different from a Japanese lager). I don't remember everything I ordered, but I got a slightly off-the-Beligan-path doppelbock here that was delicious. We were here for awhile so I got to try a couple other ales as well.
Unlike the very light food at most beer cafes, the food at Delirium as fairly substantial. Full entrees as well as the expected euro-esque snacks are available, and there's usually a course menu available from 3000-4000 yen.
Like most Belgian or craft beer cafes in Tokyo, this selection doesn't come cheap. You should expect to be shelling out 800 to 1000 yen for each full-size beer you get here.
Delirium is definitely a more upscale option than some of the other beer bars, with its European-park decor. If you're near Kasumigaseki and want something more interesting than Kirin, check it out; I'm sure I'll be back from time to time.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Magic Spice
Name: Magic Spice
Neighborhood: Shimokitazawa
Style: Curry
Website: www.magicspice.net
Magic Spice is tucked away near the Shimokitazawa Town Hall, but it's easy to find once you're close: look for the line of people waiting outside. In general, there's not much of a waiting culture here; I'm always surprised by the fact that the default response when a restaurant is full is not, "Can I put my name in?" but rather "Ok, bye." However, at Magic Spice, they don't take reservations so if it's a weekend, you're gonna be waiting a while.
In this as in many other ways, it feels like a bit of a hippy hangover place. It's all Tibetan-themed decorations applied several layers of brocade thick and overlaid with flyers advertising various local yoga classes, and of course peridically they feature live music as well. A quick trip to the website will give you a good sense of the vibe.
But, people wouldn't be there for the decorations alone, it's all about the curries. And thankfully, unlike the canonical Japanese "curry house" that serves overly sweet, completely mild, thick curries, these are Indonesian-style, awesomely spicy, thin soup-like curries bursting with fresh ingredients. They're even spicy enough to give a San Franciscan pause, so don't rush to order the maximum spice level like you would in most places in Japan.
I went here with a group of 7 and we spread ourselves out around the menu trying various of their specialty curries, and every single one was delicious (there was a lot of sampling going on around the table). So take your time to work through the menu (an English menu is available but as is often the case, may not have the specials on it) and pick something, but don't sweat it too much cuz they're all good (you can do the sweating after the curry arrives).
The prices are all pretty reasonable -- I don't have the menu anymore but I recall it was 1000ish yen for food -- and a bowl of curry here will keep you nicely filled up. A couple draft beers and you've had a dinner that made the wait well worthwhile.
Neighborhood: Shimokitazawa
Style: Curry
Website: www.magicspice.net
Magic Spice is tucked away near the Shimokitazawa Town Hall, but it's easy to find once you're close: look for the line of people waiting outside. In general, there's not much of a waiting culture here; I'm always surprised by the fact that the default response when a restaurant is full is not, "Can I put my name in?" but rather "Ok, bye." However, at Magic Spice, they don't take reservations so if it's a weekend, you're gonna be waiting a while.
In this as in many other ways, it feels like a bit of a hippy hangover place. It's all Tibetan-themed decorations applied several layers of brocade thick and overlaid with flyers advertising various local yoga classes, and of course peridically they feature live music as well. A quick trip to the website will give you a good sense of the vibe.
But, people wouldn't be there for the decorations alone, it's all about the curries. And thankfully, unlike the canonical Japanese "curry house" that serves overly sweet, completely mild, thick curries, these are Indonesian-style, awesomely spicy, thin soup-like curries bursting with fresh ingredients. They're even spicy enough to give a San Franciscan pause, so don't rush to order the maximum spice level like you would in most places in Japan.
I went here with a group of 7 and we spread ourselves out around the menu trying various of their specialty curries, and every single one was delicious (there was a lot of sampling going on around the table). So take your time to work through the menu (an English menu is available but as is often the case, may not have the specials on it) and pick something, but don't sweat it too much cuz they're all good (you can do the sweating after the curry arrives).
