To accompany our restaurant review of Hajime no Ippo, try some of these other restaurants that specialize in the bulbous pungent spice.

Ninniku-ya

With mounds of garlic in every dish, this restaurant lives up to its robust reputation. Their towering garlic toast is actually a vertically standing baguette with a heap of roasted garlic smothered on top. Tuck in to some oysters with garlic sauce to turn your date on—and off, at the same time. Garlic clove and chili icons on the menu indicate each dish’s power (the toast clocks in at four cloves). 1-26-12 Ebisu, Shibuya-ku. Tel: 03-3446-5887. Nearest stn: Ebisu. www.ninniku-ya.com

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Garlic Garlic

So nice, they named it twice—and serve it with rice. Specialties include whole roasted cloves of garlic, garlic toast with baked cloves served on a baguette (horizontal, this time), garlic rice and gourmet sautéed garlic mustard pork. 1-26-2 Shoto, Shibuya-ku. Tel: 03-5478-2029. Nearest stn: Shibuya. www.garlicxgarlic.com

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Garlic Jo’s

This popular chain of garlicky restaurants was first opened in Yokohama’s Motomachi area in 1993 and has since spread to 18 other locations across Japan. They offer typically tasty, but not too drastic, ninniku-filled renditions of Western-style dishes like garlic rib-eye steaks, pan-sautéed shrimp in garlic lemon butter sauce, jambalaya rice and garlic pizza. Station Core B1F Queen’s Square, 2-3–8 Minato Mirai, Nishi-ku, Yokohama. Tel: 045-682-2870. Nearest stn: Minato Mirai. www.americanhouse.co.jp

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Ninniku-ya Goemon

The name is the same, but this version of Ninniku-ya is a chain scattered about the Tokyo department store landscape. Shoo the shopping queues with only a breath after breaking for some garlic ishiyaki bibimbap, hanba-gu with garlic sauce and a garlic-shaped white sesame cake with sorbet to sweeten you up. Various locations: Shinjuku Takashimaya Times Square, Lalaport Tokyo Bay, Mona Shin-Urayasu, Lumine Omiya. www.n-rs.co.jp/brand/shoplist/ninnikuya.html

Even Goldilocks and the three bears would be able to find the right portions at Akiba Curry Kojo (4-8 Kanda Hirakawa-cho, Chiyoda-ku; www.akiba-curry.com). Rice sizes go by milli (180g), regular (300g), mega (450g), and giga (600g), with 13 curries including sweetened allergen-free children’s curry (¥500) and dynamic curry (¥2,500)—a mound of tera-rice topped with prawn, tonkatsu, crab cream korokke, chicken cutlet, sausage, and a sunny-side-up egg.

Support new opportunities for differently-abled people at Hinatabokko (4-31-23 Honcho, Funabashi-shi, Chiba; www.meturl.com/hinatabokko). This friendly café, one of a slew of initiatives by advocates from charity organization Chiba MD Econet, offers you a curry set with coffee (¥650-1,500), made by people who would be unlikely to find such work elsewhere. The sets come in colorful boxes on bookshelves for you to pick your favorite.

Push for your favorite K-food at Kanryu Gourmet Festa (Yoyogi Park Event Square, Jan 7, 9am-8pm; Jan 8, 9am-5pm; www.hangfes.com), a two-day festival to elect the best Korean food in Japan. A hundred food stalls will peddle their signature dishes, with thousands of visitors casting their vote on the premises online to decide the Grand Prix dish. Plenty of non-foodie booths will sell other goods and there will be a program of shows, too.

Ever had a Christmas feast in pitch darkness? Blindfold dining event Kurayami Shokudo, previously reviewed by Metropolis (http://meturl.com/rr917), returns Dec 9-23 at Tanger (1-5-48 Takanawa, Minato-ku). Upon entering the world without light, surrender to the poetic narration guiding your full course meal with wine (¥9,860). Some Japanese is preferred, but curiosity and hunger for inspiration is the key. See http://meturl.com/xmasblindfold for dates and times.