Marc Ollivier overlooking the plowing Domaine de la Pépière (Muscadet, Loire) Welcome to the western-most region of the Loire, the Muscadet, where the only variety listed in the appellation area is the Melon de Bourgogne, a variety originating from B…
An unexpected delicacy at rest Tout est bon, dans le cochon – or everything is good in the pig, even the unlikeliest part… Here is a dish which I just rediscovered after having bought some during a weekend in the…
Les Affranchis – professional tasting event This was one of these well-sized professional tastings that I like : small enough, relaxed and friendly tasting with nonetheless very beautiful wines to sample. I still couldn’t attend but for an hour or…
Old Yoshida sake shop Yanaka/Ueno, Tokyo…
Fucharyori Bon Ryusen, Tokyo This discreet restaurant is a hard find, it sits in the middle of a stretch of shitamachi south of Minowa station and east of Iriya but you’ll be rewarded of your efforts to locate the venue…
Sayonara ! Once again, I was happy to experience by myself that Japan has a solid drinking culture (so to say), and in a very permissive, socially-admitted way. It doesn’t seem to translate into booze-soaked bums screaming in the street….
Pouring sake at Manseibashi Akihabara, Tokyo Another casual tachinomi or sakaba bar. Akihabara was not in my mind the neighborhood of Tokyo that I associated with bars and even less with standing bars (tachinomi); Akihabara is known as the electronics…
Waitress at Kaburaya Kita Senju (Tokyo) Going out in Tokyo at dirt-cheap prices Here is an izakaya chain which has only a string of venues in Tokyo. We stumbled upon it in Kita Senju, like usual to get a more…
Kita-Senju’s neons Kita Senju (Tokyo) Here is an off-centered neighborhood of Tokyo (Kita Senju) which seems to have hidden gems, at least for the unsuspecting foreigner, as the Tokyoite probably knows about the pleasures of this area. For a Parisian…
The iconic red-painted wine restaurant Meguro, Tokyo You can sigh in relief, Tokyo has its own Le Verre Volé… The French iconic natural-wine restaurant (and caviste) has now its mirror venue in Meguro, close to Ebisu and Shibuya, not exactly…
A small, refined tachinomi Shinjuku, Tokyo I had the preconception that the tachinomi type of bar, the standing bar, was to be found only in the shitamachi part of Tokyo or other towns. In other words, I thought that it…
Welcome to Golden Gai Shinjuku, Tokyo Tags : forgotten Tokyo, micro bars, brothels, city of pleasures, time wrap, Flamenco Golden Gai is a surprising anachronism in the heart of one of the most modern and active part of Tokyo :…