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.

Tsujita is a well known mini franchise that’s popular both in Tokyo and LA. It’s hilarious, because when we live in Tokyo, Tsujita is just our neighborhood ramen shop (along with many, many others). All of their branches specialize in different styles of ramen, but Tsujita’s main attraction is tsukemen, or dipping ramen. Mike had the tsukemen and it’s one of his top ten bowls. The noodles are thick, bouncy, and served with a wedge of sudachi lime. The dipping broth is super flavorful and full of bits of pork. When you finish your noodles, if you hold your bowl up, the staff will fill it up with hot unseasoned broth and you can drink the soup. Pictured here is their regular bowl of ramen, which was what I had. I like tsukemen, but usually, given a choice, I’ll go for regular ramen.
Mentsudan
Ramen always gets all the love, but give me a bowl of udon any day and I’ll be a happy camper. Menstudan, like so many other udon bars in the city, is an unassuming affair where you walk up to the counter, order your noodles, then head to the tempura bar to pick out your toppings. No big deal, right? Yes, and no – the noodles are hand made in store and the tempura, if you time it right, is hot and fresh. Bonus, there’s a DIY beer pouring machine that’s a little bit of extra fun.

I love the udon texture and broth at Mentsudan, but if you don’t want to search for the one Mentsudan in the city, go to one of the many Marugames. They have kashiwa chicken, which is super juicy and crisp chicken breast tempura. If you swear you don’t like chicken breast, all it will take is one bite of kashiwa when it comes fresh out of the fryer and you’ll be a chicken breast convert. I’d go to Marugame just for the kashiwa chicken. The udon is decent too! Oh, and if you think the name Marugame sounds a bit familiar, you’re right! They have outposts in other parts of Asia, as well as Hawaii.
Afuri
Afuri is one of my favorite bowls in Tokyo. They specialize in yuzu ramen and if you’re a fan of citrus, you’ll love the broth here. The yuzu is subtle, yet noticeable. The broth is a light chicken, fish, kombu affair and the noodles are thin, yet firm. The boiled eggs always have creamy orange centers and each slice of charsiu is charred a bit over an open flame. A tiny bit of yuzu zest sits on top of the egg and when you lean down to breathe in the smell of the delicate broth, you’re overwhelmed with hunger. The tsukemen here, according to Mike, is pretty damn good, but I’ve always been too busy devouring my own bowl to pay attention to anything else.

I love the udon texture and broth at Mentsudan, but if you don’t want to search for the one Mentsudan in the city, go to one of the many Marugames. They have kashiwa chicken, which is super juicy and crisp chicken breast tempura. If you swear you don’t like chicken breast, all it will take is one bite of kashiwa when it comes fresh out of the fryer and you’ll be a chicken breast convert. I’d go to Marugame just for the kashiwa chicken. The udon is decent too! Oh, and if you think the name Marugame sounds a bit familiar, you’re right! They have outposts in other parts of Asia, as well as Hawaii.
Afuri
Afuri is one of my favorite bowls in Tokyo. They specialize in yuzu ramen and if you’re a fan of citrus, you’ll love the broth here. The yuzu is subtle, yet noticeable. The broth is a light chicken, fish, kombu affair and the noodles are thin, yet firm. The boiled eggs always have creamy orange centers and each slice of charsiu is charred a bit over an open flame. A tiny bit of yuzu zest sits on top of the egg and when you lean down to breathe in the smell of the delicate broth, you’re overwhelmed with hunger. The tsukemen here, according to Mike, is pretty damn good, but I’ve always been too busy devouring my own bowl to pay attention to anything else.

Tsujita is a well known mini franchise that’s popular both in Tokyo and LA. It’s hilarious, because when we live in Tokyo, Tsujita is just our neighborhood ramen shop (along with many, many others). All of their branches specialize in different styles of ramen, but Tsujita’s main attraction is tsukemen, or dipping ramen. Mike had the tsukemen and it’s one of his top ten bowls. The noodles are thick, bouncy, and served with a wedge of sudachi lime. The dipping broth is super flavorful and full of bits of pork. When you finish your noodles, if you hold your bowl up, the staff will fill it up with hot unseasoned broth and you can drink the soup. Pictured here is their regular bowl of ramen, which was what I had. I like tsukemen, but usually, given a choice, I’ll go for regular ramen.
Mentsudan
Ramen always gets all the love, but give me a bowl of udon any day and I’ll be a happy camper. Menstudan, like so many other udon bars in the city, is an unassuming affair where you walk up to the counter, order your noodles, then head to the tempura bar to pick out your toppings. No big deal, right? Yes, and no – the noodles are hand made in store and the tempura, if you time it right, is hot and fresh. Bonus, there’s a DIY beer pouring machine that’s a little bit of extra fun.

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.