When you're exploring Tokyo, food will be on your mind. Here's everywhere we ate during our two stints in Tokyo:
I'm going to go most extravagant first though, with the weak yen when we were there, this was really reasonable. And that was
Tapas Molecular Bar at the Mandarin Oriental. There are two sittings, with only eight seats in each sitting, so you do need to book in advance. We had a 14 course omakase (tasting) menu did it with the wine pairings (which included the best sake we had in Japan), all based around a dreamlike culinary experience called "A dream you may or may not have had".
I won't detail all the courses but we kicked off with "Airplane take flight" - caviar, wagyu and cloud. "The serious cow" was another wagyu course, this time with white asparagus and salsa (above). All very delicious. And there's theatrics to everything. The two chefs cook in front of you and they take you through the story of the meal in both Japanese and English as you turn the pages in your illustrated book (which is the menu!). Super quirky; super enjoyable.
We were pretty casual with our dining in Tokyo - we'd seen lots of amazing recommendations, but with them came hefty waiting times and we figured we'd still be able to have awesome food without having to queue hours. We were right. We did reserve
Lab Garage online but everywhere else we showed up and pretty much got seated immediately. Highly recommend Lab Garage, if you're in Shinjuku (it was two mins from our hotel). Great Italian food if you're wanting a break from Japanese - it happens - and also a very fun vibe.
Harry's Sandwich Company is another non-Japanese option - American food in Shibuya - and also recommend
Grill Bon in Ginza for a rather delicious wagyu sando (below; cash only).
But you should, of course, eat lots of Japanese food in Japan. And you're going to want to eat ramen. I mentioned it in my
Osaka and Kobe food post that train stations and airports can be foodie destinations in their own right, and Ramen Street mirrors that - it's under Tokyo Station. There are eight places to choose from and you will have to queue a bit - we also had ramen round the corner another time at
Hakata Ippudo if you don't want to - in Ramen Street we ate at
Hirugao. Join the queue to pay at their vending machine, get your ticket, then join the queue for your food. Cash only, and whilst we were there it was about £3 for a bowl of ramen. So, so cheap!
If you're a katsu curry lover like me, you want
CoCo Ichibanya - mains were around £4, and we ate there twice. (Honestly, katsu curry is my favourite so this was a must for me - I've eaten at the one in London a few times but wanted to make sure I ticked off the OG.) Now, katsu curry is not to be confused with tonkatsu, and we had that at
Katsukichi in Asakusa. Also in that area is
Kanoya if you fancy udon noodles. Katsukichi was fine - nothing compares to the tonkatsu we had in Osaka - but Kanoya was yum. And if you're wondering what something looks like on a menu in Japan, quite often the front of the restaurant will have all the food on display as plastic models (see top photo)!
Asakusa is also known for street food, Hoppy Street in particular. We tried takoyaki dumplings in giant shrimp crackers with potato croquettes at
Taco-Taco (surprisingly nice to say I did not enjoy the takoyaki in Osaka), karaage at
Yukari (yum) and the viral purple sweet potato topped with creme brulee at
Imo Pippi (you can probably live without it!). The only other dessert-like thing we had was at
Shiro-Hige's Cream Puff Factory - also the only Studio Ghibli thing we managed to tick off in Japan. Who can resist a Totoro cream puff!? And if you're wondering about breakfasts, we mostly skipped it, did Denny's one day (average, but it was a few quid) or went to Starbucks. If you're a tea drinker like me, the closest you'll get to an English breakfast tea is having a tea latte at Starbucks - or you might spot a "Royal tea" elsewhere. None compare to the real thing, but that's always the way, I find. (Usually I don't bother for this exact reason.)
Speaking of drinks, we mostly stuck to our hotel's bars. The Gate Hotel has a fabulous view of Tokyo Skytree and Senso-ji Temple. For a different angle of Tokyo Skytree - and if you're feeling fancy - grab a drink at the Mandarin Oriental. We also liked Hotel Groove Shinjuku's bar during our second stint in Tokyo. And near to that hotel you have two well-known drinking areas in Japan: Golden Gai and Omoide Yokocho. The latter is known more colloquially as "Piss Alley"... Worth a look, which we did, then ended up at the hotel bar!
Finally, a shout-out to
Kameido Beer where we popped in for a drink when we went to the wisteria festival - they were very lovely people who let me have some green tea for free as I don't drink beer. Pay them a visit if you're in that area. x
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