A Moroccan Night in Tokyo

The tiny and popular restaurant on a narrow covered shopping alley in Sangenjaya near the subway station of the same name was more a “Moroccan restaurant in Paris” type and offered good wines with sophisticated Moroccan dishes.  Very fun.

Dar Roiseau

Dinner with Kumi

It was a girls’ night out with my best friend and our mutual friend Kumi.  We all went to the same high school but Kumi was ahead of us by three years.  I sometimes used to run into her at work when she worked in an advertising agency but since she’s left her job, it had been a while since we saw each other.

So pretty much on a whim, we got together at an Italian restaurant not far from where Kumi lives.

I found out afterwards that this was the very first day the restaurant re-opened after going through renovations.

The food was good but the presentation was, while we could tell they had a concept, ineffective and I was not impressed at all unfortunately.  The restaurant under its old concept had very good reviews so a pity.

Antica Braceria Bell’Italia

Mamma’s Italian

That is what this casual Italian restaurant near my office boasts.

Owned and managed by Pietro Androsoni, a native of Tuscany, Mamma Luisa’s Table was packed with expats in large and small groups (thus a bit on the noisy side) on the Friday evening I went with a couple of colleagues from work.  Very good homemade pasta.

The Japan-Canada Relationship

My good friend Laurie is leaving Japan to go back to Canada.  She has been the wonderful head of public relations at the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo and while it’s sad to see her go, I have a feeling she may just be returning in future in a bigger position judging from the speech made by the Ambassador at this farewell party for Laurie which was held earlier this month at the Embassy.

Cheers. Not intentional but I had my nails painted in an appropriate fashion.

 

Laurie!

Canadian bubbly

The Long Version

Eggplants seem to look different in different parts of the world and we have a whole variety of them in Japan as well.

This is something I picked up in a nearby supermarket recently and how long it is is something not common for Japan though my Taiwanese friend tells me there is nothing special about it as she sees it everyday in Taipei.

Steamed.  Very nice.