Harutaka (1*, Kawabata Building 3F, 8-5-8 Ginza, tel. 03 3573 1144 ) – the last sushiya from the sushi from Tokyo series this year. And my favourite so far. Harutaka Takahashi ( left) comes from Sukiyabashi Jiro “school”, so you can see many similarities with Sukiyabashi Jiro Roppongi (and, I…

I missed my plane back to Europe, so instead of waiting at Narita for the evening flight I went back to Tokyo and had lunch at Sukiyabashi Jiro in Roppongi Hills. (The one Michelin English speaking sister restaurant of the three Michelin Sukiyabashi Jiro in Ginza. The sushi chef is…

If you love Japanese culture, you must have seen or heard of an eighties movie called “Tampopo”, Japanese comedy about love, life and ramen. The movie starts with a younger truck driver Gun (Ken Watanabe) reading a book about ramen to an older truck driver Goro (Tsutomu Yamazaki). The younger…

Only in Tokyo – 3 melons for around 500 dollars, found in a fruit shop in Ginza… No, I didn’t buy one.

I find it hard to believe myself but I’ve been three times in Nobu over a stay of two weeks in Tokyo. Why go to an international chain when Tokyo has so many exciting local places to offer? Well, the first time I went there was out of plain curiosity.…

Whether it is a cheap restaurant or a fine and famous place, sushi in Tokyo will be better than in Europe most of the times. At least the fish will be fresher and more various. How the fish is cut is another issue. I don’t think that thick pieces of…

During this trip to Tokyo I started with Sushi Mizutani, then Sushi Kanesaka and ended up at Sushiko Honten (6-3-8 Ginza, tel. 03 3571 1968 ). Ironically, my favourite of all the three was the latter, the sushi place that has only one Michelin star, the least from all the…

I loved sukiyaki at Michelin starred Yoshihasi (1-5-25 Moto-Akasaka, tel. 03-3401-3129) not only because the wagyu beef was mouth-watering, but also because the place was so beautiful and serene. Yoshihashi is a traditional minimalistic restaurant with zen garden behind a window. When you come to the place you have to…

Since Japan has opened up for foreigners at the end of the 19th century, beef has become a very popular product in Japanese cuisine. In fact, the Japanese are so obsessed about the quality of their beef that when you go to a good teppanyaki or sukiyaki restaurant, they would…

Kaizen (“continuous improvement”) concept is deeply tied not only to manufacturing and business(where it originally comes from) but to Japanese culture in general. Anything Japanese do, they will try to do their best. Whether its service in a hotel, asking directions in a metro station or simply growing vegetables and…