japan :: tokyo :: general

[jcotteri]

Lab Tribe?

[djrajio]

There are no decent clubs in Kanazawa.

Kyoto check out World and Metro but honestly everything pales compared to Tokyo.

Kyoto is more for drinking by the river and chillin' with friends home-town 田舎 feel.

Hiroshima check out Club Chinatown. It's an old Chinese restaurant that they renovated into a club.

http://clubchinatown.web.fc2.com/index.html

[bonjin]

hey guys, heading to tokyo end of this month...

could anybody recommend me some dining/lunch/breakfast places? i've been a few times already so i have some places to go back to, but i'm also interested in trying out some new places

I found some good spots last year through http://bento.com/tokyofood.html

you can sort by neighborhoods/cuisines/etc

[derek_]

thanks herpsky and bonjin for the links, found a couple of new places I wanna try.

Anybody been to any of the La Rochelle restaurants? Was wondering whether I should go to the Shibuya or Aoyama if I only have time to do one...

[dismalfuture]

lol, I would probably rather eat Chen Kenichi's lunch set at Chin in the Tokyu Cerulean in SHibuya, rather than La Rochelle. Chinese in Japan is a safer, better bet than French, even though some nutty Japanese people are adamant that French in Japan is even better than in France (like my gf)...

[dismalfuture]

I've been to Chin several times now, it's like what you expect of Japanese Chinese food though. The mapo tofu comes on a plate and that shit is literally like drinking oil, the actual food is way under a whole layer of it. You can get your typical ankake type dishes, some tan tan mens that people associate with him, his dad's ebi chili, and usually it's sharks fin hot and sour soup to open, which is not bad for like a $25 lunch.

Mango pudding for dessert, standard shit...

[dismalfuture]

If it has to be French: skip La Rochelle's amateur shit and go to Gagnaire.

[salaryman]

Gotta agree with your girl, French in Tokyo is pretty outstanding.

Joel Robuchon (L'Atelier or proper) and L'osier are great.

For some reason I don't like spending a lot of money on nice Chinese food, it feels wrong. Would rather just eat at those standard Chinee places with mean waitresses and decor that looks like a hotel lobby from the 80s (bubble era wealth concepts), you know what I'm talking about, and pay half the price for twice the food.

[DaBestSpoona]

I have to agree too. There is a reason why a lot of places outside of Japan (Le Bernadin, Per Se, Robuchon, Bouley) have japanese sous or head chefs.

[seiji]

IMO, on one hand French chefs got a lot of influence from japanese ryotei especially about small dishes which were not in the French cooking tradition. On the other hand lot of japanese students have been coming to Europe to learn French, Italian... cuisine.

But what I noticed through my different experiences: We get better coffees, pizzas, pastas, cheese cakes and so on in Japan than in most places in Europe but I never ate really amazing japanese food (in France) even in the best places.(maybe there are in London or in the US...)

I think there are several reasons:

- better ingredients: vegetables, meat, fish and also better way of preservation (freshness)

- culture of mania: more rigourous to learn about all the "savoir faire" in a general case

- more developed taste for most people because of the culture of food so more creativity and openness.

This doesnt mean that there are no exceptional French restaurants and wine in France: L'ambroisie, L'arpege...

If you want a good french restaurant in Japan try out Michel Troisgros. There is a family story between his family and Japan. (His father opened Maxim's de Paris in Tokyo). Robuchon is nice but he is everywhere now (Paris NY London, Tokyo, Vegas LA, HK...) But if you want a less sophisticated genuine "inaka folk" french food with a lot of fat (bouchons lyonais...) i think it is difficult to get that in japan (cuz it doesn't fit the japanese taste)

ps: about the japanese manners in a French restaurant: I still don't understand why japanese people put some food on the back hand of their fork (not pick but drop off) and think that it is the distinguish way to use fork and knife...

[seiji]

all that may have been already said...

[herpsky]

dismal, are you coming to the japland at the end of nov?

ill be here from the 20th.

[prima]

loving the discussion on french restaurants in tokyo. big thanks to everyone contributing.

i'll likely be in tokyo nov 26-nov 30 (short trip i know) just to kill some time

[5-4=Unity]

would any of you recommend Amour? or any other clubs/lounges with the private room set-up in Tokyo that are worth checking out.

