All posts in “Budget eating in Tokyo”

Gaijin Gourmet! Great Cheap and Delicious Soba in Gaienmae on Ginza Line!

Welcome Tokyo travelers to another installment of “Gaijin Gourmet” or “Great places to eat in Tokyo for Super-Cheapskates (like me)” written and researched by me, Mike Rogers, cheap-bastard connoisseur extraordinaire and one of Japan’s top Gaijin experts on good tachi-gui (stand up and eat) soba shops.I’ve been doing these specials shows for your folks who will be traveling to Tokyo for the Tokyo Olympics and don’t want to spend $500 (USD) for a Tuna Sandwich every time you need to eat! (OK. $500 is a bit of an exaggerration… Writer’s privilege and all…)
Today, I’d like to introduce you to a shop named Shinetsu near Gaienmae Station.

This place is excellent soba for the price!

Shinetsu, interestingly, is located right next door to one of the finest (and most expensive) Italian restaurants in Tokyo: Sabatini. I thought that was funny because a fine Italian dinner with some Italian guys singing the same old 8 songs over and over right into your ear at your table as well as wine for two next door at Sabatini can easily run ¥50,000 yen! ($600 USD)

Whereas Sabatini is great for expensive Italian, so is Shinetsu for delicious cheap-assed soba! But, I reckon if you were going on an important date with that special someone or planning to do something stupid, like say, propose marriage, then Sabatini is probably a better bet. Just a guess….

Or, if you have a sense of humor, you could tell her that you are taking her “Someplace special. How about something realy special like Sabatini?” When she smiles and says, “Oh, Brad!” You know you’ve got her! (Get it? It is like Sabatini; they are both near Gaienmae station exit #3)
Bwa! Ha! Ha! If she doesn’t walk out on you when you walk into the stand up soba, then you’ve found a real keeper!

This  meal with cold soba, inari sushi 
and tempura topping for ¥540 and it tastes pretty delicious!

Two people can eat excellent soba and toppings freshly made on the premises for ¥1,200 (the water is free and all-you-can-drink!)

Extremely clean kitchen!
And, as usual, a spotless kitchen is a must for me and you can see into the kitchen from the counter at Shinetsu. The tempura and all toppings are made on premises and the soba is good quality for a extremely reasonable price.
 
Don’t bother going there right at lunch time between 12:00 noon and 1 pm on a weekday, because there will be a line and there’s no place to sit… Er, I mean, there’s never any place to sit anyway – so it’s not good for a first date – but fantastic for a quick lunch for the businessman or traveler on the run!

The place is about a 30 second walk from Gaienmae Station Exit 3.

Here’s the address: 
Shinetsu Soba
Kita Aoyama 2-13-4 Tot Aoyama 1F.
東京都港区北青山2丁目13-4 ToT青山1F
Tot Aoyama Bldg. 1F
Kita Aoyama 2-13-4, Minato Ku, Tokyo
Here’s a map: http://yj.pn/bBNRd_


To get to Shinetsu Soba, take the Ginza line to Gaienmae. Exit 3. Thirty seconds walk. 

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Looking for more great deals on cheap eats in Japan?

The Gaijin Gourmet: The Best Salad Bar Deal in Tokyo at Big Boy – My Favorite Rock N Roll Diner! robot55.jp/blog/the-gaijin-gourmet-the-best-salad-bar-deal-in-tokyo-at-big-boy-my-favorite-rock-n-roll-diner/

Tokyo’s Best Cheap Sushi is in Okachimachi!? 東京の一番安くて美味しい寿司屋?御徒町にあるの? http://robot55.jp/blog/tokyos-best-cheap-sushi-in-okachimachi/

The Gaijin Gourmet: Soba Wars At Hanzomon Station in Tokyo robot55.jp/blog/gaijin-gourmet-soba-wars-at-hanzomon-station-in-tokyo/

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At Robot55 we make video productions for businesses and services and products, but we also pride ourselves on making videos for art and music. Our starting price is ¥70,000 and we are sure we can work out something that fits your budget. Oh, and we love making band videos too! Contact us! contact@robot55.jp

ROBOT55 はビジネス、商業、製品紹介動画の制作のみならず、アートや音楽の映像も創っております。ビジネス動画においてはウェブ動画時代の到来に合わせ、お求めや すい¥70,000という格安価格より承ります。ご予算に応じて皆様にご満足のいく高品質動画を制作致します。勿論インディー・バンド向けPV制作も行っ ております。よ!

コチラよりお気軽にお問い合わせ下さいませ♬

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The Gaijin Gourmet: The Best Salad Bar Deal in Tokyo at Big Boy – My Favorite Rock N Roll Diner!!

Ladies and gentlemen, and those of your foreigners coming to Tokyo for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, I have an announcement to make! I have come to the conclusion that the best salad bar deal in all of Tokyo is at my new favorite Rock N Roll diner, Big Boy. The Salad Bar is ¥590 (about $5 USD) for all you can eat!

Big Boy at Futakotamagawa!

In fact, besides an incredible deal on the salad bar, Big Boy might be the best place to drink beer too!

How so? Read on…

When I was a high school student living in the west in the mid seventies, we often went to Bob’s Big Boy. It was cheap, er, I mean, inexpensive and the food was great. 

American style large comfortable seating… And, instead of Japan’s J-Pop Hit Parade of Hell, they actually were playing American 1950s and 1960s Rock Music so that’s worth the price of admission!

