The Greek restaurant Olympia provided us with one of the best dining experiences we’ve had in Yokohama. The food was excellent and affordable, the ambience just lovely, and the staff professional.
I used to regularly eat Greek food so I can attest that Olympia is top-notch. The menu is quite varied, with cold and warm dishes, fish and meat, traditional and original. It’s also seasonal, prompting you to come back for different selections the next month. Everything looked tempting: spanakopita, fried calamari, kefte (fried meatballs) … in the end, we went with a 3000 yen dinner course that was enormously satisfying and stuffed us plenty. It included appetizers, salad, soup, hearty Pastitsio (think lasagna), lamb & vegetable skewers, and dessert. Appetizers range between 600 and 1200 yen, with an assorted plate for 1500 yen. Most main dishes are between 1300 and 1500 yen, though the daily fish or meat selection starts at 1500 yen. Juicy lamb chops are 1800 yen. Sirloin steak goes for 2500 yen.
Olympia also has a huge bar with an expansive selection of liquor and mixed drinks starting at 700 yen. There is a sizable wine list with glasses starting at 800 yen, bottles at 3500 yen. Vergina, a Greek lager beer, comes in the bottle for 800 yen and went great with our good.
The warm interior is all wood, giving you the feeling that you are inside the hull of a ship. Dimly lit with intimate booths or tables for larger parties, Olympia is quite romantic. Alone? No problem. Patrons continue to come in late into the night to sit at the bar. If you’re dining, reservations are recommended. We personally suggest bringing a date you want to impress or a good friend for an evening of slow food and long talk.
(Olympia opened in 2005 from the same owner as the much older Greek bar & restaurant Athens in Chinatown.)
Olympia
Address 住所:
Naka-ku, Ota-cho 2-30
中区太田町2-30
Tel: 045-662-9115
Hours/営業時間:
11:00-15:00, 17:00-26:00
Sat/土：17:00-26:00, Hol. 17:00-0:00
定休日/closed: 日曜日/Sundays
Many Yokohama residents are familiar with Monkey Magic Teahouse, the well-established tea restaurant with its attractive wooden interior and marvelous tea selection in the heart of China Town. But most don’t know about its sister store, the comfortable, affordable Goku tea bar on an unassuming side street.
You can still drink much of the same delicious, high-quality tea that is served at the older establishment, but the Goku tea bar is more casual and leisurely. After ordering from the front, you can sit anywhere you like and continue refilling your glass from the water dispensers for as long as you want. With refill after refill, the flavor of your tea will mellow gradually, but is still quite good, still quite healthy.
The menu features about 12 different kinds of hot tea, between 450 and 550 yen. We went with a special kind of Jasmine tea (kikkei itenko) whose tea-leave ‘bouquet’, so to speak, literally blooms in the glass after you add hot water. There are also cheaper cold teas and a small selection of other refreshing drinks, including alcohol. If you have the munchies, or just want something to pair with the tea, there is an ample selection of traditional Chinese snacks ranging between 11 yen and about 400 yen. A small fig pie went great with our tea. For something more substantial, go for a tea set; for 950 yen, it includes curry, tea and dessert. The two or three single desserts are about 350 yen.
The no-frills interior is comfortable enough, with a counter and small tables downstairs, larger tables and a bright atrium area upstairs. There is a deck and some seating outside for those who would like to smoke. All in all, it’s suitable for a relaxing break if you are in the area, or for kicking back with a book or magazine if you just want some quiet, alone time.
Goku Tea Bar
Address/住所:
Naka-ku, Yamashita-cho 81
中区山下町８１
Tel: 045-651-7824
Hours/営業時間:
11:00-21:00
(last order hot: 20:30)
(last order ice: 20:45)
(last order take out: 21:00)
定休日/closed: 水曜日/Wed
Everything about Bar 56′s is intimidating at first. It is located on a somewhat lonely backstreet of Noge. There is an imposing tequila sign hanging outside the entrance. A super-steep, narrow staircase leads up to an opaque door. Open it, and you find a dimly-lit bar with a slightly industrial feel. Behind the counter is an enormous bear of a man who looks like a biker… because he is. But this is no Hells Angel. It’s Goro, and he is as friendly as can be.
