BigFrank
Forbidden Chicharron
Taqueria Casa Del Sabor just north of the airport was killer.
Xiao Long for dumplings.
Travel- the trials and tribulations
- Thread starter bugs
- Start date
Xiao Long for dumplings.
The frozen Mojito at the Sphere gets its mint from a mento.
LurchingBeast
King of Tool Development
For beer, go to the arts district. Able Baker Brewing and Silver Stamp.
Carson Kitchen is a downtown restaurant I love.
At Venetian itself is Grand Lux (love their brunch and late night eats) and Yardbird (incredible chicken and waffles). Linq a couple doors down has some of the cheapest table games on the strip and another killer breakfast spot Hash House-a-go-go.
Not an expert, but for quick stuff there is a little food hall in the shops between Venetian and Palazzo that has some good options. Called Via Via Food Hall.
For off strip, my parents have always raved about an Italian place called Spaghetty Western.
The Icee concession at the disgusting Circus Circus has 16 flavors of Icee.
bugs
🪲
Second the grand lux cafe rec. A great spot at any time. Bavette's is great if you haven't been to the Chicago one. Bouchon used to have a great HH which I assume is gone but is still worth a stop.
Agree Yardbird was good.
boogercrack
🦧 Rowdy Chowder
Lotus of Siam is an off strip place I keep finding myself at when I go to Vegas. And The Golden Tiki is close to Venetian.
BigFrank
Forbidden Chicharron
Another banger. Been there several times. Specialize in Northern Thai cuisine.
ya’ll making me hungry to take mom to another BSB show .
Mr Gundam
an expert on Eggnog Mousse Parfait sours
Thoughts on Japan trip #6:
Had an awesome trip as always, there was only one day where I hated other tourists and the urge to kill rose was on a Sunday in Ginza. Ginza isn’t normally my favorite part of Tokyo, but since we friends who had never been to Japan before we figured we should take them to the big department store food halls. That went well but then we went to Uniqlo and Muji and the Uniqlo was its own special hell. Combine super narrow spaces with a shitton of poorly behaving foreign tourists all obsessed with tax free shopping and you too will hate humanity more than you could’ve thought possible. My buddy and I quickly left and sat outside on the sidewalk and let the ladies buy clothes.
Once you get away from the big tourist sites like Kabukicho in Shinjuku, Takeshita-Dori in Harajuku and Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo is still a cool ass city. Spent a lot of time in Koenji, Yanaka, Nakameguro, Shimokitazawa, Nippori, Nakano and Kagurazaka wandering around, eating and drinking.
Night Kiosk in Nishi-Nippori is still my favorite craft beer spot in Tokyo, and Beer Pub Ishii in Yanaka and Watering Hole in Yoyogi are awesome as always. Checked out Buzzed Lamb Brewing, Okei Brewing and Yanaka Beer Hall all in Yanaka for the first time and enjoyed them. Went to Uchu Brewing and West Coast Brewing’s taprooms in Roppongi Hills, those two make some of the best beer in Japan. Stopped in at the Hitachino Nest distillery in Akihabara, too. They’ve now got their whisky in bottles to go.
Now time for ramen:
Black sesame tantemen at Bazoku in Nippori. Hand pulled noodles in the most unique tantemen I’ve ever had. Highly recommended.
Tonkotsu ramen at Ichiran. Word of warning about Ichiran. It’s the chain where you sit in individual booths and it’s all over social media. We waited 95 minutes and the only reason I agreed to this stupid wait was it was the #1 thing our friends’ son wanted to do. Their ramen is fine but not worth a wait that long.
Miso ramen at Karashibi Miso Ramen Kikanbo in Kanda. Still my favorite ramen in Japan.
Shio ramen at Yama to Ki in Koenji. Only open 11am-2:30pm daily and off the tourist path, but super subtle and lovely.
Shoyu wonton ramen at Jazzy Beats in Nakameguro. Probably the best eggs I had on the trip.
Had an awesome trip as always, there was only one day where I hated other tourists and the urge to kill rose was on a Sunday in Ginza. Ginza isn’t normally my favorite part of Tokyo, but since we friends who had never been to Japan before we figured we should take them to the big department store food halls. That went well but then we went to Uniqlo and Muji and the Uniqlo was its own special hell. Combine super narrow spaces with a shitton of poorly behaving foreign tourists all obsessed with tax free shopping and you too will hate humanity more than you could’ve thought possible. My buddy and I quickly left and sat outside on the sidewalk and let the ladies buy clothes.
Once you get away from the big tourist sites like Kabukicho in Shinjuku, Takeshita-Dori in Harajuku and Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo is still a cool ass city. Spent a lot of time in Koenji, Yanaka, Nakameguro, Shimokitazawa, Nippori, Nakano and Kagurazaka wandering around, eating and drinking.
