{ Fureika — 富麗華 }

2013, Jun 8

We decided to splurge a little and celebrate our birthday’s together (both Miss E and my bday are only a day apart!), so we went to try this highly-rated Chinese restaurant in Azabujuban. From the moment I stepped in the door, I just had a feeling that it was going to be good as the staff presented themselves very well and the service was great from beginning to end. We made reservations for 1pm and the place was completely full when we arrived. (The picture above is taken after the lunch service was over and we were one of the last few guests to leave).

The food? Simply delicious. All of us chose the 3300yen lunch course which includes an assorted appetizer, 3 steamed dim sum + 2 deep-fried dim sum, stir-fried prawns, fried rice, and a dessert of your choice. Everything was well seasoned (almost on the strong side) and tasted authentic. If anything, the portion was a bit on the small side but we all enjoyed our meal.

The best part? Miss E had called ahead to the restaurant to make a little surprise for me with a Happy Birthday music performance by the restaurant and a special dessert plate! We had a lovely time and definitely would recommend coming here if you want good Chinese cuisine.

Address // 3-7-5, Higashiazabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan (map)
Phone Number // 03-5561-7788
Website // http://www.chuugokuhanten.com/storefureika/

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{ Sync }

2013, Jun 4

There are many curry houses and different varieties and types of curry in Japan, which makes it difficult to consider one as your favorite. I’ve been in a curry phase lately and have been trying a lot of good places but I think I’ve finally found one that really stands out from the rest. It doesn’t really fit into any of the typical categories of curry but something about it is just so comforting and tasty.

It’s located in an random side alley in Gakugeidaigaku, and this tiny curry house seats only 8 customers at a time. The best thing on the menu is their Chicken Curry. The Curry set includes a salad, brown rice, and curry with 3 toppings of your choice for 1500yen. It’s soupy, flavorful, spicy, hearty, and homey all in one! Aside from the toppings of your choice, the curry also has generous amounts of tender chicken mixed in.

The topping choices are: eggplant, mini tomato, okra, caggabe, shimeji-mushroom, spinach, onsen-tamagao (egg), flavored egg (dipped in nam pla), homemade fried garlic, zucchini, camembert cheese, potato, cilantro, pumpkin, and mushroom. My favorite ingredient hands down is the camembert cheese. It might sound like a strange ingredient for a curry, but it really melts into the spicy curry and it’s just SO good.

They also sell banmi sandwiches and bagels too. Seems like the owner of this place also owns Star bagels so that’s probably why they sell it here? The sandwich pictured above is the “Honey Lemongrass & Chicken” banmi sandwich (500yen).

This is not a place to come with a big party but if you are looking for a hearty comforting curry with a friendly owner, I highly recommended this place. They also do take out orders.

Address // 2-8-21, Takaban, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, Japan (map)
Phone Number // 03-3760-0655
Website // http://www.spice-you-up.net/

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{ Oreno Italian Jazz — 俺のイタリアン }

2013, Jun 1

If you haven’t heard of the “Oreno Italian”, “Oreno French”, aka “Oreno” series, you might be missing out on one of the most popular casual restaurant dinning sensations in Japan right now.

The concept of this restaurant is to serve top notch food with high quality ingredients for an incredible price. The lead chef and owner, Toshihiro Yamaura, used to work for a 3-star Michelin rated restaurant and then decided to open his own idea of serving beautiful and tasty food for an affordable price so he hired fellow talented chefs and got it started. What’s the catch? There’s a two hour time limit and you have to stand through your dinner. The restaurant is barely making money on the cost of the food itself, but by enforcing the time limits they can get through 4 rounds of service and serve 160 people in the restaurant per day. When standing and eating, people will naturally leave before their 2-hour time limit and the service keeps on schedule. There is a limited number of sit down tables but it’s incredibly difficult to make a reservation. I think the best way to make reservation is to just go to the restaurant and ask for one at the location itself but keep in mind that you can only make a reservation up to a month in advance.

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{ Bowery Kitchen }

2013, May 28

Found an awesome neighborhood diner in town. “Bowery Kitchen” is located near the Olympic park, Komazawa-koen. Since it’s not close to any train station, this diner is filled with locals hanging out with their dogs, families with babies, and friends hanging out for Sunday brunch. If you want to experience a local Japanese diner atmosphere, this place does it well. It feels old but also has a good character to it. The noise, smell and busyness of it really make you feel like you’re in a NY hipster diner despite being in Tokyo.

The menu is large so you have lots to choose from here (and don’t worry, they also have an English menu!). Pictured above are:
– Pumpkin soup (350yen) — yumm
– Prosciutto and avocado Carbonara (1300yen)
– Fruit waffle (800yen)
– Coleslaw (200yen)
– Block Vegetable (850yen)
– Grilled Chicken Garlic Sauce (1000yen) — yumm
– Chicken Rice Omelet (1050yen) — yumm

After your meal, I highly recommend stopping by Komazawa-koen to go on a nice walk, bike ride (they have rental bikes), play with your kids at the kids park, or simply enjoy the beautiful scenery. The park is quite large with lush greenery which is in the peak of springtime right now and it’s a great place to go running or jogging as well. They oftentimes have all types of sporting events going on in the stadiums within the park as well.

Address // 5-18-7 Komazawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, Japan (map)
Phone Number // 03-3704-9880
Website // http://www.heads-west.com/shop/bowery-kitchen.html

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{ Urth Caffe }

2013, May 25

One of LA’s popular cafes opened a store in Tokyo on April 24th, 2013. With it’s chic location in Daikanyama and its very spacious venue, I have a feeling that this cafe will do well. They have a great terrace seating and also allow guests to bring their dogs with them to dine (only for the terrace seats). Urth caffe is famous for their breakfast, organic coffees (especially the lattes), salads and more. We decided to order some of our favorite dishes: a full-size ‘Urth Salad’ (1360yen), Chicken Curry Sandwich (1600yen), and a large Green Tea latte (600yen). Although it feels a bit pricey, the food was the same sized portions as the US and it was yummy just as I remembered it.

I’m not a huge fan of the wall decor but the cafe was filled with beautiful orchids from famous celebrities to congratulate their recent opening. Seems like pro golfer Shigeki Maruyama is the mastermind who decided to bring this cafe to Japan. He loved it so much that he decided to bring it to Tokyo. If you are looking for a good breakfast or an American-style meal, definitely stop by Daikanyama.

Address // 8-9, Sarugaku-cho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan (map)
Phone Number // 03-5784-3301
Website // http://www.urthcaffe-japan.com/

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{ Fureika — 富麗華 }

{ Sync }

{ Oreno Italian Jazz — 俺のイタリアン }

{ Bowery Kitchen }

{ Urth Caffe }

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