Last night we went to Nonbe, a tachinomiya on Queen Street.  It's one bar in a row of Japanese-owned shops along one side of the street between Wellesley and Mayoral.  The first thing you see when you walk in, besides the smiling matrons, is the huge phallic nose of a tengu mask.  The decor is a kitschy mix of traditional Japanese, and "Oh my gosh!  This looks so Japanese" (from a Western perspective) nick-knacks.  There are overturned ban kasa for lamps, images of tanuki, a hyottoko mask and a little red man shaped like a kite (this description escaped Makiko's knowledge of traditional Japanese images, so I'll have to look it up at the library when I have internet). 

 

There are rows of sake bottles along the top shelf (presumably empty, just there for decoration), but the bottles on the second shelf are well within reach of the knowledgeable staff.  For example, a purple bottle of Wakamurasaki looked like it might be a sweet shochu at first glance, like Tantakatan, but I was assured a manly man such as I could drink it and not lose face.  It had a much more complex and interesting flavor than Tantakatan has, and at $8 or $9 (New Zealand, of course) I highly recommend it.  "And who are you to be recommending Japanese sake" you might be asking?  Well, please allow me to introduce myself... Sometimes known as El Gringo, I am also known as Shochu Man!

 

My first drink of the night was a mug of Asahi draught beer (NZ$7), and Makiko had  Hana-awaka, a sparkling sake drink ($9) perfect for the girlier members of your posse.  I had to have one of the same drinks I had last week, Ikkomon (NZ$9), an imojochu listed as being made from kumara, the local word for imo, sweet potato.  There is also Sapporo beer on tap, and bottles of the big four (Asahi, Kirin, Sapporo and Yebisu) in the fridge.

 

Although you'd be better off going to Tanuki (an izakaya up the street) for a meal, Nonbe offers "Japanese tapas," a.k.a. otsumami.  Last week we tried some meat on a stick with a fancy name, but our memory of our first time there is a bit hazy.  It was yummy though.  In short, there is a long list of items to choose from including edamame and takoyaki.

 

The music is a very un-Japanese, blend of electro & alternative which makes the vibe way hipper than most tachinomiya you'll set foot in in Japan.  However, don't let that put you off, as it's played at background volume.  Makiko was happy to see her coaster artwork still up in the same place it was last week.  Mine was too!

 

The customers are mostly friendly locals or residents of various nationalities, although it is not unlikely for the random (very) drunk Irish traveler to stumble in, as Nonbe is on Auckland's main drag. 

 

Nonbe is open Tuesday-Satruday from 5:00 p.m. onwards, and is located at 309 Queen Street, Auckland City.  Phone:  09-379-5152.  http://www.sakebars.co.nz

 

I'll get a photo of the place the next time we go.

 

KANPAI!  CHEERS!  SLAINTE!

Posted by Rob.

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Oh, the tribulations of not having internet at home.  Today I bought some quiche, a muffin and a flat white at an Esquires Cafe on Lorne Street, so I could use their internet.  You get 1 hour & 60MB with any purchase.  After about 20 minutes, and this upload of about 3MB, plus a software update (not sure how many MB, but it didn't seem like that many), I suddenly found myself without any internet.  When I went to ask the cashier/barrista, he reiterrated the above details to me, to which I replied that I wasn't anywhere near my 60MB limit.  He repeated the bit about the 1 hour, to which I responded, "have I been here an hour?"  He just shrugged.  Customer service anyone?

Now I'm at the library, where I'm having a heck of a time with multiple page reloads, just trying to get from the homepage login to the libsyn publishing tool that I'm typing in now.  It's taken me 20 minutes!  It's time to get some internet at home, now that I can afford it again.

Anyway, here's something shot back in Kagurazaka, Tokyo, where the internet flowed like the MIGHTY MISSISSIPPI and the champiñones were sizzling...

Photo coming soon.

Posted by Rob.

Tags:  NFTOS, El Pulpo, Kagurazaka, Tokyo, Japan, Auckland, New Zealand, coffee shops, bad service, library, slow internet, mushrooms, champignons, cogumelos, kinoko, champiñones

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After spending the last two years podcasting about, in and around the bars, cafes, izakaya, pubs, restaurants and tachinomiya of osaka and tokyo, now it's time to cover new territory.

I first came to New Zealand back in late 2000 and stayed for 4 weeks. During that time I got to check out quite a few establishments, not only in Auckland, but also in Wellington, Greymouth, Queenstown, Christchurch and many of the smaller towns along the well worn tourist track (my journal of that trip is packed away in a box someplace in Oklahoma right now, or I'd elaborate further).

So far, the only place I remember which I've been able to return to is Cafe Melba on Vulcan Lane--a great place for breakfast and flat whites. It was a good reference point in the city, and an easy place to meet up with other travelers, back before everyone was carrying cell phones. Nowadays it's crazy busy, but the staff are still friendly and patient.

New places we've checked out include Bouchon (nice salade niçoise) and Fridge (great looking wraps and pies, though we only had tea and coffee) in Kingsland, and Roasted Addiqtion, also in Kingsland, which I'm sure we'll be back to, so I'll be telling you more about it later.