Night Kiosk in Nishi-Nippori is still my favorite craft beer spot in Tokyo, and Beer Pub Ishii in Yanaka and Watering Hole in Yoyogi are awesome as always. Checked out Buzzed Lamb Brewing, Okei Brewing and Yanaka Beer Hall all in Yanaka for the first time and enjoyed them. Went to Uchu Brewing and West Coast Brewing’s taprooms in Roppongi Hills, those two make some of the best beer in Japan. Stopped in at the Hitachino Nest distillery in Akihabara, too. They’ve now got their whisky in bottles to go.
Now time for ramen:
Black sesame tantemen at Bazoku in Nippori. Hand pulled noodles in the most unique tantemen I’ve ever had. Highly recommended.
Tonkotsu ramen at Ichiran. Word of warning about Ichiran. It’s the chain where you sit in individual booths and it’s all over social media. We waited 95 minutes and the only reason I agreed to this stupid wait was it was the #1 thing our friends’ son wanted to do. Their ramen is fine but not worth a wait that long.
Miso ramen at Karashibi Miso Ramen Kikanbo in Kanda. Still my favorite ramen in Japan.
Shio ramen at Yama to Ki in Koenji. Only open 11am-2:30pm daily and off the tourist path, but super subtle and lovely.
Shoyu wonton ramen at Jazzy Beats in Nakameguro. Probably the best eggs I had on the trip.
Mr Gundam
an expert on Eggnog Mousse Parfait sours
After Tokyo we flew down to Nagasaki and hit the peace park and atomic bomb museum but also made a point to check out the waterfront and eat noodles. The hidden Christian UNESCO world heritage sites were fascinating as well. Plus the view from Mt. Inasa is absolutely amazing.
And we ate ramen.
Champon at Champon358. Champon is a Nagasaki style of ramen with Chinese influence. It’s a chicken stock with heaps sautéed vegetables, plus two kinds of fish cake on top of the chashiu pork.
Lemon tonkotsu at Menya Always. If not for Kikanbo, this might be my favorite ramen ever. This was crazy good. Take your standard tonkotsu pork bone broth and then added black pepper and sliced lemons. Absolutely incredible.
And we ate ramen.
Champon at Champon358. Champon is a Nagasaki style of ramen with Chinese influence. It’s a chicken stock with heaps sautéed vegetables, plus two kinds of fish cake on top of the chashiu pork.
Lemon tonkotsu at Menya Always. If not for Kikanbo, this might be my favorite ramen ever. This was crazy good. Take your standard tonkotsu pork bone broth and then added black pepper and sliced lemons. Absolutely incredible.
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Mr Gundam
an expert on Eggnog Mousse Parfait sours
Then took Japan’s shortest Shinkansen ride from Nagakasai to Fukuoka for the three days. Fukuoka and Nagasaki are both in Kyushu which is crazy chill compared to Tokyo. Much slower pace to things. Great food, great people.
Saw another Gundam.
Ate more ramen. Fukuoka is the birthplace of tonkotsu ramen, so that’s all the ramen we ate down there.
Ramen Tyson in Nakasu.
Shin Shin in Tenjin. All the reviews mention a crazy long line but it moves really fast (less than 20 minutes) and you get to sit the whole time.
Special with wontons at Nagahama Number One in Hakata. They used pickled mustard greens in their tonkotsu which rules.
Took some day trips out to Nanzoin Temple
And Dazaifu. Nice little brewery by the train station, btw.
10/10. Would visit again.
Already planning Japan trip #7 in 2030.
Saw another Gundam.
Ate more ramen. Fukuoka is the birthplace of tonkotsu ramen, so that’s all the ramen we ate down there.
Ramen Tyson in Nakasu.
Shin Shin in Tenjin. All the reviews mention a crazy long line but it moves really fast (less than 20 minutes) and you get to sit the whole time.
Special with wontons at Nagahama Number One in Hakata. They used pickled mustard greens in their tonkotsu which rules.
Took some day trips out to Nanzoin Temple
And Dazaifu. Nice little brewery by the train station, btw.
10/10. Would visit again.
Already planning Japan trip #7 in 2030.
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Mr Gundam
an expert on Eggnog Mousse Parfait sours
Oh, we took two domestic flights inside Japan and I have to say that was the easiest, quickest and most pleasant boarding and deplaning process EVER. Everyone is polite and patient and they managed to fully board a 777 in 10-15 minutes. People don’t stand in the aisle, everyone gets on and gets in their seat. That would never happen at home.
And we got to see Fuji from the air.
And we got to see Fuji from the air.
You have lived in Michigan and you have cities you dislike more than Livonia?
abawol01
Garbage Bag Full of Buttermilk
Hahahahaha. I was thinking more major cities but, yeah, Livonia is pretty awful.
I agree with Jerm that there’s plenty to enjoy in most (all?) cities for a weekend, but there are a few US cities stick out to me.
Dallas
Fort Lauderdale
Fresno
International I’ll agree with Frankfurt and add Ostrava, CZ
And yet, it was the first place I thought of.