Goro’s life blood is tequila, specifically Mariachi, and he even brought a special chilled serving machine from the US he loves it so much. Shots—like most shots at the bar—are only 500 yen. Not into the hard stuff? No worries; they serve a variety of cocktails as well for affordable prices. But if you are ordering a mixed drink, ask for the special mixer. We don’t want to ruin the surprise for you. Besides these drinks, 56′s has mainstream bottled beer from Japanese and overseas makers, including Tsingtao, Corona and Tecate.
Goro speaks fluent English, having spent several years in southern California as a prop maker for sci-fi movies. He mainly worked for Lucas film! Although originally from Honmoku, when asked why he opened a bar in Noge, he replies, “I used to drink a lot and I know the place well.” He still drinks a lot, as customers frequently treat him to shots. The good times roll until dawn here, so don’t hesitate to drop in late, and don’t be surprised to find a lot of drunk, friendly local shop-owners who’ve shut down their shops for the night.
Most people probably get some grub in Noge first, though 56′s does offer a few snacks. Says Goro, “We’ll start some Mexican food soon.” Mmmm, that should go well with the tequila.
Bar 56′s
Address 住所:
Naka-ku, Noge 1-34-2-2F
中区野毛1-34-2-2F
Tel: 045-334-8656
Hours/営業時間:
18:00 – 6:00
http://bar56s.com
aka Vinny T, Little Vinny, Your Little Brother, Chieftan, The Yank, V-Smoove
By the time everyone reads this, Vincent will have left for New York, where he is enrolling in the prestigious graduate school of journalism at CUNY (having turned down Columbia for a big scholarship at CUNY)! Vincent has been with the Seasider from the beginning, acting as a writer, translator, editor, photographer and general everyman. Mitsuhashi Ikuo (featured in the April edition) introduced us in his bar Le Temps Perdu a couple of years ago. For quite a while even before then I had wanted to launch an international Yokohama magazine, but knew I couldn’t do it without the right help. When I met Vincent and learned of his background, I asked him to partner with me. For the rest of the story, we’d like to take an excerpt from the graduate school recommendation letter we wrote for him:
“We began in March of 2009, with extremely limited funds, a skeleton staff and zero recognition. Within the first month, we had expanded our pick-up points to some 100 locations throughout the city, largely because of Mr. Trivett hitting the pavement after his teaching job with a sixty-pound suitcase of magazines, imploring business owners to distribute copies. It seems that many found his infectious enthusiasm for such a seemingly impossible venture charming, if not admirable. Meanwhile, his help on the editorial side allowed us to focus on finding new sponsors. After a few months, we began expanding the magazine rapidly. Today, we are distributed at over 200 locations around the city. The magazine is recognized and carried by government agencies, city libraries, public museums, hotels, bars and restaurants, culture centers, sporting venues and small businesses. Mr. Trivett helped build this foundation for our future growth through his diligence, focus and professionalism. We admit that without him this achievement would never have been possible.”
We wish Vincent the best and hope he comes back to Yokohama some day. He’s done a lot for the city and will always be a hama-ko (Yokohama native). Sayonara bro.
-Ry Beville
“O! For a muse of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention…”
-William Shakespeare, Henry V Prologue
The Yokohama Theatre Group, or YTG, might be one of the Yokohama’s best kept cultural secrets. Founded in 1900 as the Yokohama Amateur Dramatics Club, this theatre group has a long history of producing plays and musical revues and was once one of the few sources of natively-produced English-language entertainment in this city.
Forgotten or unheard of by most current Yokohama residents, YTG, under the Artistic Directorship of Andrew Woolner, is making a comeback and tackling the challenges of the twenty-first century head on.
Last year YTG focused on raising awareness of the theatre company among the Yokohama community. Woolner says, “2009 brought two important firsts: a co-production with sister company Tokyo International Players (William Shakespeare’s R3), and the organization of a touring Shakespeare show (Tempest) from Cambridge University in England.”
