Beautiful as Van Dijck was, I opted instead to dine at the French-Japanese Restaurant Roji around the corner.

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An early example of this, says John Cunningham of SnapTrack, is a Japanese restaurant-review service that allows reviews contributed by previous customers to be called up by somebody outside the restaurant who is wondering whether to eat there.

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Did I mention that the Kitano also has a serious-looking Japanese restaurant (though I didn't have the chance to eat there) and a jazz club?

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Other notable mentions include innovators such as French-Japanese fusion hotspot Tate and Italian-French restaurant L'Altro.

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She has also launched her own fragrance, co-owned a restaurant chain, published her own novel and even had a record in the Japanese charts.

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Roma, with its high population of hipsters and fashion-forward residents, is the place to go for eating on-trend food (Vietnamese and Japanese this year) in cafes such as Mog, a restaurant adorned with antique picture frames and wooden mannequin limbs.

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