Hello Sailor!

I think the world has gone marine crazy! If you have missed it, the epidemic of navy and white stripes are sure to be coming your way soon.... My mum will be happy, she has tried to dress me as a little sailor since birth. When I was in Tokyo I had to go to ZARA (as we don't have any in Australia), and there I saw a t-shirt that looks suspiciously like it was copied from my wardrobe in the 80's. Sailor blue and white stripes with bat wings and that loose boxy shape that was so popular! Aargh! It can't be true! And not the white shorts to match! Now that is an outfit that will make me look even shorter than I am!

This brings me to a little burger place we discovered in Daikanyama... or it found us. The wind was blowing at a gale force and a man in a white sailor suit came and handed us a "food menu" for a new eatery called "By the Blue". Aaaah! A refuge from the wind and it was way past lunch time.... so we decided to give it a whirl.



Once we managed to pull the door open against the wind we discovered a stripey marine concept burger cafe. Japanese are never ones to go halves on a concept... they even had a fantastic logo of a cross-section of a shell that resembled an anchor. Just to show how far they will run with an idea take a look at the loo. It isn't a great shot as it was a bit tight in there but you can get the idea of the blue and white polka dot tiles and the blood red walls with the knot motif. Very impressive. I would love to go back again (in summer) and hang out in their courtyard that is an all white setting with little huts around the edge. Looks like something out of a Gidget movie!


But I forgot to tell you about the food! I won in the drink stakes with an "Arnold Palmer". As my boy is a golf nut, I can tell you that he (Palmer) is a bit of a famous golfer.... the drink is an ice lemon tea. But better than one I have ever had, really tart and fresh (not sure what the association with golf is). The boy won in the food stakes. I was sucked in by the Plain Hot Dog with sauerkraut... it said a "meaty sausage". It wasn't bad... but the boy had a gourmet "juicy" burger home made with "Japanese beef, pork and duck" which was pretty good. After we had downed all this, the generous amount of fries, salad and the 7 or so condiments we happily made our way out ... refreshed and ready to shop! T