Paul Hartrick » Japan

Cherry Blossom Party at Hikarigaoka

-Paul — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 22:07:44 +0000

Last weekend I went to a Cherry Blossom Party organized by the local Sushi bar that I frequent. The location was Hikarigaoka, about 20 minutes ride on the Oedo Line from Shinjuku Station. As always there was all the wrong brands of beer, cold food that is meant to be served warm and the usual attendees getting all pissed up after 3 cans of beer. Regardless of the standard party offering in Japan I still had a fun day. It also gave me a chance to try out my new 70-200 f/2.8 L IS USM Canon lens. Below are a few photos of the day.

Click here for more photos

Christmas Dinner – Salt

-Paul — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 00:56:43 +0000

Christmas day in Japan has always been a working day for me usually followed by an average meal of Sushi, Yakiniku or Izakaya, so when the idea of a flash Christmas dinner was presented to me I jumped at it.
We decided to go to a restaurant in the Shin Marunouchi Building (新丸ビレ) for our traditional Christmas Dinner.

The restaurant’s name is Salt and serves a fine selection of Modern Australian cuisine and is co-owned by Luke Mangan.

“Luke Mangan, chef, was born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1970. In the 1990s, he learned from Michel Roux, three star chef in London and later went to Sydney. From 1999 to 2005, he owned Salt (the same name as the restaurant in the Shin-Marunouchi Building) in Darlinghurst. Taking advantage of his success in Darlinghurst, Mangan opened Bistro Lulu in 2000, which led to him becoming a star chef in Sydney. These two restaurants moved on, disappointing the locals, tourists to summer resorts and even Hollywood stars. In 2005, he started the Glass Brasserie restaurant with 240 seats in the renovated Hilton Hotel in Sydney. While serving as a chef at functions and interacting with celebrities throughout the world, he contributes to finding and nurturing young chefs. His energetic activities are inspiring and strengthen the partnership between Luke Mangan and PJ Group.”

The night started at the adjoining Luke Mangan Wine Bar, w.w (World Wine), with a refreshing Leffe beer.

We then proceed into a most relaxing atmosphere for a civilized 6 course Christmas dining experience. On top of the great food there is a fantastic wine list of which we had a couple of bottles of nice Australian Reds.

If your looking for a great food, great wine and a fantastic dining experience in Tokyo then you should definitely put “Salt by Luke Mangan” on the list.

What you won’t get is annoying people screaming orders into earpiece microphones, you won’t get your order served all at once covering the entire table leaving no room for your glass, you won’t get a less than classy buzzer on the table and you definitely wont see discount coupons and people splitting the bill down to the last 5 yen as you leave.

What you will get is , great food, endless warm bread rolls, your meal choices served in order and only when you are ready, a full glass at all times, proper wine glasses, cute well dressed staff serving you, staff that actually know what they are serving you, wine recommendations, and a $200+ per head bill… well worth every dollar.

Tokyo Random Happenings

-Paul — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 03:12:18 +0000

I was out at a bar in Kabukichou last night with some online friends. One of them was at the bar getting the next round of drinks when he was treated to a Tokyo Random Happening.

Friend: (At the bar) Rum and Coke, Beer and Zima please.

Complete J stranger: You drink Zima do you?

Friend: I don’t drink Zima it’s for my mate.

Complete J Stranger: You should drink Zima

Friend: (Speechless).

Just another gem life dishes up in this great town.

Shinjuku at Dusk

-Paul — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 02:22:55 +0000

As I have mentioned before the view I get of Shinjuku is just too good not to photograph some days. This was taken last Sunday at 4:48pm. It is a series of 3 photos stitched together with PTGui. Taken with a Sony DSC R1 camera, ISO160, F3.2, 1/25 exposure. All colors are original, no funny post processing at all.

The original full resolution image (6287px X 1647px) can be downloaded from here.

Looking out my window in Japan

-Paul — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 01:22:57 +0000

Shane from Nihon Sun has asked the Japan blogging community to post images from their windows. The images I am posting are all from my lounge room window looking towards Shinjuku. I love the view from my window and often find myself on the balcony at all sorts weird times, sometimes in the freezing cold to capture what I think is a good photo. Sometimes they are, but more often than not it is hard to capture what I see. I don’t think I will ever get tired of “Looking out my window in Japan”.