The prices are all pretty reasonable -- I don't have the menu anymore but I recall it was 1000ish yen for food -- and a bowl of curry here will keep you nicely filled up. A couple draft beers and you've had a dinner that made the wait well worthwhile.
Russian Restaurant Rogovski
Name: Russian Restaurant Rogovski
Neighborhood: Shibuya
Style: Russian (duh)
Website: http://www.rogovski.co.jp/
I can't believe I haven't blogged about this restaurant yet! My friend Sonoko's family are the operators of this Russian restaurant right in the middle of Shibuya as a result of which I've eaten there two or three times. Rogovski has been around for a good long time, so they have a stream of regular patrons but it's still fairly easy to get in.
Russian food always conjures up images for me of overwhelmingly heavy stews and borscht, so Rogovski was a pleasnt surprise by providing reasonably light Russian fare (it helps that Japanese portion sizes mean that you don't get too much of any one thing). I've never actually seen Borscht here but they have a lot of Russian standards, including Piroshki, Chicken Kiev, nd the highly recommended Pickled Herring (I know you might not immediately rush to order Pickled Herring, but seriously, it's good).
If you ordered a course meal (I never have because Sonoko's family is always consulting on the items for the evening) they range from 4000 to 7000 yen, which gives a good idea of the price range for the place. They have plenty of drinks to choose from including various Russian beers and of course Stoli, in addition to the standard Japanese beer on tap.
Because the Chogayas are really enthusiasts for Russian cooking, there's also a selection of Russian mixes and canned goods you can buy to take home. If I heard the story right, the original way that the family got involved in Russian cooking involved WWII and a POW camp. I often forget to think of this place when I'm in Shibuya, which is a shame because it's actually easy to find: it's on the 9th floor of the Tokyu Plaza, in the same building with the Kinokuniya (south exit from Shibuya-eki).
Neighborhood: Shibuya
Style: Russian (duh)
Website: http://www.rogovski.co.jp/
I can't believe I haven't blogged about this restaurant yet! My friend Sonoko's family are the operators of this Russian restaurant right in the middle of Shibuya as a result of which I've eaten there two or three times. Rogovski has been around for a good long time, so they have a stream of regular patrons but it's still fairly easy to get in.
Russian food always conjures up images for me of overwhelmingly heavy stews and borscht, so Rogovski was a pleasnt surprise by providing reasonably light Russian fare (it helps that Japanese portion sizes mean that you don't get too much of any one thing). I've never actually seen Borscht here but they have a lot of Russian standards, including Piroshki, Chicken Kiev, nd the highly recommended Pickled Herring (I know you might not immediately rush to order Pickled Herring, but seriously, it's good).
If you ordered a course meal (I never have because Sonoko's family is always consulting on the items for the evening) they range from 4000 to 7000 yen, which gives a good idea of the price range for the place. They have plenty of drinks to choose from including various Russian beers and of course Stoli, in addition to the standard Japanese beer on tap.
Because the Chogayas are really enthusiasts for Russian cooking, there's also a selection of Russian mixes and canned goods you can buy to take home. If I heard the story right, the original way that the family got involved in Russian cooking involved WWII and a POW camp. I often forget to think of this place when I'm in Shibuya, which is a shame because it's actually easy to find: it's on the 9th floor of the Tokyu Plaza, in the same building with the Kinokuniya (south exit from Shibuya-eki).
Nagatacho Kurosawa
Name: Nagatacho Kurosawa
Neighborhood: Nagatacho. Around the corner from the PM's house.
Style: Shabu-shabu
Website: http://www.9638.net/eng/Nagatacho/index.html
The son of the famous film director Akira Kurosawa runs several restaurants, of which the flagship is Nagatacho Kurosawa. We ended up coming here for our big Saturday night meal during the SIGGRAPH Asia CAF Jury meeting.
The restaurant is a spectacular old Japanese building in Nagatacho, the seat of Japanese government. It really looks like its been here a couple hundred years, though that's probably not the case in actuality. The service is excellent, as is the shabu-shabu. Unfortunately, I don't eat pork so I couldn't join in on eating the kurobuta (Black Berkshire Pork) which is one of the specialties of the house.
