Where and What to Eat in Tokyo?
So, you’re planning on going to Tokyo? You’ve found the best place to stay in Tokyo and now you want to find some great food places. First off, congrats! I’m so jealous. Tokyo is one of my all time favorite cities. There is so much to do, so much to see, and most importantly, so much to eat. Check out a Tokyo city guide before you go to make sure you don’t miss out on any cool things to do. Tokyo has it all, from hole in the wall gyoza places to high-end Michelin sushi bars. If you’re planning on going to Tokyo and are staying in something like these hotels in Shinjuku, plan on eating, because eating is half the fun.
A quick note on planning: keep your expectations low. I don’t mean that the food is going to be bad – quite the opposite in fact: the food is going to blow your mind. It’s the expectation that you’ll be able to find the places that you want to eat at that most likely won’t be met. The addresses in Tokyo are very, very peculiar. Don’t forget to look up if you’re looking for a restaurant. Many times they’re tucked away on the second floor or higher. Not everything’s at street level. In fact, I’d say that a large majority of places aren’t. Google Maps helps if you have internet. And if you don’t, most people are friendly enough to help you out, as long as they’re not in the middle of something.

I’ve talked about it before, but I thought I’d give it another mention. It’s a cute little sushi-ya run by Chef Keiji Nakazawa. It’s been rumored that he kicked out the Michelin reviewers for being too ignorant about sushi, but rumors are rumors for a reason. Regardless, the lunch set here is what I tried and enjoyed. Bara chirashi is a rice bowl topped with tiny bite sized pieces of seafood, vegetables, and fluffy omelette strips. They only make 20 bowls a day, so if you’re interested, make sure you get there at the 11:30 opening time. They also do omakase at dinner, which is quite a bit more expensive, but also super lovely, so I’ve heard.
With all that said, here are some of Mike and my favorite places in Tokyo. I can’t believe it’s been three months since we moved back and I’m only now getting around to making a list of my must eats. A quick caveat: this is by no means an exhaustive list – I left out lots of places that are delicious. It’s always fun to wander around and just pick a random joint, so I definitely recommend that.

Pro tip: If you want lots of variety (which is something many foreigners complain about because most restaurants are single dish oriented. If they specialize in katsu, you’re only getting katsu so good luck if someone in your party doesn’t like katsu when you’re at the katsu place) head to a depachika, the basement floor of any good department store. There’s a massive amount of take-out food that is affordable and delicious. The only issue is, there don’t have any where to sit. But, if you take your food upstairs, most department stores have a rooftop garden or seating area.

I’ve talked about it before, but I thought I’d give it another mention. It’s a cute little sushi-ya run by Chef Keiji Nakazawa. It’s been rumored that he kicked out the Michelin reviewers for being too ignorant about sushi, but rumors are rumors for a reason. Regardless, the lunch set here is what I tried and enjoyed. Bara chirashi is a rice bowl topped with tiny bite sized pieces of seafood, vegetables, and fluffy omelette strips. They only make 20 bowls a day, so if you’re interested, make sure you get there at the 11:30 opening time. They also do omakase at dinner, which is quite a bit more expensive, but also super lovely, so I’ve heard.
With all that said, here are some of Mike and my favorite places in Tokyo. I can’t believe it’s been three months since we moved back and I’m only now getting around to making a list of my must eats. A quick caveat: this is by no means an exhaustive list – I left out lots of places that are delicious. It’s always fun to wander around and just pick a random joint, so I definitely recommend that.

Pro tip: If you want lots of variety (which is something many foreigners complain about because most restaurants are single dish oriented. If they specialize in katsu, you’re only getting katsu so good luck if someone in your party doesn’t like katsu when you’re at the katsu place) head to a depachika, the basement floor of any good department store. There’s a massive amount of take-out food that is affordable and delicious. The only issue is, there don’t have any where to sit. But, if you take your food upstairs, most department stores have a rooftop garden or seating area.

Where and What to Eat in Tokyo?
So, you’re planning on going to Tokyo? You’ve found the best place to stay in Tokyo and now you want to find some great food places. First off, congrats! I’m so jealous. Tokyo is one of my all time favorite cities. There is so much to do, so much to see, and most importantly, so much to eat. Check out a Tokyo city guide before you go to make sure you don’t miss out on any cool things to do. Tokyo has it all, from hole in the wall gyoza places to high-end Michelin sushi bars. If you’re planning on going to Tokyo and are staying in something like these hotels in Shinjuku, plan on eating, because eating is half the fun.
A quick note on planning: keep your expectations low. I don’t mean that the food is going to be bad – quite the opposite in fact: the food is going to blow your mind. It’s the expectation that you’ll be able to find the places that you want to eat at that most likely won’t be met. The addresses in Tokyo are very, very peculiar. Don’t forget to look up if you’re looking for a restaurant. Many times they’re tucked away on the second floor or higher. Not everything’s at street level. In fact, I’d say that a large majority of places aren’t. Google Maps helps if you have internet. And if you don’t, most people are friendly enough to help you out, as long as they’re not in the middle of something.