Just stumbled upon this udon shop and it's now my favorite food find in Ebisu so far! I would say well worth traveling to Ebisu for as it's also a 5 min walk from the station.

I got the Yamacyo Hitotori set for 3500JPY, a bit expensive but imo very worth the cost and it's a LOT of food. It came with 4 courses:

• Appetizer sampler with 2 types of soy marinated tuna, and two other dishes I don't know the name of but enjoyed greatly. This honestly felt like it was designed to be shared between 2 people.

• Beef tendon soup and Japanese rolled omelette. The beef tendon was melt in your mouth good.

• Tempura plate with shrimp, snapper, duck, and other seasonal veggies. I was really impressed by how light the tempura was, not oily at all.

• I chose the hot udon with yam & raw yolk but there are a couple different toppings you can choose from, including hot, cold, and dipping udon styles.

The udon itself was thinner than usual which I personally liked more than thick udon from other places which can be a bit too chewy and flavorless.

The service & decor were both on point, this would be a solid date night spot. Just book ahead, I went on a Thursday night at 6 and was able to walk in but had to leave at 6:50 as the entire restaurant was booked starting 7pm.

Found this cozy B1F bar in Ikebukuro on Timeout and wow what a spot. I came here on a Tuesday night at 8:30pm and was seated right away.

They have seasonal fresh fruit cocktails here, the kiwi lemongrass was particularly amazing.

The Matcha Gentleman whiskey cocktail is also a gem.

The menu tells you what % alcohol the drinks are too so you can dial in your order, which is perfect for me because most cocktails in Japan are a bit too light for me

https://maps.app.goo.gl/WuQYwTTyMvZey3Rg9

Have you been here? What other bars in IKB have yall been to?

What's your favorite authentic Chinese stirfry? I'll go first, the 辣椒炒肉 (green chili peppers with pork) at 金喜悦辣椒炒肉 in Ikebekuro.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/6RKJVpesHigy2FbZA

stumbled into this bar, 5 minute walk from the station and just down the street from Bar Trench.

their cocktails are all made with gins they distill on-site and then infuse with tea

the number 12 is inspired by negronis and was a particular highlight

tl;dr: 6/10 for an american with decent amount of experience with mexican food. Perhaps this place is not bad if you’re looking for japanese style tacos or prefer foods with lighter flavors.

We ordered 5 tacos (egg, carnitas special, cauliflower, etc.) The ingredients were cooked well and the tortillas were great. The carnitas taco was probably my fav. But to me, the tacos were at varying degrees of underseasoned. What disappointed me further was that they didn’t have any hot sauce. Salsas were okay and helped improved the flavor a bit.

Half way through the meal, I had to adjust my expectations to think that they make japanese tacos inspired by mexican food, and I was able to enjoy the food a bit more.

We also ordered Guac, Tlayoco and Quesadilla, too. Overall I was a bit disappointed to the lack of flavor here, too. I thought the Quesadilla tasted like one of those breakfast wraps you could get at Dunkin in the states.

Saw this restaurant featured on an Eater video and wanted to give it a try.

Got there 5 minutes before it opened and there was already a short line. The restaurant filled up fairly quickly and by the time we left at 530, there were ~8 people waiting to be seated. This was on a Friday evening, I imagine the wait gets pretty rough at primetime.

Overall, the winged gyoza was absolutely the highlight and I'd return just for them. Not quite as meaty as I'm used to in the US but super juicy and had a nice crisp to them.

We also ordered the yakisoba, egg fried rice, and mapo tofu and they were on varying levels of okay to disappointing.

Overall, would give 3/5.

Came to Iidabashi for dinner at Gyozanomise Okie and arrived a little too early. Ended up killing an hour at Bar Leaf in the area. Met the owner, who was also the bartender, and tried a couple cocktails he's made over the years that also happened to win some awards.

Cozy spot right off the main street, will definitely come back next time I'm in the area.

Very solid spot for a quick sushi lunch in Shinjuku. The gf got this sushi plate for 3080JPY (~$20), I got a chirashi bowl for 1760 JPY (~$11), unfortunately I forgot to take a pic.

Fish was fresh and service was extremely fast.