There's no one thing I would rave about at this place, but it's very well-executed in all regards and is commensurate with the price. Course dinners starts at about 5500 yen and range upwards depending on what you order; kaiseki is also available.
They're used to foreign guests, so going here without a Japanese speaker is basically fine.
Neighborhood: Nagatacho. Around the corner from the PM's house.
Style: Shabu-shabu
Website: http://www.9638.net/eng/Nagatacho/index.html
The son of the famous film director Akira Kurosawa runs several restaurants, of which the flagship is Nagatacho Kurosawa. We ended up coming here for our big Saturday night meal during the SIGGRAPH Asia CAF Jury meeting.
The restaurant is a spectacular old Japanese building in Nagatacho, the seat of Japanese government. It really looks like its been here a couple hundred years, though that's probably not the case in actuality. The service is excellent, as is the shabu-shabu. Unfortunately, I don't eat pork so I couldn't join in on eating the kurobuta (Black Berkshire Pork) which is one of the specialties of the house.
There's no one thing I would rave about at this place, but it's very well-executed in all regards and is commensurate with the price. Course dinners starts at about 5500 yen and range upwards depending on what you order; kaiseki is also available.
They're used to foreign guests, so going here without a Japanese speaker is basically fine.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Sausage #1
Name: Salsiccia Uno
Neighborhood: Hiro-o / 広尾
Style: Italian
Website: http://www.kiwa-group.co.jp/restaurant/a100457.html
For our first round of SIGGRAPH Asia Jury meetings, we were at Polygon Pictures, so we needed to arrange a reasonably-priced dinner somewhere close by. As most of the folks in the first round were Japanese, we weren't constrained to Japanese food as we are when we have out-of-town guests, so our first plan was to go to Plates, a nice Italian place in Hiro-o.
However, I noticed a few days before the event that there was a new Italian place almost across the street called Salsicca Uno, and since they were new even three days ahead of time they could accommodate a big group on a Saturday night.
As you'd guess from the name if you spoke Italian, this is a meat, and in particular sausage, oriented restaurant. We had enough people that we got a course, but since they had a decent and decently priced Italian winelist we skipped the 飲み放題／nomihoudai/all-you-can-drink and ordered bottles of wine instead.
We had a good time with a very mixed group. As I said we were mostly Japanese and so was most of the conversation, but there were a few English-only speakers and a fair number of bilinguals. I guess as I've been here longer that's becoming the norm for me...
The antipasti was yummy and the salad was generous, but the standout of the evening was definitely the sausages: lots of tezukuri (handmade) sausages of various sorts. I didn't have any (I don't eat pork) but the assembled crew pronounced them awesome. Advised that I didn't eat pork, the chef Koji Asakura 浅倉 康治 whipped up a beef plate for me on the spot which was awesome. Great improvisation on their part.
Even with wine off the winelist, the whole bill was about Y4500 per person, very reasonable for an excellent night out in Tokyo. And we got everybody back to the station in time for their last trains, even Julian. This place is in Hiro-o so gaijin are no big deal, you don't particularly need to worry about speaking Japanese.
Completely at random, Salsiccia Uno turns out to be from the Kiwa Corporation group, which runs a couple dozen restaurants in Tokyo. My friends Nick and Naoco swear by any of the restaurants in the group, although it had nothing to do with decided to try out Salsiccia Uno! Honest!
Neighborhood: Hiro-o / 広尾
Style: Italian
Website: http://www.kiwa-group.co.jp/restaurant/a100457.html
For our first round of SIGGRAPH Asia Jury meetings, we were at Polygon Pictures, so we needed to arrange a reasonably-priced dinner somewhere close by. As most of the folks in the first round were Japanese, we weren't constrained to Japanese food as we are when we have out-of-town guests, so our first plan was to go to Plates, a nice Italian place in Hiro-o.
