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Help with Restaurants
ned and Mrs. ned will be taking our first trip to Japan in May. One of the things we would like some help with is restaurants. While there are many good restaurants in each place we are going we like to have one or two planned in advance. I have of course looked at the usual sites that review restaurants but have previously found that the treasures have been suggested here on FT. These have included Roscioli in Rome, the Codfather in Cape Town, and others. We are looking for local food such as fish in Kanazawa and beef in Takayama at moderate prices ($$-$$$). We would prefer restaurants easily reached from our hotel. Our itinerary is: Tokyo (Conrad Tokyo), Takayama ( Best Western), Kanazawa (ANA Crown Plaza), Kyoto (Westin), and Yokohama (Sheraton). As you can see our lodging is influenced by our points balances. Any thoughts or suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. ned
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Although I often identify restaurants in advance that I want to try, I find that more and more we let happenstance dictate where we eat. On our last trip we would consult Google maps and look at what was nearby whenever we were ready to eat. We would then decide based on reviews and what we felt like eating. This has a number of benefits: you can be very flexible, you eat what you are in the mood for and you go with the flow of your day. And being Japa, rolling the dice this way is unlikely to lead to major disappointments.
Two experiences that we enjoyed come to mind. In Tokyo we ate at Tempura Ten-ichi which is a very upscale joint in Ginza (with offshoots elsewhere). I knew about it from research before previous visits to Japan - and decided that it being in the same block as our hotel was A Sign. :). Certainly walkable from the Conrad. In Takayama our ryokan provided a beef fix each night, but one lunchtime we stumbled upon Soba Miyabi-an RsV@@݂ ш . The food was really very good and fully deserving of the excellent rating it gets on Google. The service was warm and friendly. They even have instructions on how to eat the meals printed on a laminated card to assist us clueless foreigners. Sorry that I am not really addressing the OPs question directly, but while I am digressing I will share one more OT idea. Because we are old and usually exhausted after a day of sightseeing, one of our cop-outs is to visit a supermarket in the evening and buy bento boxes for a hotel picnic in our room. You will be astounded at the variety and quality on offer. |
I'm also not really addressing the OP's question either. But Conrad's breakfast buffet is really out of this world, perhaps the best I've ever had food-wise (although there's not enough space and the tables are a bit crammed). And I've been to many throughout Jpn and HKG. Although I don't frequent $$$$ restaurants, I do go to plenty of places with >3.5 Tabelog ratings. And quite honestly, for me the Conrad breakfast is the biggest food highlight of every trip to Jpn that includes a stay at Conrad Tokyo.
Otherwise I agree with everything Cheetah-ZA says in his/her first paragraph above. |
How could I forget.....
Using the Google-when-hungry method we found Suzuya in Takayama a block away from our Ryokan. Superbly friendly environment with very good food. They do have Hida beef meals (you cook your own on a brazier at the table) and although we ate other delicious things, our table neighbours were positively post-orgasmic - Best beef ever they sighed - after their beef meal. |
Originally Posted by ned
(Post 29658560)
ned and Mrs. ned will be taking our first trip to Japan in May. One of the things we would like some help with is restaurants. While there are many good restaurants in each place we are going we like to have one or two planned in advance. I have of course looked at the usual sites that review restaurants but have previously found that the treasures have been suggested here on FT. These have included Roscioli in Rome, the Codfather in Cape Town, and others. We are looking for local food such as fish in Kanazawa and beef in Takayama at moderate prices ($$-$$$). We would prefer restaurants easily reached from our hotel. Our itinerary is: Tokyo (Conrad Tokyo), Takayama ( Best Western), Kanazawa (ANA Crown Plaza), Kyoto (Westin), and Yokohama (Sheraton). As you can see our lodging is influenced by our points balances. Any thoughts or suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. ned
The picnic idea is a good one, too. if you have never been to the food basement of a Japanese department store, you will not believe the variety of Eastern and Western ready-to-eat food, from appetizers to dessert, that you can use to assemble your own multi-course meal. |
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