Name: Sign
Neighborhood: Daikanyama
Style: Western-oriented cafe
Website: http://www.transit-web.com/shop/cafe/sign-daikanyama/index.html
Today I went to Sign, a cafe right outside the station in Daikanyama, and I had two things I had never had before, both of which were really good:
A Shandy Gaff is a drink that's half beer and half ginger ale. I've known about them for a long time, but I had never actually had one, in large part because most American ginger ale is too sweeet for me. Fortunately, ginger ale in Japan is usually quite dry, and so when I saw this on the menu at Sign I went for it. On a warm sunny spring day, a Shandy Gaff is just the thing! I'm a convert.
The second item doesn't have a name, but it was great nonetheless: gravilox with potato pancakes. This appetizer was three small silver-dollar-sized potato pancakes, and a generous amount of gravilox covered with olive oil, salt, and pepper, with a side of sour cream. You put a little sour cream on the potato pancake, plopped a piece of gravilox on top, and enjoyed! It all felt vaguely Jewish. The only bummer is that Japanese sour cream isn't very good. It's too hard and not sour enough, some good old Quality Checkd from Safeway would have been an improvement.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Portugal in Tokyo
Name: Manuel Marunouchi
Neighborhood: Marunouchi
Style: Portuguese
Website: http://www.manuelm.com/marunouchi/
The last night all of my SIGGRAPH Asia friends & Co-workers were in town, Kanako organized a get-together of friends at this basement restaurant. It's a small personally-run place in the basement of one of the giant buildings in Marunouchi, and Portuguese food turns out to be a similar take on Iberia to its Spanish neighbor -- lots of small plates, with highly varying spices.
The standout dish of the evening was the beef stew, which we ended up ordering three times (we were a big group of about 12 by the time everyone made it), but there was lots to love here -- pork dishes, vegetable sides, and of course an excellent wine list.
We would have been remiss if we didn't finish with a glass of port, so I had the Tawny -- pleasure I haven't had in Tokyo for quite awhile. This place isn't expensive for what it is, but that's still to say you're not going to get out for less than 5000yen per person unless you totally abstain from the alcohol. And with a winelist like this, that would be wrong.
Neighborhood: Marunouchi
Style: Portuguese
Website: http://www.manuelm.com/marunouchi/
The last night all of my SIGGRAPH Asia friends & Co-workers were in town, Kanako organized a get-together of friends at this basement restaurant. It's a small personally-run place in the basement of one of the giant buildings in Marunouchi, and Portuguese food turns out to be a similar take on Iberia to its Spanish neighbor -- lots of small plates, with highly varying spices.
The standout dish of the evening was the beef stew, which we ended up ordering three times (we were a big group of about 12 by the time everyone made it), but there was lots to love here -- pork dishes, vegetable sides, and of course an excellent wine list.
We would have been remiss if we didn't finish with a glass of port, so I had the Tawny -- pleasure I haven't had in Tokyo for quite awhile. This place isn't expensive for what it is, but that's still to say you're not going to get out for less than 5000yen per person unless you totally abstain from the alcohol. And with a winelist like this, that would be wrong.
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