However, I noticed a few days before the event that there was a new Italian place almost across the street called Salsicca Uno, and since they were new even three days ahead of time they could accommodate a big group on a Saturday night.
As you'd guess from the name if you spoke Italian, this is a meat, and in particular sausage, oriented restaurant. We had enough people that we got a course, but since they had a decent and decently priced Italian winelist we skipped the 飲み放題／nomihoudai/all-you-can-drink and ordered bottles of wine instead.
We had a good time with a very mixed group. As I said we were mostly Japanese and so was most of the conversation, but there were a few English-only speakers and a fair number of bilinguals. I guess as I've been here longer that's becoming the norm for me...
The antipasti was yummy and the salad was generous, but the standout of the evening was definitely the sausages: lots of tezukuri (handmade) sausages of various sorts. I didn't have any (I don't eat pork) but the assembled crew pronounced them awesome. Advised that I didn't eat pork, the chef Koji Asakura 浅倉 康治 whipped up a beef plate for me on the spot which was awesome. Great improvisation on their part.
Even with wine off the winelist, the whole bill was about Y4500 per person, very reasonable for an excellent night out in Tokyo. And we got everybody back to the station in time for their last trains, even Julian. This place is in Hiro-o so gaijin are no big deal, you don't particularly need to worry about speaking Japanese.
Completely at random, Salsiccia Uno turns out to be from the Kiwa Corporation group, which runs a couple dozen restaurants in Tokyo. My friends Nick and Naoco swear by any of the restaurants in the group, although it had nothing to do with decided to try out Salsiccia Uno! Honest!
Sunday, May 31, 2009
It's Italian, no wait it's European, no wait...
Name: bigote
Neighborhood: Shinjuku Sanchome 新宿三丁目
Style: Well, that's a complicated question
Website: http://bigote-placer.com/
After coming out of Star Trek Saturday night, we were looking for somewhere to eat, and after the usual wander through the entertainment district (in this case through Shinjuku Sanchome) we picked bigote due to its appealling second-story corner location.
Going in we found just as interesting as it looked: a combination of bare concrete and visible fittings, but with unfinished wood tables and a very summer-camp-looking table for six in the far corner.
The menu -- which we initially thought to be Italian due to the pizza and pasta -- was actually quite a bit more interesting than that. We did have a pizza, and they did a good job with the ingredients -- soft salami with mozzarella and ricotta cheese -- but they don't have a pizza oven, so it might be more accurate to call the resulting product flatbread (not that there's anything wrong with warm flatbread with salami and cheese).
However, the next couple dishes we got were non-Italian and extraordinary. The grilled New Zealand lamb was a pair of delicate lamb chops grilled to perfection, topped with a sprig of rosemary and accompanied by a couple slices of braised squash and a healthy dollop of potato... salad? puree? paste? Picking up the chop by the bone and taking a first bite, it was clear this was the hit of the night. Every last piece of meat got gnawed off of those bones, and we seriously considered ordering two more immediately (amazingly, the lamb dish was only 600 yen).
Fortunately, our sense of variety prevailed and instead we checked out the Japanese side of the menu by ordering the Katsuo tataki. Memories of the lamb were greatly dulled as this in turn became the hit of the evening. Raw katsuo grilled oh so slightly and served as sashimi... that's what I was talking about.
Going along with all of that, bigote has not only a very full bar and a set of house cocktails, but a great wine selection by the glass -- seven red wines by the glass, and none of them were refrigerated to boot! (many Japanese restaurants still serve red wine chilled... sigh). After a couple glasses of it, I no longer remember the name of the spicy medium-bodied red I had, but it complemented the pizza and lamb perfectly (it was a bit much for the katsuo, so I had to refrain from having any while the katsuo was on the palette. Of course, the katsuo was so good, that wasn't very long!).
Towards the end of the evening, the owner, Tetsuhiro Ichimura 市村 哲宏 stopped by the table to chat a bit. His other job is a record buyer for DJs, so he makes a trip to New York about once a year to pick up new records, and try a few restaurants while he's there. bigote was specially designed to be hard to categorize: they try to incorporate appropriate dishes from all over the world. I thought they were doing pretty good at it!