Last night four of us went out downtown to Mezze Bar on Durham Street. I had a Green Fern organic lager while the others had tea and desserts. Looking around, it appeared the crowd were mostly locals out for an evening meal (unfortunately, we'd already had dinner). Many were sharing bottles of wine, however, I didn't see any beer on tap, and the drink prices seemed like they were set to keep out the riffraff, which seemed to be working as I didn't notice any backpacker or student looking types in a joint that was otherwise pretty casual. It would be a nice bet for a first date, but please, $14 caipirinhas? That's over 1100 yen, and this ain't Tokyo! In Brazil, a bottle of cachaça only costs... ah, nevermind.

Anyway, Makiko and I will keep you posted as Andrew, Claire and other friends introduce us to new spots around Auckland and elsewhere.

Photo: Makiko's chicken and apricot sauce sandwich at a sidewalk cafe in Coromandel, very appropriately named Coromandel Cafe. The sandwich had nice veggies in it including beets. Mmm. I had the fish and chips.

Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, Kingsland, Auckland, New Zealand, Cafe Melba, Bouchon, Fridge, Roasted Addiqtion, Mezze Bar, カフェ, ?ー, オークランド, ニュージーランド

This is a little video of one of our favorite hangouts in Osaka. Disco Beans is a groovy little cafe bar & art space, just off the beaten path, in the Taisho-ku neighborhood, which is not far from Osaka Dome (see Loop line #1 of 8 and Cycling in Osaka videos. There's a map and foolproof directions on our original post from back in January of 2006, nearly two years ago! And, of course the original video format is much clearer.

Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, Alex Brooke, Rob a.k.a. El Gringo, Disco Beans, Taisho-ku, Osaka, Japan, 大正, 大阪, 日本, ディスコビーンズ

Alex and Rob chillin' at Café Barbès back in the day, before it moved from Minami Horie to Higobashi, near Utsubo Park. We order cous cous and mutton burgers, and pass on the ika (squid). I tried to recall the lyrics of King Missile's My Heart is a Flower and managed only part of them, which sounded quite un-poetic coming from my mouth, I admit..

If you're a fan of Café Barbès, you should check out this other equally whacky video by the Flying Koala, Prapatang's the Word.

Please click here for the Libsyn original podcast, which is higher quality, of course.

Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, Café Barbès, Alex Brooke, Rob, El Gringo, Minami Horie, Osaka, Couscous, King Missile, poetry, poem, mutton, lamb, hamburger, squid, ika, ??, ?堀江, 大阪, ?ルベス

Video by Okha a.k.a. Flying Koala, starring Alex and Rob. Filmed at Cafe Barbes in Minami Horie, Osaka, and outside Chove Chuva music store in Higobashi, Osaka. What is all this song and dance about? I'm not sure I can explain it, but maybe you can look for clues at Prapatang.com. Posted by Rob.

This was one of my favorite places to spin in Osaka, unfortunately, I sometimes had to choose between taking the last train home, the first train home (sometimes crashing out on a couch for a bit), or a taxi, as it was just a bit far to cycle with all my records.  If we had a good crowd, sometimes Dan, the owner, would spot me the cabfare which wasn't cheap!  When I wasn't DJing, it was also a fun place to just hang out.  Dan was open to the type of music I tend to play, and Shawn was a master at concocting beverages from my most random word associations.  One example:  "Sex in the rainforest, without a mosquito net"  (you know, a tropical drink that's refreshing, and not too sweet) and he'd know exactly what I meant.  Now, put your headphones on, if they aren't already, and click here while you watch the slide show.  Posted by Rob.

This idea from a video on YouTube is probably going to get copycatted more than a few times! Scouted by Alex. Posted by Rob.

Café Vélo (a mixi community) was an idea Alex Brooke and I came up with sometime around October of last year. Until then, Alex had been blogging on Kansai Underground and dabbling in audio podcasts on the Beb & Alex Show, while I had been blogging on my MSN Community (until erroneously deleting the whole thing late one night). I believe our earliest Café Vélo experiments were hosted on the nascent Learn Japanese Pod. We wanted to hang out and do audio podcasts in cafes that could be easily reached by bicycle. Each show would feature a new Osaka location and special guests. We would discuss upcoming events, art, music, food, culture, the menu, etc. Here are four links, while I try to track down media to upload from my laptop. Intro: What is Café Vélo?, Broadcast #1 @ Café Kiti, Broadcast #2 @ Café Absinthe, Broadcast #3 @ IMP McDonald's, and Broadcast #4 @ Café Absinthe VIDEO. Click below for a previously unreleased Café Vélo archival recording (23-Oct-2005) featuring Alex, Wakako and me at Amanto in Nakazaki-cho, Osaka.

Graphic by Rob.
Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, Café Vélo

Now that we have been at this for about 3 months and surpassed the 3000-hit mark, we take you down memory lane into pre-NFTOS vlog history to a wintery night back in 2005 at Cafe Absinthe