akihabara – FunFinder, Tokyo & East Tokyo local places

Tsukasa Coffee Shop, Old fashioned cafe in Akihabara

2017年12月20日2017年12月20日Posted in akihabara, Local foodTagged akihabara, Cafe, Curry, Old-fashonedLeave a comment

Today, you find all the coffee places in Akihabara starts with STARBUCKS, TULLY’s Coffee, DOUTOUR and then cafe VELOCE. You know, I am talking about coffe chains. Before all those emerge in Tokyo, there have been many local cafe that serve excellent coffee and food with reasonable price.

In Akihabara, it is now hard to find those local cafe, but this TSUKASA coffee shop is the one I should recommend. Most of the customers are local salary men and women and owner’s friends (I had a chance to see one lady customers brought some souvenirs to an owner and I really thought she was one of regular customers for years!).

TSUKASA’s coffee is wonderful and, they serves nice food. This day, I had curry rice which is also old-fashioned but really it is better than COCO-ICHI (curry rice chains in Japan and may be world-wide).

If you want to experience Akihabara’s old fashioned coffee place, go to TSUKASA!

COFFE SHOP TSUKASA

Address: 3-9-12, Iwamoto-cho, Chiyodaku, Tokyo

MAP

Sugino Akari 杉のあかり, The Best Japanese Lunch at AKihabara (no toursit know this though….)

2017年11月2日2017年10月30日Posted in akihabara, Local foodTagged akihabara, Fish, TeishokuLeave a comment

Where I always go for luch is difinately this place “SUGINO AKARI” near IZUMI bridge. (just 3-4min walk from Akihabara station). I have introduced this place before but I would like to do it again!

They have 5-6 lunch menu (all are TEISHOKU that comes with rice and miso soup, that is Japanese traditional set-meal style).

Well this time….my friend ordered “Yakizakana Teishoku” (grilled fish set-meal) and she had two options “snapper” or “salmon”. Of course he picked “snapper” because it is more expensive fish. (same price, why not choose the one has more cost?!)

We were super excited to see this!!

thumbnail_DSC_1368[1] — Snapper!! set-meal at Suzino Akari @Akihabara

Sumptious Luch @Mansei 万世Akihabara

2017年10月30日2017年10月30日Posted in akihabara, Restaurants, 未分類Tagged Akihabara lunch, ManseiLeave a comment

thumbnail_DSC_1350[1] — JR, this goes to Ochanomizu and then to go Sinjuku

Today, let me introduce you to sumptios lunch place in Akihabara. Tokyo (Akiba) locals go to eat at “Mansei” when they want to treat themselves or to host the guest…!

Mansei Akihabara has its own building, all of thier floors (F1~F10) has thier restarunts. Higher floors serve higher priced food…. So if you want to treat to your self, you pick F7 or higher! As you can see 10F serves very laxurious Teppan yaki (steak)… you can see hot to go to Mansei in this page too.

This day (early Oct), one of our companies excectives took me to 7F floor, it is because I did some extra work for him. He said I can pick any floor, and I picked 7th!!

Why I recommend here is that its view from 7th floor of Mansei. You can get to see the differnet view of the croweded Akihabara.

thumbnail_DSC_1352[1] — This goes to Ueno!

Akihabara’s most popular RAMEN place AOSHIMA RAMEN 青島ラーメン

2017年6月8日2017年6月8日Posted in akihabara, Local food, RamenTagged akihabara, NoodleLeave a comment

I had worked at Akihabara for 7 years and I know lots about local food place in Akihabara. And, yes, I have been to many RAMEN places but this one always has the longest waiting hours in Akiba as RAMEN place.

OMG, I arrived here at 12:00 and about 30 people were waiting including the ones inside.

Notice, 99% of the customer is male…. I guess those are the Ramen enthusiasts…!! Though it seemed too many people, the rotation rate is high because most of the customer concentrated to “eating” and “tasting” this most popular ramen in Akihabara. Also, they don’t allowed to any groups and couple to sit next to each other when busy time. So…, I could not to enjoy girls talk with my friend…we were not allowed to sit next to each other….ohhhhh…

Signage “AOSHIMA RAMEN”

Menu, You should order “CHASYU-MEN” it is the best according everybody in internet…haha

We waited about 40 min…..

Inside looks like this, totally for “RAMEN” only….no chit chat is allowed!

Among male Ramen enthuisiasts, we looked like we came from the different planet…hahaha.. No body was chit-chatting…..

Here comes the RAMEN!!!!

Yes It was delicious!!!! It is in my Ramen list but for me, another shop “TSUMUGI” that I already introduced as Local Food Akihabara #3 (Ramen Tsumugi) stays No 1 and this comes No 2!! You should definately visit both “AOSHIMA” and “TSUMUGI”.