So, if you're in Shinjuku Sanchome for a pilgrammae to Sekaido, try stopping by bigote afterwards.
Neighborhood: Shinjuku Sanchome 新宿三丁目
Style: Well, that's a complicated question
Website: http://bigote-placer.com/
After coming out of Star Trek Saturday night, we were looking for somewhere to eat, and after the usual wander through the entertainment district (in this case through Shinjuku Sanchome) we picked bigote due to its appealling second-story corner location.
Going in we found just as interesting as it looked: a combination of bare concrete and visible fittings, but with unfinished wood tables and a very summer-camp-looking table for six in the far corner.
The menu -- which we initially thought to be Italian due to the pizza and pasta -- was actually quite a bit more interesting than that. We did have a pizza, and they did a good job with the ingredients -- soft salami with mozzarella and ricotta cheese -- but they don't have a pizza oven, so it might be more accurate to call the resulting product flatbread (not that there's anything wrong with warm flatbread with salami and cheese).
However, the next couple dishes we got were non-Italian and extraordinary. The grilled New Zealand lamb was a pair of delicate lamb chops grilled to perfection, topped with a sprig of rosemary and accompanied by a couple slices of braised squash and a healthy dollop of potato... salad? puree? paste? Picking up the chop by the bone and taking a first bite, it was clear this was the hit of the night. Every last piece of meat got gnawed off of those bones, and we seriously considered ordering two more immediately (amazingly, the lamb dish was only 600 yen).
Fortunately, our sense of variety prevailed and instead we checked out the Japanese side of the menu by ordering the Katsuo tataki. Memories of the lamb were greatly dulled as this in turn became the hit of the evening. Raw katsuo grilled oh so slightly and served as sashimi... that's what I was talking about.
Going along with all of that, bigote has not only a very full bar and a set of house cocktails, but a great wine selection by the glass -- seven red wines by the glass, and none of them were refrigerated to boot! (many Japanese restaurants still serve red wine chilled... sigh). After a couple glasses of it, I no longer remember the name of the spicy medium-bodied red I had, but it complemented the pizza and lamb perfectly (it was a bit much for the katsuo, so I had to refrain from having any while the katsuo was on the palette. Of course, the katsuo was so good, that wasn't very long!).
Towards the end of the evening, the owner, Tetsuhiro Ichimura 市村 哲宏 stopped by the table to chat a bit. His other job is a record buyer for DJs, so he makes a trip to New York about once a year to pick up new records, and try a few restaurants while he's there. bigote was specially designed to be hard to categorize: they try to incorporate appropriate dishes from all over the world. I thought they were doing pretty good at it!
So, if you're in Shinjuku Sanchome for a pilgrammae to Sekaido, try stopping by bigote afterwards.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
New Hamburger King?
Name: AS Classics Diner
Neighborhood: Near Komazawa Koen 駒沢公園, in between Jiyugaoka 自由が丘 and Komazawa Daigaku 駒沢大学
Style: American Diner / Burgers
Website: http://www.asclassics.com/
I still love the meat patties at Pakutch in Shibuya (and it's a good deal more conveniently located), but I think AS Classics is the new standard for Tokyo burgers. I had noticed the writeup for AS Classics in Metropolis' coverage of Tokyo burger stands, and so it's been on my to-do list for awhile.
It's a beautiful weekend in Tokyo, so I was out for a bike ride along the Tamagawa. Usually I get out to the Tama by riding out Komazawa-dori from my house in Nakameguro, and on the way back today I noticed that's where AS Classics is. It's right near the corner of Komazawa-dori and Jiyuu-dori, by Komazawa Olympic Park (I have no idea why the park is called that, does anyone know?), so it's not particularly convenient to any train lines.
