Oldie restaurants
Dec. 18th, 2009 12:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
imomusSure, sure, sure, Tokyo's all steel, plastic and concrete. They don't let anything get old here; they tear it down and rebuild it all bland and sterile the moment anything approaching "charming patina" encroaches. But, but, but there are nooks and niches where old things persist. Oldie restaurants, for instance.
This is Ajitome in Sangenjaya, for instance. We brought Hisae's fried Satoshi to this fugu restaurant last night because we loved it last time we came... despite the presence of "research whale" on the menu.
Ajitome has classic oldie charm; the two obasantatchi who run the place have a Breughel look and a pleasant scatty informality; they heap used plates up on a messy table, and often come and plonk themselves down to chat with the customers. Their headscarves, neckerchiefs, monogrammed aprons and hairstyles impress me much more than anything I see in Harajuku; somehow they remind me of characters in a Miyazaki animation.
Another scatty-charming oldie patina dive we've loved is a little Chinese-influenced place near the JR line Otsuka stop (it's on the way to Misako and Rosen gallery).
The 84 year-old sole operator of this quiet but fascinating place told us he started the restaurant in 1959. His living quarters are directly behind it, divided from the eating space by a step and a sliding door, with a pair of slip-on shoes waiting on the concrete floor of the restaurant.
All the crockery in the little eatery was marked with the restaurant's phone number, presumably so you could report missing items that turned up elsewhere. But the plates must've been made in the 50s; Tokyo's phone numbers have long since acquired a few extra digits.
The Otsuka proprietor was a bit deaf, but friendly. His hobby wasn't hard to guess; the place was littered with fishing magazines.
This is Ajitome in Sangenjaya, for instance. We brought Hisae's fried Satoshi to this fugu restaurant last night because we loved it last time we came... despite the presence of "research whale" on the menu.
Ajitome has classic oldie charm; the two obasantatchi who run the place have a Breughel look and a pleasant scatty informality; they heap used plates up on a messy table, and often come and plonk themselves down to chat with the customers. Their headscarves, neckerchiefs, monogrammed aprons and hairstyles impress me much more than anything I see in Harajuku; somehow they remind me of characters in a Miyazaki animation.
Another scatty-charming oldie patina dive we've loved is a little Chinese-influenced place near the JR line Otsuka stop (it's on the way to Misako and Rosen gallery).
The 84 year-old sole operator of this quiet but fascinating place told us he started the restaurant in 1959. His living quarters are directly behind it, divided from the eating space by a step and a sliding door, with a pair of slip-on shoes waiting on the concrete floor of the restaurant.
All the crockery in the little eatery was marked with the restaurant's phone number, presumably so you could report missing items that turned up elsewhere. But the plates must've been made in the 50s; Tokyo's phone numbers have long since acquired a few extra digits.
The Otsuka proprietor was a bit deaf, but friendly. His hobby wasn't hard to guess; the place was littered with fishing magazines.
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(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-18 03:54 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-18 04:41 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-18 04:52 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-18 05:07 am (UTC)(Hisae so pretty!!! *squee*)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-18 06:02 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-18 07:14 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-18 07:32 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-18 08:41 am (UTC)you weren't kidding! there are about 6 "research whale" options directly above your head..
incidentally, have you ever tried it? (i'm not suggesting it..)
i did have it once at an izakaya in shizuoka -- not something we ordered; it was just brought to our table without a word, a little dish of sashimi -- and none of the others, all japanese, recognized it. the consensus descriptions of the taste, echoed about 5 times as it made its way around the table, were "mazui" and "tastes kind of like butter." we had to ask what it was, and that's when they told us it was whale..
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-18 08:44 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-18 08:46 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-18 08:47 am (UTC)˙ʎɐʍ ǝɥʇ ʎq ʍou ʇɥƃıɹ ǝdoɹnǝ ɯoɹɟ ƃuıʇıɹʍ ɯ,ı ɥo
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-18 09:01 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-18 10:02 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-18 10:43 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-18 12:12 pm (UTC)clothes
Date: 2009-12-18 12:42 pm (UTC)eeeewwwww!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-18 12:43 pm (UTC)Pedro Félix
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-18 01:51 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-18 01:58 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-18 02:29 pm (UTC)THE NEXT NIGHT WE HAD WALE
THE NEXT NIGHT WE HAD WALE
THE NEXT NIGHT WE HAD WALE
THE NEXT NIGHT WE HAD WALE
THE NEXT NIGHT WE HAD WALE
THE NEXT NIGHT WE HAD WALE
THE NEXT NIGHT WE HAD WALE
THE NEXT NIGHT WE HAD WALE
THE NEXT NIGHT WE HAD WALE
THE NEXT NIGHT WE HAD WALE
THE NEXT NIGHT WE HAD WALE
THE NEXT NIGHT WE HAD WALE
THE NEXT NIGHT WE HAD WALE
THE NEXT NIGHT WE HAD WALE
THE NEXT NIGHT WE HAD WALE
THE NEXT NIGHT WE HAD WALE
THE NEXT NIGHT WE HAD WALE
THE NEXT NIGHT WE HAD WALE
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-18 02:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-18 03:11 pm (UTC)i vomitted thorughout your saxophone solo
Date: 2009-12-18 06:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-18 11:03 pm (UTC)I can't help thinking I'm already sporting something very similar in that last batch of pictures!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-19 01:12 am (UTC)Yeah its a real bummer Tokyo is so surface-y normal all over. Its hard to find anything of interest.... except surface-y kind of interest.
Thats one thing (knock on wood) that is still holding on in NY despite all the renovations, condos etc... you can find plenty of aged grit.
now I'm hungry for some good home cooking japanese food.;...
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-19 02:07 pm (UTC)It's sort of a subliminal way of insinuating wisdom by wearing a fool's clothes.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-19 07:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-21 01:43 am (UTC)the nostalgia...