Category Archives: Reviews

Modern Kaiseki Dinner at Maru in Aoyama

We find an oasis of delicious calm in the middle of the madness of Shibuya, the heart of Tokyo.

Shibuya Scramble Crossing

shibuya scramble crossing

Annie had gone to spend the day in Tokyo, and the plan was for me to meet her there after work for dinner. Our plan changed, but we were fortunate that my colleague also had dinner plans with his wife in Tokyo that night, and extended the invitation to us to join him. We took the train up to Shibuya Station, where we met up with our respective wives.

My colleague had a friend, now living in Tokyo with his Japanese wife, who brought us via short taxi ride to Rakushokushu Maru Restaurant in nearby Aoyama. The restaurant’s small storefront is about a block down a narrow street from the main Aoyama Dori thoroughfare. The restaurant itself is actually midway down a steep flight of stairs (watch your step!). But once you find the landing and enter the dining area, you completely forget about the harsh concrete jungle above.

Continue reading Modern Kaiseki Dinner at Maru in Aoyama

Maimon Restaurant, Yokohama

We enjoyed a classy meal and a night on the town in Yokohama.

maimon restaurant yokohama

We got off work early and took the train to Yokohama, where we walked the Minato Mirai waterfront to the World Porters Mall. Our hosts had made dinner reservations for us at Maimon Restaurant, upstairs on the 5th floor. The decor was distinctly high-class, not like the homey Za-Watami Izakaya experience of the other night.

Continue reading Maimon Restaurant, Yokohama

Yokohama Raumen Museum

yokohama ramen museum We’re big fans of ramen. We try to eat them wherever we are. Our favorite in Hawaii is Yotteko-ya. Our favorite in San Jose was Tokushima do Henkotsu (but they closed down) and in Singapore, we found Ippudo to be really good too.

Sure seems like we are into tonkotsu style more than any other type of ramen, though I enjoy my fair share of shoyu ramen. So anyway, when I was searching for where to go for ramen in Japan, I came across several sites talking about the Raumen Museum in Yokohama.  It sounded really intriguing and when I mentioned it to Nate, he thought it was worth visiting.

So that evening after a full day and night of traveling to Japan, heading to Yokohama and seeing the sights, we decided to take the subway up to Shin-Yokohama and have dinner at the Raumen Museum.  Truly, it wasn’t so much a visit to learn about ramen and its history. We were there for ramen!

Continue reading Yokohama Raumen Museum