Unlike any of the other burger places in Tokyo, AS Classics is going for the whole American diner thing, so they have stainless steel and a lot of vintage American ads all over the place. For this time of year, they have a few outdoor tables, which is a bonus. Like most of the customers I saw there, I ignored the other menu options and went straight for the burger: cheeseburger straight up -- I love Teriyaki Burgers but I figured I should give the new restaurant a chance to present their default.
First off, AS Classics makes their own buns, and it shows -- they're oh-so-slightly crunchy on the outside, none of the bad squishiness. Secondly, they've got the fixins' part of a hamburger down: Full slices of tomato, lettuce, and onion come with the burger.
None of that would matter if the meat was substandard, but no worries there: it was well-cooked (medium but not medium well), and super-juicy, which is of course a key for hamburgers. My patty actually had a little bit of not-fully-ground meat left in it, suggesting the hamburger is being locally ground (I haven't waded through the Japanese of the website to know for sure).
Unlike most burger places in Japan, AS Classics serves the burger directly on a plate: none of the V-shaped paper dripping catchers you get at most places. Thus, the plate got pretty drippy by the time the burger was gone a few minutes later, which is always a good sign.
They have lots of drink options, both non-alcoholic (shakes, natch) and beery (a nice selection of American and Mexican beers, plus Budweiser).
The only negative regarding AS Classics concerns the fries. They were cooked nicely, but even for Tokyo the portion is pretty small. Worse yet, unlike the care lavished on the buns, fixins', and patties, they were clearly from frozen: slightly mealy on the inside. They could do with some lessons from In'n'Out about how to make the fries match up to the burgers.
Neighborhood: Near Komazawa Koen 駒沢公園, in between Jiyugaoka 自由が丘 and Komazawa Daigaku 駒沢大学
Style: American Diner / Burgers
Website: http://www.asclassics.com/
I still love the meat patties at Pakutch in Shibuya (and it's a good deal more conveniently located), but I think AS Classics is the new standard for Tokyo burgers. I had noticed the writeup for AS Classics in Metropolis' coverage of Tokyo burger stands, and so it's been on my to-do list for awhile.
It's a beautiful weekend in Tokyo, so I was out for a bike ride along the Tamagawa. Usually I get out to the Tama by riding out Komazawa-dori from my house in Nakameguro, and on the way back today I noticed that's where AS Classics is. It's right near the corner of Komazawa-dori and Jiyuu-dori, by Komazawa Olympic Park (I have no idea why the park is called that, does anyone know?), so it's not particularly convenient to any train lines.
Unlike any of the other burger places in Tokyo, AS Classics is going for the whole American diner thing, so they have stainless steel and a lot of vintage American ads all over the place. For this time of year, they have a few outdoor tables, which is a bonus. Like most of the customers I saw there, I ignored the other menu options and went straight for the burger: cheeseburger straight up -- I love Teriyaki Burgers but I figured I should give the new restaurant a chance to present their default.
First off, AS Classics makes their own buns, and it shows -- they're oh-so-slightly crunchy on the outside, none of the bad squishiness. Secondly, they've got the fixins' part of a hamburger down: Full slices of tomato, lettuce, and onion come with the burger.
None of that would matter if the meat was substandard, but no worries there: it was well-cooked (medium but not medium well), and super-juicy, which is of course a key for hamburgers. My patty actually had a little bit of not-fully-ground meat left in it, suggesting the hamburger is being locally ground (I haven't waded through the Japanese of the website to know for sure).
Unlike most burger places in Japan, AS Classics serves the burger directly on a plate: none of the V-shaped paper dripping catchers you get at most places. Thus, the plate got pretty drippy by the time the burger was gone a few minutes later, which is always a good sign.
They have lots of drink options, both non-alcoholic (shakes, natch) and beery (a nice selection of American and Mexican beers, plus Budweiser).
The only negative regarding AS Classics concerns the fries. They were cooked nicely, but even for Tokyo the portion is pretty small. Worse yet, unlike the care lavished on the buns, fixins', and patties, they were clearly from frozen: slightly mealy on the inside. They could do with some lessons from In'n'Out about how to make the fries match up to the burgers.
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