The 10 Best Restaurants
in tokyo
Tokyo would probably be the foreign city if I had to eat one city’s food for the rest of my life, every day. It would have to be Tokyo, and I think the majority of chefs you ask that question would answer the same way.”
Anthony Bourdain
Exploring the most populated mega-city in the world for its delicious cuisine is not an easy challenge. Tokyo, Japan is over-saturated with restaurants that prepare inexpensive dishes using fresh ingredients. Almost every takeaway, diner, and izakaya serves the most scrumptious meals.
From cheap and delicious eats that are favorite restaurants among tourists and locals alike, to Michelin star establishments that serve the most robust meals. This article explores the top ten best restaurants to eat in Tokyo Japan.
Ichiran Ramen
Tokyo’s most iconic and tasty ramen noodle restaurant franchise that’s available across the city is called Ichiran Ramen. Tourists rave about these ramen noodle restaurants as being rich in flavor, and easy to customize.
Customers can pick their desired amount of seasoning in their broth, along with spice, shallots, and even the level of chicken stock. Once seated at a booth, you are served by your server through a partition, making your dining experience socially distanced. Ichiran Ramen also has takeaway boxes of ramen and seasoning packets to bring back home!
Maidreamin
Unlike most cafes found around the world, Maidreamin is a maid cafe that provides patrons with delicious sweets and pop-oriented, family-friendly dance performances! You can find Maidreamin locations all over Tokyo, however most are found in Akihabara, the city’s arcade and electronics hub.
Ordering food or drink to your table is accompanied by a cheerful maid who gives you an at-the-table dance. Followed by casting a magical incantation in Japanese that makes the food more delicious!
Chicken katsu, Japanese curry, ice cream floats, and so much more is available while you enjoy your live performance. Once the show is over, you can get your picture taken with the maid performers and a surprise gift!
Ninja Cafe and Bar
If you have ever had childhood dreams of throwing shurikens, wearing ninja attire, and drinking tea from a coaster lit on fire. Then visit this ninja-themed restaurant located in Asakusa within Taito, Tokyo Japan. There are several interactive activities from participating in tea ceremonies to practicing blow darts like an assassin!
Some meals are shaped like ninja stars, and alcoholic beverages are available for adult customers above the age of twenty. After enjoying a scrumptious shinobi-themed meal. A gift shop full of beautiful Japanese souvenirs awaits! Here are some of the cool items that you can get your hands on:
Kinchaku
These small and stylish pouches are traditionally used to carry around small everyday necessities including coins, charms, keys, and more.
Katana Chopsticks
For the equivalent of $24.13 USD, you can get yourself a pair of black chopsticks designed to look like samurai katanas. They also come with a charming-looking katana holder for the chopsticks.
Real Japanese Katana
For the price of ¥30,000 ($241.25 USD). Impress anyone that comes over to your place when you bring home an actual Japanese sword! The length of the blade is around 60-80 centimeters long. Make sure to follow the proper procedure to bring home a weapon on a commercial aircraft.
Shibuya Gyoza
Located in the heart of Tokyo, Japan, Shibuya Gyoza is only a short walk away from the popular Shibuya subway station. This place’s menu is jam-packed full of delicious Japanese staple drinking foods. Gyoza is the most popular item on the menu; you have a choice of being served steamed or pan-fried gyoza.
The atmosphere of this restaurant is very loud, cheerful, and very welcoming to foreigners! Before you bring your friends and family to enjoy succulent pork gyoza, it’s important to know that the no-smoking policy isn’t enforced at this establishment. So travelers who have asthma or other respiratory-related illnesses may want to dine somewhere else on this list.
Kobe Beef Kaiseki 511
If you’re looking to dine in luxury, look no further than eating at Kobe Beef Kaiseki 511. This bougie restaurant is well-known within the megacity for being a top-notch bistro that offers kobe beef on the menu. Private rooms can be reserved for guests that are bringing parties of four to eight people, keep in mind there are charges for special private rooms.
Kaiseki 511 is also equipped with a cellar filled with world-class bottles of red and white wine. Your sommelier will recommend which wine you should have, depending on the specific course meal you select.
Travelers should be aware that multi-course meals at this high-end bistro will cost between $132.69 USD to 159.23 USD. Although the cuisine is expensive, it is absolutely worth the robust experience of tasting kobe and wagyu beef.
Katsumidori Seibu
This spot is arguably one of Tokyo’s most tasty all-you-can-eat spots within the city. This restaurant is not just full of mouth-watering sushi and Japanese dishes. It also is strapped with a conveyor belt surrounding each booth that brings what you order right to your table!