[derek_]

If it has to be French: skip La Rochelle's amateur shit and go to Gagnaire.

just checked out the website for Gagnaire , i google translated it and i'm under the impression that it's closed as of the 31st of august this year? can anybody verify this?

Gotta agree with your girl, French in Tokyo is pretty outstanding.

Joel Robuchon (L'Atelier or proper) and L'osier are great.

.

had a look at the joel robuchon website - would you recommend going to the roppongi hills or ebisu branch for a set menu lunch that is less than 6,000 yen pp? also might seem a bit too 'formal'...we'll be travelling in japan wearing tourist steez. though i just had a look a blogger's recount of the chef's tasting menu in roppongi (12600 yen) and it looks mind blasting.

also had a look at L'osier and the three set menus for lunch look good!

ahh....which to choose :|

[herpsky]

ebisu one is supposedly better

time to round up some beezies and hit that joint for lunch

[salaryman]

would any of you recommend Amour? or any other clubs/lounges with the private room set-up in Tokyo that are worth checking out.

is that the karaoke place attached to/affliated with Le Baron?

I've been there, it can be fun but its not really a club scene, just fancy rooms. bored rich kids drinking and doing drugs while I was there. there are plenty of private Karoke places in the city which are just as nice but without the pretense and expensive grey goose. if you want to splash out for a private room, just go to a nice club and pay for VIP, otherwise just get a random karaoke room and sneak in booze, instant party.

had a look at the joel robuchon website - would you recommend going to the roppongi hills or ebisu branch?

I actually prefer L'atelier. I just like how the restaurant is set up with the long counter, open kitchen, pretty slick decor.

The Ebisu restaurant is the real place, and its worth it, but much more expensive. And too formal really. If you are looking for casual, Roppongi Hills is probably more appropriate. It looks like prices have been slashed there recently, and you can even get the cheapest lunch set menu for like 3000 yen, and dinner starting at 4500. Won't be a ton of food, but still obviously a great value. (Actually, I just checked the Ebisu lunch menu, and it looks like it starts from 6000, not bad at all either..)

http://robuchon.jp/roppongi/lateier_menu.html

Speaking of French, I used to live in Kagurazaka, which used to be Tokyo's old geisha town. And although there are still some members-only old school baller Japanese places for politicians and rich yakuza (for Kaiseki, Komura http://images.businessweek.com/ss/07/12/1227_japanese_restaurants/source/3.htm and Ishikawa http://kagurazaka-ishikawa.co.jp/english/index_e.html)

now the area also has a French international school and a ton of great French restaurants (including Le Bretagne, La Matiere, L'alliance, and Le Mange-Tout which bagged 2 michellin stars http://www.le-mange-tout.com/). Its a great place to walk around, even at night, if you know where to go. Lots of nice streets, bars, cafes in the side streets.

KIYPIGkXDQE

[bentobox]

Also, I'll be traveling to Kyoto, Kanazawa, Hiroshima, Tokyo for a week in December with some people from my school in the US.

Any decent clubs in Kanazawa, Kyoto, or Hiroshima?

I guess "world" is one option in kyoto.

World is definitely your best bet in Kyoto. Also you could check out Lab, Metro and, if you want to get you hip hop on, Sam and Dave Kyoto.

[ruach]

Speaking of French, I used to live in Kagurazaka, which used to be Tokyo's old geisha town. And although there are still some members-only old school baller Japanese places for politicians and rich yakuza (for Kaiseki, Komura http://images.businessweek.com/ss/07/12/1227_japanese_restaurants/source/3.htm and Ishikawa http://kagurazaka-ishikawa.co.jp/english/index_e.html)

now the area also has a French international school and a ton of great French restaurants (including Le Bretagne, La Matiere, L'alliance, and Le Mange-Tout which bagged 2 michellin stars http://www.le-mange-tout.com/). Its a great place to walk around, even at night, if you know where to go. Lots of nice streets, bars, cafes in the side streets.

I lived in Kagurazaka through the summer and absolutely loved it. I actually never ventured into the French restaurants, but the area itself is a lot of fun to just be around.

edit: Wow it is interesting to see this video! They kept trying to stop me while filming but I kept running away from them. When they finally did catch me they asked if I was French but didn't care about me anymore when I said I was from America.