Forgot to mention where

Address: 3-2-1, Kanda-sakumacho, Chiyodaku, Tokyo MAP

〒101-0025 東京都千代田区神田佐久間町3-20-1 大杉ビル1F

Direction from Akihabara Station: Go to SYOWA DORI exit. You see Yodobashi Camera on your left and a big cross walk just in front of you. Pass that cross walk. Then, you see the RAMEN shop straight to your face. and just take the small road next to it (don’t go left side, go to right side of the RAMEN shop). This goes straight ahead below the train (train goes your above) and you see Seven Eleven on your left and Karaoke shop on your right. Keep walking this road about 200m or so, you see a small park. There, you turn right. And you’ll see the “AOSHIMA RAMEN” at 1 second!

Best Sea food don (kaisen-don) in Akihabara @SANHOREさんほれ

2017年5月16日2017年5月16日Posted in akihabara, Cultural things, Local food, Sushi and SashimiTagged akihabara, SushiLeave a comment

Sea food don: a bowl of rice with sashimi on top.

There are some really good SASHIMI place in Akihabara, I cannot decide the best one. But as far as for the Sea food don, I think this one is the best @ small Japanese food place called SANHORE.

I went to eat there for lunch but sea food don for lunch was already sold out so, we instead I ordered the ones for night menu, this cost more than 3,000yen, and it tasted..OMG it took me to heaven!!! Look those TORO (tuna), it was soooo thick and creamy!!

They do not have English menu, totally for locals and their fans. What they usually serve is FUGU (Blowfish) for winter and UNAGI (Eel) for summer. (Too expensive I will not have a chance…) For lunch, there are reasonable menu like KATSUDON, a bowl of rice topped with slices of deep-fried pork like this at 750yen.

SANHORE MAP PAGE

ADDRESS: 37-1, Kanda, Sakuma-cho, Chiyodaku, 101-0025

Restaurants Akihabara #3 (TONKATSU_HAMA-KATSU)

2016年10月28日2018年2月21日Posted in akihabara, Cultural things, yodobashi akibaTagged TONKATSULeave a comment

One of the most popular Japanese cosine in Japan, TONKATSU. What’s TONKATSU? Japanese pork cutlet. Unless you are vegetarian, you must try this TONKATSU. TONKATSU is one of our every day dish among Japanese. You can find it almost every local restaurants and even in convenience store like 7-11.

I had medical-check up in the early afternoon, so I lived without any food and just with water almost 12hrs. After my medical check up, I felt exhausted…rushed to YODOBASHI’s restaurant floor for BIG lunch.

Here, I needed to eat a lot and get energy back, then I chose HAMAKATSU (TONKATSU restaurants chain in AKIHABARA)

What is special here are…

You get to make your special souce (tare) with grind sesame…
You get free refill (is that right words?) of RICE, Salad (sliced cabbage) and OTSUKEMONO (Japanese pickles)

Try TONKATSU!!!!

HAMAKATSU @ Yodobashi Akihabara

Restaurants in Akihabara #1 (Yakiniku Toraji)

2016年10月23日2018年2月21日Posted in akihabara, RestaurantsLeave a comment

Japanese people love YAKINIKU (originally Korean BBQ).

What is YAKINIKU???? Ummm, I say Korean BBQ in Japanese way.

But but but YOU WILL LOVE IT.

You can eat YAKINIKU everywhere, we do have many chain YAKINIKU resturants but also local YAKINIKU restaurants mostly run by Korean family who lives in Japan or Korean-Japanese, those restaurants are mainly (as far as I know) in ASAKUSA, UENO, (many ) and NIPPORI, KITASENJU area. Those are east-Tokyo where it has been said many Korean people lives. Actually where I grew up is KITASENJU (this is the station name), this area has many YAKINIKU SHOP.

Anyways, since AKIHABARA is not one of above area, you will not find LOCAL YAKINIKU restaurants, but big chain. Yet, YAKINIKU is super OISHI (Yummy).

If you have a budget, try TORAJI!! It is very close to AKIHABARA STATION (1 min).

TORJI AKIHABARA

About TORAJI

My best friend at work and one of our company executives, and me went dinner at TORAJI 2 weeks ago. That was his (our executive) “White-day” treat for us which was put of since March… You may not know about “White-day” custom in Japan….haha. I will tell you later. 🙂

Special diner at TORAJI (Korean BBQ) Akihabara on 2010.10.7

Local Food Akihabara #4 (KASUGA_SOBA)

2016年10月21日2018年2月21日Posted in akihabara, Local food, soba & udonTagged akihabara, Noodle, Udon1 Comment

KASUGA　春日　: one of the MOST popular SOBA place in Akihabara (but among locals!!)

Address: 東京都 千代田区 東神田2-2-8,TEL:03-3865-9568

Eng:Chiyoda-ku, Higashikanda, 2-2-8. About 10min from Akihabara Station, 5min from Iwamoto-cho Station

Map

%e6%98%a5%e6%97%a5kasuga-chopstics-and-phone

This place is SUPER LOCAL, sorry they have only Japanese menu.

But ALL of their menu are super yummy!

Everyday, I see the line of people at 12:00.

They can have about 30 people, 4~5 table with 4 chair and all the table is full. If you go alone, you might have to be seated with other people who comes in a group.

This is real Japanese food place you need to try!!!

Photo is TEMPURA SOBA, soooo yummy with rich shrimp x2!