Not only are conveyor belt restaurants a lot of fun, but they’re also quite affordable for travelers on a tight budget. What stands out about Katsumidori Seibu is the enormous menu. Take a look at just a some of the delicious dishes you can find:
Nigirizushi
At Katsumidori there are over 60+ different kinds of Nigirizushi that you can have delivered right to your table via conveyor belt. Some of the different fish on the large menu include shrimp, pufferfish, squid, eel, tuna, salmon, and so much more!
Japanese Fried Seafood
There is something about Japanese breaded and deep-fried foods that taste unlike anything else around the globe. There’s a perfect balance of well-seasoned flavor and crispy breading that makes every bite so satisfying. Oysters, octopus, shishamo, and crab can all be ordered both uncooked and deep-fried at Katsumidori Seibu.
Desserts
After enjoying plate after plate of flavorsome Japanese food. It’s time to enjoy some dessert! Take a bite out of some classics like soft-serve ice cream that comes in flavors such as mango, strawberry, and vanilla. If you’re feeling adventurous with your sweet tooth, try the candied sweet potato or the kuromitsu kinako tofu.
Teddy’s Bigger Burgers
Craving a burger from back home? Missing food that reminds you of your roots can happen a week or two into visiting another country. The perfect cure to homesickness is a dose of one big juicy burger! Teddy’s Bigger Burgers makes giant Hawaiian-style burgers that look incredibly appetizing.
Teddy’s Bigger Burgers is a chain that’s found around multiple cities in Japan. Along with restaurant locations in Thailand, the Philippines, and the United States. Single, double, triple, and quadruple giant cheesy Hawaiian burgers are available to sink your teeth into. French fries are coated with a light breading that makes them deliciously crunchy.
If you’re in the mood for some fried chicken, Teddy’s Bigger Burgers also has fried tenders and chicken burgers on the menu. They even come with curly fries and spicy mayo too.
KFC Buffet
Another American restaurant that’s amped up in Tokyo is the unique all-you-can-eat KFC. The original recipe of fried chicken is not the only thing on the menu at these buffet locations around the mega-city. Other items such as soup curry, biscuits, pasta, and rice can be found at the KFC buffet.
Guests looking for the full experience can also pay for an all-you-can-drink package that’s for soft drinks or beer! Lunch service will cost roughly the equivalent of $18 USD.
While dinner service is priced at around $22.50 USD, keep in mind children that are under the age of 4 can eat for free.
Tempura Kondo
Opening shop in 1991, Chef Fumio Kondo at the age of 23 had no idea he was going to be the owner of one of the world’s most high-end tempura restaurants. Before you head on over to take a bite of Chef Kondo’s world-famous tempura, check out their website.
A reservation must be made in advance before dining at this expensive establishment.
Once you’re booked in, get ready to enjoy some of the planet’s most well-prepared tempura! You can find shellfish, vegetables, fish, and even cheesecake tempura on the menu.
Dinner at Tempura Kondo will cost around $130 to $210 USD depending on which multi-course meal you choose.
Milky Way Cafe
Our final entry on our list ends with a cafe that serves a plethora of treats that look (and taste) delicious. The Milky Way Cafe is located in the Toshima area in Tokyo. Parfaits, ice cream, Belgian waffles, fruit bowls, and rootbeer floats can all be found at the Milky Way Cafe.
Colorful fruity drinks and cocktails can be ordered to wash down your sweet desserts. Toppings such as fruit puree, nuts, chocolate shavings, and candy can be added to your ice cream too.
Entrees including cheesy baked potatoes, seasoned wedges, and ravioli are also available for purchase.
Those are my list of the best restaurants to in Tokyo
There’s an estimated number of 60,000 restaurants in Tokyo Japan for tourists to try. From healthy options that revolve around seafood and vegetables, to our favorite unhealthy deep-fried drunk foods.
The biggest mega-city in the world is bursting with so many amazing culinary experiences that undoubtedly make every restaurant a great choice to sit down, relax, and have a meal.
Itadakimasu!
Jonathan Cohen is a world traveler, SEO Specialist, and co-owner of travelling with abundance. A travel blog dedicated to providing realistic and affordable tips for vacationers.
Loving these tips! Japan is definitely one of the best foodie destinations we’ve ever been to. The sushi isn’t too great where we’re from, so we had a LOT of conveyor belt sushi when we were there! The torched eel is particularly good (this applies to all the places we visited in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka).
All the best from Strasbourg, France
Stephanie and Jerome
Travel blog – strafari.com