Both these firsts are to be repeated in the autumn of 2010: Much Ado About Nothing tours from Cambridge at the end of September, and Moliere’s Tartuffe will be produced in both Yokohama and Tokyo in December.
But the group doesn’t only work on classical theatre: YTG develops new thought-provoking works for the stage. This spring saw the premiere of a brand-new play, 39, created by members of the company.
Not content with a Yokohama performance, the group has now taken 39 on the road. This summer it tours several Theatre festivals across Canada. Why? Because it seems that being a truly international theatre company is something YTG members take seriously. In addition to tours, YTG has been working at reaching out to the whole community of Yokohama, not just expatriate English-speakers. They’ve experimented already with subtitling their shows, giving Japanese handouts, and they aim to start working on multi-lingual productions in the near future.
If you are interested in getting involved with YTG or seeing a show, visit their website at http://yokohama-theatre.com
http://yokohama-theatre.com
I’ve been to parties in Berlin where rebellious youth had secretly taken over old, disused buildings like post offices and banks, and turned them into underground discos. Well, that same spirit has come to Yokohama. Sort of…
Nitehi (nee-tay-hee) is a funky space that opened on June 12th inside an old bank building in Yokohama’s old red-light district of Koganecho. OK, so it’s still the red-light district, but the city has been endeavoring to clean the area up by helping to convert unused (or ill-used) space into more citizen-friendly establishments like this one.
The first floor is a spacious bar area with stripped-down but attractive décor (and even the old bank vault attached and open for the curious!). Their menu is simple. There is pub-style food like pizza and pilaf for only 600 yen, snacks for much less. Thankfully, they have Hoegaarden on draft for 600 yen, and some bottled beers like corona as well. Wine, shochu, umeshu and some other liquors fill out the alcohol menu. Non-drinkers will delight in the various herb tea varieties for 450 yen, or the organic coffee for 300 yen. There are unique tables and sofas where you can chat with friends or quietly read by yourself. The owners describe it as an event space that happens to have a bar, and in the near future they want to have events with guest chefs.
The second floor has a spacious lounge overlooking the first floor, and some minimal space for exhibitions or workshops. The 3rd floor features another large event space that can also be used as a studio. On the 4th floor are separate rooms currently being used as an artist’s studio and an architect’s study room. Nitehi’s goal is “collaboration” so if you are looking for an unusual place to host something, do contact them about the possibility.
Videos of photographs of Haraguchi Noriyuki’s work will be on display until the 29th. Haraguchi’s is a large-scale conceptual artist whose work was hosted at BankArt last year.
Nitehi
Address 住所:
Naka-ku, Wakaba-cho 3-47-1
中区若葉町3-47-1
Tel: 045-334-7446
Hours/営業時間:
15:00-22:00
closed 3 times monthly
http://www.nitehi.net
There are many ways to enjoy photography: taking pictures, looking at them, showing them, printing them… Beyond that there is enjoying photographic history. Early photographic processes were discovered in France by Niépce and in England by Talbot roughly 170 years ago. Since then, a whole galaxy of photographers has emerged and countless collections of work have appeared. It seems safe to say that knowing this rich tradition is akin to enjoying it. One point of interest is the surprising degree to which changes in society correspond with the parade of pictures taken. It’s hardly unusual for events of an era to have engendered photographic works.
There have been a number of attractive photography exhibits this year. Unfortunately, some of the ones I’m naming have already ended, but the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography held a Jean Loup Sieff exhibit. There was the Felix Thiollier exhibit at the Setagaya Art Museum. The Hara Museum is hosting a William Eggleston exhibit until August 22nd. And then there is the Man Ray exhibit at the National Art Center, Tokyo, until September 13th. Some common keywords in any discussion of these photographers include mode, pictorialism, new color, and surrealism. Each of those were artistic terms in vogue at one time; they were fashionable, they were responsible for the popularization of color negative film, and there are all intimately linked with historical changes in the world.
At present, running counter to the remarkable advances in digital technology, there are many who still love the process of printing from film in the dark room. In such an age, what do people shoot, what do they give expression to? Without a doubt, photographic works seek the era at hand while also helping to shape it.
-Kondo Hiromitsu, The Dark Room International
