Japanese Microbrew Heaven

Name: 牛虎/Ushi-tora
Style: Beer specialty restaurant
Neighborhood: 下北沢/Shimokitazawa
Website: http://blog.ushitora.jp/

I found this place through a notice in Metropolis, the English-language free weekly here in Tokyo. It's a godsend.

You see, Japanese beer is just fine. There's really nothing wrong with it. Except. It's all absolutely the same. Sapporo, Kirin, Asahi, and Ebisu are all light lagers, and they all come on basic, dry, and lite varieties. And in Japan, it's unheard of to stock something that's not one of those four.

Sure, occasionally a bar will "branch out" and stock a light lager from Mexico (always Corona) or Europe (usually Heineken). But outside of the "Belgian Beer Bar" specialty bars (which are cool, don't get me wrong), there's very little of the sort of tastier, hoppier, or more full-bodied beers I grew to love living in Northern California.

Thus, when I saw "over 100 beers" in the description of this Shimokitazawa establishment, I knew we had to go. One night after an installment of the Kurosawa film festival, we stopped in.

It lived up to billing! Of course, most of the 100 beers were in bottles, but in fact about 17 were on tap including, unheard of for Japan, 3 India Pale Ales! I was in heaven since IPAs are my favorite type of beer and are unheard of here.

The next pleasant surprise was that the food was yummy. It's pretty much the kind of small food orders available at many Japanese eateries, but very well-prepared and a couple dishes were standouts.

To finish off the evening, we tried a small glass of their Brandywine. If you've never tried a Brandywine before, they're a treat (my friend John Brown used to brew his own). It's a sweeter and *much* stronger beer; the name is because of the strength. Delicious, although it made a head-clearing walk home pretty much di rigeur.

Like most places in Shimokitazawa, Ushi-tora is easy to get to but hard to explain how to get to. The top right link on the website is the map, be sure to print it out and bring it along; Ushi-tora in on the second floor of a building, entrance from the balcony.

Singapore in Tokyo

Name: Hawker-style Chinese Canteen / 海南鶏飯食堂 (literally, "Hunan Chicken Rice Cafeteria")
Neighborhood: Ebisu / 恵比寿
Style: Singaporean
Website: http://www.route9g.com/map.html#2

After our trip to Singapore this June, we're always on the lookout for Singaporean food! Although this place isn't quite the equal of the venerable Straits Cafe in SF, it's pretty good!

Their signature dish is Chicken Rice, the ubiquitous hawker food in Singapore. Boiled chicken is served along with rice made from the leftover water from boiling the chicken, and of course a selection of yummy sauces. You can choose several serving sizes from ¥750 to ¥1200.

It was good to try some chicken rice, but frankly the highlight of the restaurant was the curries. This restaurant is quite a bit more upscale than the hawkers they take after, so their version of "Fish Head Curry" is "Fish Curry," made with actual meat.　IIRC, it was ¥850.

Even more important, they have the delicious Singaporean panbread called Roti Prata. Unlike many Singaporean places where it's an appetizer with its own dipping sauce, here it's a rice substitute. So get several (they're priced at ¥180 per) and soak up that yummy fish curry.

We also had a vegetable dish, whose Oyster Sauce wasn't what I was expecting -- but my Chinese food expectations have been set by San Francisco, so I'm reluctant to call their version wrong.

I'll be back! Good date restaurant, open-air windows in the summer.