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December 21, 2010
Video: Promising start
Photos: Ginza, pre-dinner snacks, dinner, Ivon Bartok, Joe Mallozzi
So after our rather disappointing visit to the Ueno Zoo, we returned to Ginza for a little stroll and what turned out to be not one but TWO disappointing dinners...
Back at the hotel, we enjoy our pre-dinnner snacks -
Rather than rely on the suggestions of the concierge, we headed out determined to find a suitable restaurant on our own. As we walked around, we were, as usual, approached by guys trying to hustle into one of the multitude of hostess clubs in the area. One memorable guy attempted to a novel approach, attempting to win us over by promising “G cup model!â€. Not sure what that translates to in Japanese bra size but given what he mimed, suffice it to say it would be a healthy set in any culture. We, as always, politely declined, but I made I made a show of noting the location for future reference. You know, to be polite and all. We eventually settled on a place called Tomoru Fine Dining. There was nothing even remotely fine about it. A terrible amuse bouche, tasteless cheese fondue, bland beef sashimi, and a horrific deep-fried foie gras…thing.
To top things off, there was some loud mouth Westerner seated some four tables over whose voice carried all the way across the room. We had to listen to this jerk give his expert opinion on everything from the quality of Asian restaurants to the suspect fashion tastes of the Japanese.
We left our meal unfinished and headed out in search of a more promising restaurant. Eventually, we found this place under the tracks -
Things start promisingly enough...
Then, we ordered an assortment of skewers and kicked back -
Apparently, it was our guy’s first night on skewer station. Throughout the grilling process, he’d cast anxious glances back at his co-workers, madly turning the meats and continually soliciting opinions on their levels of doneness. In the end, these were our plates once we’d finished our meal -
We cut our losses and shifted our focus from food to sake. Terrific call. A few more drinks under our belts and we were feeling great!
And thoughtful -
Then we capped off our evening with a leisurely stroll through the neighborhood and four successive visits to Seven Eleven where I purchased four chocolate eclairs so Ivon could film me eating them in my drunken stupor.
Man, I’m gonna miss this town.
Travel Day! See you on the other side of Tuesday with my final Tokyo report including our final farewell to Star Bar!
December 21, 2010
Video: Promising start
Photos: Ginza, pre-dinner snacks, dinner, Ivon Bartok, Joe Mallozzi
So after our rather disappointing visit to the Ueno Zoo, we returned to Ginza for a little stroll and what turned out to be not one but TWO disappointing dinners...
Back at the hotel, we enjoy our pre-dinnner snacks -
Rather than rely on the suggestions of the concierge, we headed out determined to find a suitable restaurant on our own. As we walked around, we were, as usual, approached by guys trying to hustle into one of the multitude of hostess clubs in the area. One memorable guy attempted to a novel approach, attempting to win us over by promising “G cup model!â€. Not sure what that translates to in Japanese bra size but given what he mimed, suffice it to say it would be a healthy set in any culture. We, as always, politely declined, but I made I made a show of noting the location for future reference. You know, to be polite and all. We eventually settled on a place called Tomoru Fine Dining. There was nothing even remotely fine about it. A terrible amuse bouche, tasteless cheese fondue, bland beef sashimi, and a horrific deep-fried foie gras…thing.
To top things off, there was some loud mouth Westerner seated some four tables over whose voice carried all the way across the room. We had to listen to this jerk give his expert opinion on everything from the quality of Asian restaurants to the suspect fashion tastes of the Japanese.
We left our meal unfinished and headed out in search of a more promising restaurant. Eventually, we found this place under the tracks -
Things start promisingly enough...
Then, we ordered an assortment of skewers and kicked back -
Apparently, it was our guy’s first night on skewer station. Throughout the grilling process, he’d cast anxious glances back at his co-workers, madly turning the meats and continually soliciting opinions on their levels of doneness. In the end, these were our plates once we’d finished our meal -
We cut our losses and shifted our focus from food to sake. Terrific call. A few more drinks under our belts and we were feeling great!
And thoughtful -
Then we capped off our evening with a leisurely stroll through the neighborhood and four successive visits to Seven Eleven where I purchased four chocolate eclairs so Ivon could film me eating them in my drunken stupor.
Man, I’m gonna miss this town.
Travel Day! See you on the other side of Tuesday with my final Tokyo report including our final farewell to Star Bar!
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