I didn’t even know they had Bob’s Big Boy (called simply “Big Boy”) in Japan until the other day. I found one, not 5 minutes walk from my house. It is in the opposite direction of the station, so I had never even once walked by it in over ten years. I did the other day when I went for a stroll and what a stroke of luck!

 I walked in and checked the lunch menu. I couldn’t believe it. A full lunch set that includes soup and curry rice and white rice for only ¥680!? (about $5.66 USD – and there’s no tipping in Japan!) Who, on a budget, in their right mind would ever go to any McBurgers, when you can get a balanced meal for that price? The lunch set that includes the salad bar and the soup and rice and curry rice (all you can eat salad and rice and curry!) is only ¥960!!! (About $8 USD).

Incredible deal for the whole family! How do these folks stay in business? What a great deal!

 

My wife tried one of the set menus and she was very satisfied! The hamburger was great and the fried chicken was miles away better than Kentucky Fried Chicken!

Since I have gout, drink too much and am trying not to die soon, I try to eat very healthy if I can. I always try to away from fried foods (and cooked foods) generally because of too much salt, etc. I checked the salad bar menu and prices and that was when my jaw dropped to the floor!

“¥590 for an all-you-can-eat Salad Bar??? Was this a mistake? Was I reading this wrong? ¥590 for an all-you-can-eat salad bar????!!!!” Incredible, but true. I ordered that and loaded up on the veggies and fruits! I ate 5 plates of that!

It was heaven!

I had been going to a place that charged ¥1,980 for the all-you-can-eat salad bar. That is nice too, but Big Boy has a great salad bar at less than 1/3 that price and the salad was fresh and delicious! What a fantastic deal!

This has to be nirvana for vegetarians and salads eaters like me in Japan!

If you aren’t hungry and you just want to sit down and have at the all-you can drink bar then it is only ¥290! 

And, finally, the plat de résistance! During weekdays, after your first beer, all your next beers are all half-price! One beer is ¥500 (about $4.17) but the next ones are all half price. So if you drink like me, then you’ll have at least 4 beers. 4 beers on the weekday special will be ¥1250. That’s about $10 USD for 4 beers! Unbelievable!

And there’s no table charge! Think about it, I can go in and sit down at a table and drink 4 beers for ¥1250 (about $10 USD)! That is unheard of!

Also, besides the set menu, Big Boy offers side menus of fried calamari and french fries and all sorts of little snacks that you can wash down with beer! (I recommend the calamari & french fries… They were quite excellent and only ¥290 yen!) 

The real test for my family is taking my son to any restaurant. He is a VERY picky eater and generally doesn’t like eating out, excepting at a few (very expensive) restaurants. We took him to Big Boy and he loved it and gave it 9 out of 10 points… (Thank you God!)

That’s not the first time he’s given 9 out of 10 to a restaurant, but was the first time he ever did that for a restaurant that didn’t cost me at least ¥15,000 (about $120 USD) for the three of us. He had calamari & fries, a delicious Auusie beef steak from the dinner menu, all-you-can drink and ice cream dessert; my wife had a ¥960 set menu and all-you-can drink with a dessert; I had the salad bar and all-you-can drink; the damages? ¥4,200 (about $36 USD) for the three of us!

Simply amazing; good, clean restaurant. Delicious food at a very reasonable price – and Rock N Roll music to boot!

If I were you, I’d get over to Big Boy and try out the salad bar and beer deal ASAP.

It’s simply the best deal in Japan!

I give Big Boy 5 out of 5 stars. When a head of lettuce costs ¥260 (about $2.25 USD) at the local grocer, but Big Boy can give you all-you-can eat salad at ¥590 (about $5.05 USD) why go buy groceries?

How do they do that????


You’d better get over the Big Boy soon, because, the way I eat salads, they are going to go bust because of me! Get into this great deal while you can! 


Bob and I are now buddies again!

The Gaijin Gourmet: The Best Salad Bar Deal in Tokyo at Big Boy – My Favorite Rock N Roll Diner!!!

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Looking for more great deals on cheap eats in Japan?:

Tokyo’s Best Cheap Sushi is in Okachimachi!? 東京の一番安くて美味しい寿司屋?御徒町にあるの? http://robot55.jp/blog/tokyos-best-cheap-sushi-in-okachimachi/

The Gaijin Gourmet: Soba Wars At Hanzomon Station in Tokyo robot55.jp/blog/gaijin-gourmet-soba-wars-at-hanzomon-station-in-tokyo/

———————-

At Robot55 we make video productions for businesses and services and products, but we also pride ourselves on making videos for art and music. Our starting price is ¥70,000 and we are sure we can work out something that fits your budget. Oh, and we love making band videos too! Contact us! contact@robot55.jp

ROBOT55 はビジネス、商業、製品紹介動画の制作のみならず、アートや音楽の映像も創っております。ビジネス動画においてはウェブ動画時代の到来に合わせ、お求めや すい¥70,000という格安価格より承ります。ご予算に応じて皆様にご満足のいく高品質動画を制作致します。勿論インディー・バンド向けPV制作も行っ ております。よ!

コチラよりお気軽にお問い合わせ下さいませ♬

————————-

Gaijin Gourmet, ビ デオ編集格安、ビデオ撮影格安、動画制作東京、格安ビデオ制作, 格安, ロボット・ゴー・ゴー,  格安, ビジネスビデオ制作, ロボット・ゴー・ゴー, 撮影, 格安, ビデオ制作, 動画, 紹介動画, ビデオ, 東京, 撮影,ビデオ編集, 動画制作, ROBOT55, Gaijin Gourmet,