Monthly Archives: January 2012

{  Google Japan  }

Google Japan
Google Japan
Google Japan

Ever wonder what Google Japan looks like? It happens to be located in one of the most expensive office buildings in Tokyo in the center of the Roppongi Hills complex of shops and restaurants – a great location. Although this is not exactly a restaurant post, I thought I’d share this with you.

After checking in at the front desk of the Mori Tower, we went through a security check point, then got into Google and got our name tags printed out. We were lucky enough to have lunch with our friend who works there. Like the US headquarters, Google Japan has a buffet-style cafeteria with a large variety of choices such as salads, fish, meat, pastas, ramen, rice, soups, fruits, desserts, etc all for free! They also have a wide selection of drinks available in vending machines (for free). If Google employees have this available almost 24/7, I can see why they wouldn’t want to leave their office!

I also got to check out a few other parts of their office and I was impressed/jealous. I would love to work there. The best part was their lounge which has a billiards table, foosball, ping pong and more. Not to mention the most awesome 360 view of Tokyo. They’ve really created a fantastic place to work with such a fun design and amazing perks. Wouldn’t it be great if every company had this? Amazing.




{  Partenope  }

Partenope

If you want really good authentic Italian Cuisine, check out Partenope in Hiro. They have one of the best pizza’s which reminded us of the food we had when we visited Naples, Italy. They are famous for their pizza and it’s easy to see why. The special combination of their dough, tomato sauce and olive oil makes it unique and excellent. Just writing this post makes me already want to go back and try their pastas and other dishes. I suggest you to make reservations if you are planning to go at night. They are always crowded and we’ve never been able to walk-in and get a seat without a long wait.

Address // 5-15-25, Minamiazabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan (map)
Phone Number // 03-5798-3355
Website // www.partenope.jp/top/index.html

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{  Kin-no-torikara  }

kin no torikara

Kin-no-torikara is a street food spot along the Shibuya-center-gai that sells karaage aka. fried chicken. There’s a couple locations but this is the first location that opened in Tokyo. It’s always crowded with young adults for a quick snack and it’s surprisingly pretty good for 280yen. You can get 1.5x for 380yen, and double the amount for 500yen. What’s awesome is they have all sorts of condiments to add to your fried chicken. The toppings are all ranked by popularity so you can see which ones people like — I tried most of them! My favorite topping is the original spice + mayo combination. It’s a nice quick snack to grab if you are in Shibuya.

Address // 25-3, Udagawacho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan (map)
Phone Number // 03-3464-5585
Website // www.shimanaka.co.jp/contents.php?id=119

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{  Ivy Place  }

Ivy Place
Ivy Place
Ivy Place

Ivy Place opened recently on December 5, 2011 and it is located inside of a brand new shopping center in Daikanyama called Daikanyama T-site Garden. It has the most amazing Tsutaya Book store that has all sorts of high-end artsy books, music, and movies with a very sheek lounge/book bar for relaxing with a nice book or magazine.

Ivy Place is located just behind the book store. It’s a cafe, restaurant, and bar that is open from 7:00~26:00 daily. Their pancakes were certainly above average but not entirely memorable. However, their Flatbread Pizza was delicious! We had the Roasted Vegetables, Basil Pesto and Mozzarella for 1400yen. Also, their Crunchy Thai Salad with Chicken and Bean Sprouts with Chili Lime Dressing (1300yen) was good as well.

Overall it was a pleasant experience and now that we’ve been to this place a few times, it’s gotten much better from when it first opened. One great plus (maybe part of their lunch special?) was that they give you free iced-tea (it was peach ginger tea when we went) as well as unlimited coffee refills (which is rare in Tokyo). The lunch set also included salad and unlimited bread which was nice.

Address // 16-15, Sarugakucho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan (map)
Phone Number // 03-6415-3232
Website // http://www.tyharborbrewing.co.jp/en/ivy/

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{  Daikanyama T-Site  }

Daikanyama T-site
Daikanyama T-site

This is another Bonus post :) (From time to time I may post non-food related posts just to share some of the sights in Tokyo) I thought I’d share this new area which is related to my other post about Ivy Place. Daikanyama T-Site is a brand new area that opened in December, 2011. It’s not large of a space and there’s not too much to do there but it does have the most beautiful TSUTAYA book store I’ve ever seen. You can spend hours in there just thumbing through books, browsing magazines or listening to music.

The 2nd Floor of the bookstore has a very sheek lounge area which serves tea, desserts, and light snacks. Every table has an iPad that has the lounge menu on it (there are no paper menus!) and the walls are lined with expensive memorabilia including original Picasso drawings and rare books. As you can imagine, this lounge is not cheap – it’s close to $10 for just a tea or coffee. However, There’s also a Starbucks reserve located on the first floor of the bookstore if the lounge upstairs is too pricy.

The outside area is a very dog friendly place – it has machine for washing dogs, a small dog park to let dogs roam free, a dog hair salon and a leash holder so that pet owners can spend time in the shops and leave their pets outside. Clearly the designers of this new area wanted to attract the pet-owners!

Here’s a brief guide to the photos above:
01. — An art installation inside TSUTAYA made out of the same wrapping paper they use to wrap anything you buy in the store.
02. — The kids books section inside TSUTAYA.
03. — Dog leash holder
04. — fully enclosed dog park (with a giant art piece connecting the inside and outside of the play area)

Address // 16-15, Sarugakucho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan (map)
Website // tsite.jp/daikanyama