Phoebe Amoroso

The Gion district of Kyoto embodies the romanticism that surrounds Japan’s ancient capital. Filled with machiya (traditional long wooden houses), it harbors several “teahouses,” where geiko — the Kyoto term for geisha – entertain their high-class guests with quick-witted conversation and skilled musical performances.

Yet just north of Shijo Street, the neighborhood evolves into a very different kind of entertainment area. Narrow alleyways are filled with small bars, many of which are ...

Our introduction to Yakinikuen takes place on a Saturday night. Two German friends, former Tokyo residents and long-time fans of the restaurant, were determined to take an edible trip down memory lane.
“We’ll already be in the queue. Hurry!” they told us. Reservations at Yakinikuen, apparently, are only taken for weekdays before 7 p.m., and so they had lined up to secure a table. “It’s an underground joint with the best meat,” they said.
That was all we had been told. Normally, we might think...

“I think the world basically loves Thai cuisine.”

Chef Bo Songvisava is speaking to me from the lounge in the newly opened Dusit Thani Kyoto hotel, where she aims to bring a new taste of Thailand to Japan’s ancient capital. Songvisava is curating the menu of the hotel’s flagship Thai restaurant, Ayatana, alongside her husband, Dylan Jones.

Tokyo is arguably one of the greatest culinary capitals in the world. The city boasts more than 100,000 establishments, from mom-and-pop shokudo (informal restaurants with set menus) to cutting-edge fine dining, as well as five-seater backstreet bars and several entries on this year’s Asia’s 50 Best Bars list. ...

Inside a 23rd-floor restaurant overlooking Yokohama Bay, diners are contemplating a chawanmushi (steamed custard), silky smooth and topped with thin slices of asparagus and smoky sea urchin. It would seem like any other Japanese meal, but the tables are decked with Swedish maypoles, and Swedish beer and cider feature prominently on the drinks menu.

Stumbling upon a haggis toastie store in the middle of Tokyo sounds like a half-remembered dream where nothing quite makes sense.

It was the minimalist black store front with white type that had initially drawn us to it. It looked like a store straight out of London, and certainly not like a café that one would expect to find next to Japan’s Olympic stadium.

t the 10th anniversary of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants, perhaps the biggest reason to celebrate was that fact it was happening with international guests in attendance.

Held at Singapore’s glitzy yet theme park-esque Resorts World Sentosa on March 28, the welcome reception was buzzing with reunions between Asia’s top chefs delighted to see their peers after the pandemic drove previous events online. Despite Japan’s relative isolation over the past three years, the country proved as much as ever that it’s a star player in the Asian gastronomic scene.

Whereas the Tokyo Midtown complex in Roppongi was poised as a high-end competitor to Roppongi Hills and Tokyo Midtown Hibiya offers a slightly more accessible space plus a terrace with a great view of the Imperial Palace Garden, Tokyo Midtown Yaesu stands out in providing and promoting public space where people can simply hang out, marking a welcome rarity in Japan’s hyper-regulated capital...

Hakko Department—“fermentation department”—opened in 2020 as part of Bonus Track, an eclectic shopping area that came as the area was redeveloped by the Odakyu Corporation when it moved a major train track underground.

It’s part-shop, part-cafe, part-museum; a space dedicated to Japan’s fermentation culture and beyond.

Shine a black light on Gold Bar’s latest cocktail menu, Two Faces, for more than meets the eye: famed temple Sensoji is suddenly surrounded by Shinjuku neon, a kabuki actor wielding a makizushi (rolled sushi) is joined by a burrito-brandishing Mexican skeleton, and a lonely, dead tree mysteriously bursts into full bloom.
The menu highlights the duality in life: light and dark, strength and weakness, traditional and modern. On one page, a beautiful woman in an ornate kimono coyly holds a fan, ...

When thinking of Japanese food, a lot of items come to mind from sushi and tempura to ramen and okonomiyaki, but olives are unlikely to feature at all. Yet, for those in the know, the island of Shodoshima has become near synonymous with this versatile fruit....

Every day, Yuki Motokura records the temperature and the humidity, and checks in on his pizza dough. He adjusts the flour, water and salt in minute increments, and logs the results with precision...

Those arriving at Tsukiji Station on an early morning food hunt are most likely in pursuit of some breakfast sushi. Although Japan’s world-famous Tsukiji fish market relocated to Toyosu in October 2018, the ramshackle outer market remained, with its eclectic mix of household goods, tea and dried goods, and seafood donburi shops.

Those in the know, however, might head for a different and very unusual breakfast experience in the area – one that has its origins in traditional vegan Buddhist cuisine...

Nanohana could almost be mistaken for someone’s house if it weren’t for a small lectern, propping open an enthusiastically-scrawled menu....

It might easily be mistaken for a hipster café. From the street in buzzing Shinjuku City ward, a large window illuminates an open kitchen where Yuichi Itoi, sporting a baseball cap, white T-shirt and piercings, is prepping ingredients. As we step inside, we’re greeted by the sound of low-key hip-hop and the chatter of two young couples sat at the counter, sipping drinks. Two men are at a table butted up against a bare brick wall, an open laptop amidst their plates.