Juan ( 144 Rue de la Pompe, 75016 Paris, tel. +33 1 47 27 43 51) is a hidden pearl of Japanese cuisine in the French capital. The pocket-size restaurant is typically Japanese. It’s owner-chef Tadahiko Kinjo is the one who chops, slices, cooks and serves. The fare is simple, but…

Different from New York, Los Angeles or some other megacities outside of Japan, Paris has never been the best place to have top-notch sushi. Here, you will find plenty of unimaginative sushi belt restaurants or takeaways, but usually, their quality is poor and they have little in common with Japan.…

So on top of updating the 30 best Tokyo sushi restaurants list according to the Japanese language site http://tabelog.com/, this time I compiled a list of top 50. Once you go further down the results, you can also find some “off the beaten track”, more casual and more affordable sushi…

If internet rumours can be trusted, Sukiyabashi Jiro was not the first choice for prime minister Abe and president Obama dinner (see the Grub Street article here). 2 Michelin starred tempura restaurant Kondo was, but it was fully booked and the chef refused to cancel any of his bookings that…

Below you can see my freshly compiled list of the top 50 results of the best restaurants in Tokyo according to the Japanese language site Tabelog.com users. The world’s most famous sushi restaurant Sukiyabashi Jiro with its 51st position has never been so high on this site. Otherwise, my Tokyo…

My post about the sushi restaurant in Tokyo where Barack Obama and Shinzo Abe had a dinner last night. Sukiyabashi Jiro is one of the best sushi restaurants in Tokyo and, without any question, the most famous in the world thanks to the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi. According to the…

At Koya and Koya bar (49 and 50 Frith St, London W1D 4SG, London; tel. +44 20 7434 4463) the main focus is cold or hot udon noodles and all kinds of traditional or innovative broths that can go with them (think smoked mackerel, beef shabu-shabu or mushrooms with walnuts…

Cherry blossoms are not only viewed and admired, but also used for cooking during their blooming season in Japan. The very short and almost ephemeral life of cherry blossoms can be an embodiment of many things – changes in nature, fragility of our lives and also seasonality in cooking, for…

Out of all these most amazing steakhouses and teppanyaki restaurants in Tokyo, Dons de la Nature ( Kawai Building B1F, 1-7-6 Ginza, Chuo-ko, Tokyo; tel. 03- 3563-4129) is considered one of the best. Tokyo chef and book author Yukari Sakamoto went there recently and kindly allowed me to republish her…

If you have ever passed by rue Saint-Anne in Paris, you must have certainly seen people queuing outside the Kunitoraya udon noodles shop. Since a while already, the queuing and waiting no matter the meteorological conditions, has moved to the neighbouring rue Villedo, where there are now two Kunitorayas, at…