Lost Tokyo Restaurants
 

This is just mostly for my curiosity, but I've been wondering what happened to a favorite hole in the wall from previous Tokyo trips.

I don't remember the name - it may not have had one!, but if you headed directly behind the Peninsula Hotel and turned left at train viaduct, the place was in one of the archways. I remember it was white - maybe tile, the name had numbers in it - 123?? - the food was Malaysian IIRC, and was very cheap. It would have been before the Bic Camera corner. There was always a line and you sat on chairs outside, moving along until your turn came. The food was very inexpensive, but they clearly made their money on the beer. Delicious. Our last trip we could find no sign of it whatsoever, but that area has had a lot of redevelopment. I miss it. Did they move? It seemed like the sort of place that had been there forever and would be there for a long time to come. We found nothing, no name with numbers, no white facade (tiled or not) nothing. Were we just in a beer haze? Maybe it's like Brigadoon and I just made up the whole thing?

I'm not sure how we found out about it to begin with, but suspect it may have been mentioned on a thread here!

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...0411e231a4.jpg
Was it this place?

YES - I knew someone here would know. Gone forever?

Restaurant was called Phuket Aronya Tabeta. It has moved to Kanda under the name Aronya Tabeta.
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https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1310/A131002/13172383/

There’s an Aronya Tabeta in Roppongi too but I don't know if it's related.

Any info about MrLapLap’s beloved Azabu Ramen?

We know there is one in Roppongi, but MrLapLap never rated that one.
The original near Azabu Juban station was properly closed (whole building it was in looks like it may be rebuilt), a nearby decent Yokohohama style ramen place seemed to remain unopened for the entirely of our visit, and the only place open at midnight was a restaurant serving Chinese style dishes which was quite awful - made the food at Disney Sea seem gourmet in comparison. Had a conversation translated to me of the only other customer who was talking to the cook. Turns out the cook never tries his own dishes, which explained a lot. It’s probably why the place was the only one still open late at night, all the competition had closed for the day (there is definitely a big change going on, the public sympathy against combini stores having to operate 24/7 seemed to be part of this reaction against unreasonable service expectations, I’d say Tokyo is moving away from being a 24 hour city). In the same conversation, the assertive customer talked about Azabu Ramen and that it was expected to return. But when and where?

Turns out that MrLapLap’s beloved Azabu Ramen isn’t lost, just “misplaced”.
Or rather, they have re-opened nearby. The “assertive” customer he overheard talking in April was spot on.

Hopefully the new location - which is closer to Azabu Juban subway station - will attract more passing customers. They are open 11am to 5pm and the menu is more extensive than before with a few super spicy additions.
Not sure if the Roppongi outlet made it, they may have consolidated.
Anyway, MrLapLap is thrilled and is already planning his next visit.

https://gfrk804.gorp.jp/

Impressive, can’t believe someone here even had a photo of it!

What kind of dishes were your favorite there?