[dismalfuture]

just checked out the website for Gagnaire , i google translated it and i'm under the impression that it's closed as of the 31st of august this year? can anybody verify this?

had a look at the joel robuchon website - would you recommend going to the roppongi hills or ebisu branch for a set menu lunch that is less than 6,000 yen pp? also might seem a bit too 'formal'...we'll be travelling in japan wearing tourist steez. though i just had a look a blogger's recount of the chef's tasting menu in roppongi (12600 yen) and it looks mind blasting.

also had a look at L'osier and the three set menus for lunch look good!

ahh....which to choose :|

I just saw that now, weird. I guess it's RObuchon for you then!

[dismalfuture]

Herpsky, I don't know mang. Today is the 10th; I really need a fucking break and I have a couple (heavy) things I am supposed to deliver to Tokyo anyway, shall we do a bro-down sometime after the 20th?

[herpsky]

ill be out of town from like dec 8 until like 14th.

so anytime before that would be pretty awesome.

tix from seoul to tokyo are fairly inexpensive, right?

i've seen some ridiculous deals before.

or should I go to seoul for like 3 days?

that's not a bad idea though

[djrajio]

Herp, I'll be in Seoul Dec. 5th and 6th. All in was around 26,000円.

[herpsky]

are you going there with a chick?

if i can stay with dismal, that'd be pretty sick.

26000 isn't bad. where did you get the tix from?

[djrajio]

26,000 includes accomodations.

Going with my gf.

Tix from H.I.S.

[dismalfuture]

raj, are you including a couple hours in your itinerary for Seoul bro-down time?

Herp, you should come out to Korea. It's half as much for that Tokyo-Seoul-Tokyo trip as it is the other way around (i.e 26,000Y vs like 500 bones from Seoul to Tokyo). Always been that way I guess.

I will probably go to Japan too, anyway. Need to eat some real food and I'm feeling all wilted at the core because all I do is look at Korean girls in really cheap versions of lookbook.nu from 2 years ago type outfits all day and it's grating away at anything I have left for life. All I've been eating lately is microwaveable cheesy dogs and beers.

[dismalfuture]

BTW, herpsky, you probably wouldn't want to stay at my apartment, unless you enjoy a little 25 lb beagle jumping on your face, gnawing on your feet, and dragging its pee pad on top of you while you sleep.

There are a couple dope love hotels across the street from me though and they're like lunch money since the yen is illing on the won.

[thomas_highstreet]

26,000Y vs like 500 bones from Seoul to Tokyo..

yeah.. i just payed pretty much double what rajio payed flying the other way. fuck it. i didnt have many flight options to choose from as i need to be there at a specific time for a rendezvous, and also its seoul-tokyo osaka-seoul.

if anyones down im doing some 'work' at the candy anniversary party and the next 'fancyhim', and some show at a theatre in koenji? za-koenji or something. i can't remember what else is on the itinerary.

[herpsky]

yeah.. i just payed pretty much double what rajio payed flying the other way. fuck it. i didnt have many flight options to choose from as i need to be there at a specific time for a rendezvous, and also its seoul-tokyo osaka-seoul.

if anyones down im doing some 'work' at the candy anniversary party and the next 'fancyhim', and some show at a theatre in koenji? za-koenji or something. i can't remember what else is on the itinerary.

yo

im usually bored during the day. ill come to whatever.

dismal:

if i do one of those package tours, do you think you'll be able to entertain me (take me around and shit). i feel like it's gonna be some serious lost in translation type steez if i don't know anyone there.

[dismalfuture]

yeah if it's a weekend, I can probably. Gonna be less busy later on I think. Working on my weekends lately but I think I have reduced my workload a bit.

If you go on one of those package tours though, are you allowed to go AWOL and shit? THey usually take you to a lot of ripoff places (like $60 for an $8 KBBQ meal, etc, LOL) and make you do esute or other wack shit. I knwo the package tours are mad cheap though, so if you can get a ticket and a hotel out of them, that is a great little trip for the money. Hard to go overseas for 3 bills anywhere else in the world. Going out per night will be like 20-30 if we don't do BALLA shit and maybe a hundred if you want to see some good looking sluts, and not drink soju and reek of garlic all night.