June 29th, 2019 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Latest, Podcasts, Travel | Leave A Comment »
Tokyo isn’t the most obvious place to seek out pizza, but the wood-fired slices here are better than anything you’d find in Italy. That’s what chef Luke Burgess believes – and it’s a case he makes in Only In Tokyo, the new book he’s co-authored with fellow chef (and Japan-o-phile) Michael Ryan. In the podcast, […]
November 16th, 2016 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Podcasts | Leave A Comment »
Arriving as an exchange student from California, Nancy Singleton Hachisu originally planned a short visit to Japan, but 26 years later – she’s still there. A relationship with a Japanese organic farmer is what upended her plans and saw her settling into an 80-something-old farmhouse that’s been passed down his family for multiple generations. During […]
March 28th, 2014 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Latest, Travel | 11 Comments »
Tokyo is a one-of-a-kind city – a place that launches you to the outer limits of the hi-tech universe, while rewinding timelines so seamlessly that its reverence for slower-paced tradition and ceremony also trips you out. It’s one of my favourite capitals in the world, seemingly built on standard units of things I love: good […]
January 16th, 2013 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Events | Leave A Comment »
So this sneaky post has very little to do with food, but I hope you don’t mind me mentioning that I’m in an exhibition that opens next week. There will be copies of my Japan zine on show (and for sale, for anyone with spare pocket change) at Janet Clayton Gallery. The exhibition is called […]
May 19th, 2012 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Zines | 10 Comments »
My zine is now available online here. Things I’ve learned from making my zine on Japan: ramen vans are the country’s equivalent of ice-cream vans (complete with ramen-van theme song), Kit Kat flavours are oddly educational (like an edible Wikipedia of Japanese customs) and there’s a bakery in Tokyo that has a seven-year wait for […]
December 31st, 2010 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Travel | 6 Comments »
Flower-shaped monaka from Toraya Tabi Bagel in Tokyo doesn’t have a closing hour. The shop opens at 7am and the doors shut once the last bagel is sold. Sometimes this happens in just one whirlwind hour, as I learnt through Justine. To visit this tiny bakery, you may have to play tough with the snooze […]
December 25th, 2010 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Travel | Leave A Comment »
For any Twitter-weary people out there, here’s a case for the defence: it helps you find amazing places to visit overseas. During a research-binge on where to eat in Japan, I posted this throwaway tweet: “In Japan, ham is considered a vegetable” -> OK, my attempt to find good vego-friendly places to dine at in […]
December 18th, 2010 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Travel | 1 Comment »
I went to Enjoy! Cafe in search of a bear. Instead, I got a Siamese heart. And a snowman. Here, customising your coffee goes beyond just tapping in the odd packet of sugar; instead, you can request a drawing in your coffee: a rabbit, leaf or not-quite-scientific girl (really, a charming loveheart with a female […]
December 14th, 2010 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Travel | 4 Comments »
At A-Style Kitchen in Osaka, you sit under lights made from colanders or jam jars now onto their second (brighter) life. Things feel time-worn – but not old – and out the window, you can watch kids jumble through the park, grandparents cruising happily on their bikes or hipsters-on-wheels, zigzagging through as they juggle a phone […]
July 5th, 2009 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Uncategorized | 4 Comments »
I was lucky to recently receive a Japanese care package from Amy who runs the wonderful Pretty Pretty Yum Yum – a sugar-dazed blog full of the colour and hyper-charm of Osaka’s food and fashion scene. She also sweetly asked me to review some Kitkats that she kindly sent through, so if you’re choc-curious, you […]