“It’s called Meat-Ya?” I asked. “Seriously? As in, ‘meat shop’?”

“Yes,” she said.

“What do they serve?”

“Meat pasta.”

“Meat pasta and...?”

“No and,” she said. “Just pasta. That’s it. They only serve meat pasta.”

“Oh.”

Could it be? I thought. Is this love?

We found Meat-Ya in a shopping arcade in Asagaya. People lined up outside, shuffled inside, and ate in silence. Two kitchen staff dished up bowl after bowl of pasta, like cogs in a machine dedicated to comfort food.

When we finally got inside, the ramen-style vending machine offered us one choice, and one choice only: meat pasta (regular: 900 yen, large: 1050 yen).

We took our seats at the wooden counter. I stared at instructions written above a small box of cutlery. The place felt like something I would write into a short story; just believable enough to be potentially real, but not actually.

How can a place only serve meat pasta, and still work? I thought.

But the dish that arrived was the perfect flavor of nostalgia; it brought to mind old memories of home-cooked pasta the way I always wanted them to taste. I mixed the thick meat sauce into a swirl of pasta noodles, and covered the delicious mess with a sprinkle of cheese.

It was a very simple, very strong, and very heavy dish.

And I found it immensely satisfying.

Meat-Ya (Mito-Ya) Suginami-Ku Asagaya 1-36-7 Telephone: 03-3315-3104 Monday to Friday: Lunch: 11:30 to 15:00   Dinner: 18:00 to 21:00 Weekends and holidays Lunch: 11:30 to 16:00   Dinner: 18:00 to 21:00

Afuri’s yuzu shio ramen is a surprisingly refreshing, light bowl of noodles. It’s a combination that sounds like it shouldn’t work, and yet the yellow citrus fruit adds a subtle but effective addition to an already high quality bowl of ingredients, including charcoal-grilled pork, menma, and a soft-boiled egg.

It’s the broth that really stands out here -- a pleasingly clean, salty broth with a little citrus kick, it’s something I could happily indulge in completely on its own.

Expect customers in waves, and don’t be surprised if you sometimes have to wait for a spot to open up along the counter.

And if you happen to visit the Nakameguro shop, like I did, be sure to stop by the beautiful Onibus Coffee on the other side of the station!

Afuri Meguro-ku, Kamimeguro 1-23-1 Open everyday 11:00am to 05:00am

“What do you feel like eating?” I asked.

“Sandwiches,” she said.

“Sandwiches? Really?”

“...What?”

“It’s just... you never feel like eating sandwiches.

“So I feel like something different today. So what?”

I shrugged. 

And then we went to Hamanoya.

We found Hamanoya in a small corner in the basement of the Shin-Yurakucho building. Inside, servers wore neat white shirts and ties. The red leather seats made me think of the 70′s, and old pieces of art stared out from the walls. By the counter an old record player spun tunes by Earth, Wind, and Fire.

Toasted sandwiches (620 to 730 yen) made up the bulk of the lunch menu – ham, vegetable, cheese, tuna, fruit, and special – along with sweets including cream anmitsu, ice-cream, and a selection of hotcakes (450 to 730 yen each).

“I think I’ll order the seasonal hotcakes,” she said.

“The hotcakes? Really?”

She shrugged.

“You were right. About the sandwiches, I mean.”

“Okay, well I guess I’ll order the anmitsu, then.”

“No,” she said.

“No?”

“You order the sandwich. The special sandwich. I want to taste it.”

I shrugged.

“Okay.”

The special sandwich was ham, egg, lettuce, tomato, and cucumber between thinly sliced pieces of toasted bread. It was cut into eight easy to eat mini-sandwiches, and they were exactly as I expected – a simple, home-made taste that mixed a variety of flavors and textures to create a feeling of happiness.

The hotcakes also matched the simple-is-best mantra of Hamanoya, covering two pillowy hotcakes in slices of apple, a scoop of ice-cream, and a little honey.

We paid the extra 250 yen for a coffee on the side, and sat sipping them at the end of our meal.

“That was satisfying,” she said.

“You mean because you stole most of my sandwich, and made me eat the hotcakes?”

She thought for a moment, then smiled.

“Yes.”

I shrugged.

It was a good day.

Hamanoya Chiyoda-Ku, Yurakucho, 1-12-1 Shin-Yurakucho Building B1F Telephone: 03-3212-7447 Monday to Saturday: 09:00 to 18:00 Sunday: 10:00 to 17:00

Originally from San Fransisco, Dandelion Chocolate is a go-to spot for specialty chocolate – where the chocolate comes from small batch, single-origin cacao beans, roasted in-house with a focus on bringing out the flavors unique to that region.

The menu is an ode to chocolatey goodness, with a drink selection including creamy hot chocolates (580 yen, with free marshmallows) and cafe mochas (beans by Single-O Japan = legit), and in the food department: choc-chip cookies, scones, brownies, and s’mores (330 to 450 yen).

S’mores. My god. Surely they were designed to kill, irresistibly.

Dandelion is built into a remodeled warehouse, and is half-cafe, half-specialty chocolate factory. The second floor is made up of comfortable sofas and table seating, and the first floor offers a chance to see the chocolate making process in action.

It probably goes without saying, but a visit to Dandelion means a lot of rich, quality chocolate. I recommend a morning/brunch visit -- as a follow-up to burgers, I was summarily hit by a heavy food-coma and had to be rolled to the train station.

