Ten Ten, Kanda (天天)

Man, Kanda is brutal around noon. You know I like to eat late, but Zoner is a pain about eating early. Today we compromised at 12, which turned out to be exactly the wrong thing to do. When we got up to Kanda at 12:15 (my brilliant idea), we were turned away from 4 places in rapid succession. Even at this pack-'em-in Chinese, we had to wait for people to finish and leave. Conversely, by the time we finished at 12:45 there were plenty of seats. This is not a new lesson regarding dining in greater Otemachi, and you probably know it already.

Nothing to report about the atmosphere other than 'try not to eat at the counter, it's packed and uncomfortable'. We moved to a table when one opened up. Oh, the staff speaks Chinese to each other too, which may help your cravings, if you crave that sort of authenticity (though I've had it beaten out of me by loving French food in Japan, where the chefs are very, very rarely French).

Food is of the Chinese-mass-quantities variety, with lunch containing a wide variety of donburi+wonton soup sets. Zoner and I had variations on the theme - him piri-kala don, me mabo don. I tried them both and lived to tell the tale, but it's not a terribly interesting tale. The toppings were a bit flat, the rice was a bit dry, the wontons were flavorless (nice slippery texture though) and the soup insipid. But not as bad as all that. And damn was there a lot of food.

I feel compelled to add that this was the first day of repeat-allowed-dining, but I still steered Zoner away from Champs du Soleil. I can't go there for lunch again, not being able to drink the beer.
03-3291-3288