Still, for those s’mores and that hot chocolate? Totally worth it.

Though next time, I have my sights set on that Dulce De Leche Bar.

Dandelion Chocolate Daito-Ku Kuramae 4-14-6 Telephone: 03-5833-7270 Open everyday 10:00 to 20:00

The Gen Yamamoto cocktail bar is located down an unassuming side street in Azabu-Juban, behind a simple wooden door. Inside, eight seats surround a wooden counter, at which you sit and select a four or six course cocktail menu (4,500 and 6,500 yen respectively).

And then, you drink the season.

Yamamoto expresses the Japanese seasons in his cocktails – a blend of alcohol with seasonal fruits and vegetables creating a flavor for place and time.

The cocktails are rarely a complicated affair, but every ingredient highlights a particular taste or flavor, resulting in refreshing and often surprising drinks. Highlights included kiwi fruit and shochu with a splash of green tea, pomelo and sparkling rice wine with a dash of wasabi, and tomatoes with a rye-based gin.

Yamamoto himself says everything is in the ingredients, and though this is true, his ability to select and combine them does not seem easily replicable – there is a very subtle, very masterful craftwork on display here.

Gen Yamamoto offers fresh perspective, and a fun, alcoholic way to experience the seasons – with flavors, colors, and textures that create for our tastebuds what we usually experience visually.

Gen Yamamoto Minato-Ku Azabu-Juban 1-6-4 Telephone: 03-6434-0652 Tuesday to Sunday: 15:00 to 23:00 Closed on Monday

Mendokoro Honda is a ramen restaurant on a quiet street corner a short walk from Higashi-Jujo station. It’s only a small space — a wooden counter, a ticket machine, an open kitchen, and eleven stools — but it’s a shining example of simplicity elevated.

Watching the creation of a bowl of ramen at Mendokoro Honda reminds you of quality in the basics. At heart a simple dish, its in the subtleties that ramen is honed and perfected — from the noodles and the broth, to the seaweed, menma, onion, and chashu-pork.

In a bowl of Honda ramen (highlights are the shoyu and tonkotsu, starting at 770 yen), none of these components is rushed -- each ingredient and each preparatory step is a link in the chain of a very particular flavor experience, and is treated as such.

The resulting tonkotsu ramen — thick noodles in a rich, creamy, aromatic soup, with two different slices of pork — reminded me of good short stories.

Much in the way that every part of a short story should lead to a very particular impact, I felt the noodle equivalent at Mendokoro Honda; it was like each part of the process had been tailored for the moment the bowl was placed in front of me.

And I love that feeling of discovery — both in books and in food — that in something you always perceived as simple, lies a suddenly startling depth.

It’s where Mendokoro Honda shines; it gives you new perspective.

Mendokoro Honda Kita-Ku Higashi-Jujo 1-22-6 Telephone: 03-3912-3965 Monday, Thursday: 11:30 to 16:00 Sunday, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday: 11:30 to 15:00, 18:30 to 22:00 Closed on Wednesday

Sometimes in my stories, I imagine small bars on quiet streets away from the main hub of the nearest station. I imagine simple signage in front of a simple door, behind which is a counter, a few tables and chairs, and some stools.

In my stories I imagine the bar is run by an older person who isn’t interested in money. They charge for drinks, but they do it because they’ve always done it. The space is a part of their life, just as their life is a part of the space.

In my stories I imagine people sitting at the bar and talking. They drink, maybe someone smokes, and Bill Evans plays soundtrack to rambling conversation, sporadic laughter, and the occasional story.

In my stories these places are dimly lit and more comforting for it. Smoke floats to the ceiling and the records play, and the customers listen. Sometimes there are a few, sometimes many, and sometimes none.

But in my stories there is always the bar, and there is always the person who runs it.

And sometimes, when the timing is right, the stories are real.

Jazz Haus Posy Setagaya-Ku Daizawa 5-6-14 Telephone: 03-3412-5945 Open 18:00 to 23:30

Chatei Hatou feels like an anomaly in Shibuya because it is. Almost everything about the place – both exterior and interior – marks it as different. Where Shibuya station is a whirlwind of change and reconstruction, Chatei Hatou is the opposite; old, unwavering, stoic, and resolute.

Inside the dim, smoky interior you’ll find vintage furniture before a long wooden counter, behind which is a selection of ceramic cups and saucers. The walls are covered in classic paintings, and dotted with old clocks. In the back, near the bathroom, you’ll find a public phone that no longer works.

Sit at the counter and try not to speak. Order a coffee, and wait a moment. Watch and listen. Experience.

Each coffee at Chatei Hatou is brewed to order, and oftentimes many are brewed at once. There’s a blend of consideration and expertise on display here; practiced movements that reveal the experienced hand of the barista, like a dance played out on repeat.

I liked that I never saw Toyoshi Taguchi, the owner, use a timer. I liked that I never saw him use a scale, either. I liked that when he brewed, he gave little more than perfunctory glances at the world around him. There is the sense he works by feel and intuition.

To be fair, it is not a cheap cup of coffee (850 yen ~).

But to put it into perspective, it’s not a cup of coffee you can easily get anywhere else, either.

Chatei Hatou Shibuya-Ku, 1-15-9 Telephone: 03-3400-9088 Open everyday: 11:00 to 23:30