When it comes to dining, there is nowhere to rival Tokyo. One of the largest urban areas on the planet, it has an appetite to match, with well over 100,000 registered restaurants to feed a populace that really cares about what it eats. And the remarkable thing is how well they go about it. From high-end kaiseki to street-corner ramen counters, it really is difficult to get a bad meal.
From its earliest days, this has always been a city on the go, expanding fast and needing to sustain its workforce. As the capital of the shoguns, it grew from a sleepy castle town (then called Edo) into the greatest conurbation in the world. With cramped houses built of timber, narrow alleys and a largely male population, there was little room, time or inclination for home cooking. So people ate on the street, snacking as and when they could.
That is how many of Japan’s best dishes originated. Soba noodles, tempura and unagi (eel) were all street foods, sold by hawkers from simple stalls slung over their shoulders. Nigiri sushi was invented in the 18th century to fit the constant on-the-go pace of life. Instead of spending time to preserve raw fish by marinating or fermenting it, the breakthrough was served on rice seasoned with vinegar and fashioned by hand. It became known as Edomae sushi, so called because the seafood came from the bay right in front of the city.
Itinerant street stalls have now been replaced by brick-and-mortar restaurants. But the idea of sushi as fast food lives on today, most famously at Sukiyabashi Jiro, where the nigiri are served at such a pace you can expect to finish your meal and be out of the door inside half an hour.
Thankfully, few other sushi specialists are so hard-wired to tradition. Each has its own approach – some use red vinegar; others age their fish; all take pride in the quality of their ingredients – but invariably offers an extended omakase (“leave it up to the chef”) menu that starts with a series of tsumami (seafood appetisers) and closes with tamago-yaki (sweet-savoury omelette). Count on spending two hours or more watching (and then tasting) an extended masterclass in the sublime art of serving seafood on vinegared rice.
Ginza is where you find the highest concentration of sushiya. But there are many other areas – and so much more to eat than just sushi. From high-end steakhouses serving name-brand wagyu beef to discreet backstreet counters offering sublime
yakitori (charcoal-grilled skewers of chicken) or artisan tonkatsu (breaded pork cutlets) – not to mention some of the finest French cuisine outside France – the choice is truly inexhaustible.
5 must-try restaurants to sample the finest fare in Japan’s electrifying metropolis:
1. Sushi Saito
There are other sushi chefs in Tokyo who are more venerable and famous – Jiro (“Dreams of Sushi”) Ono being the most obvious example. But none are held in greater esteem than Takashi Saito. In his late forties, he has built up a devoted following, not just in Japan but around the world.
And with good reason: his two-hour omakase (“leave it up to the chef”) sushi service is flawless. A series of appetisers – the abalone is legendary – leads into the actual nigiri, the highlight of which is his flight of three tuna cuts: marinated akami (red meat), followed by creamy chu-toro, and finally the fatty o-toro, almost as rich as wagyu beef. Beyond this technical expertise, what distinguishes Saito is that it feels comfortable and approachable. No wonder the waiting list for the nine seats at his smooth, cedar-wood counter is longer than ever.
Ark Hills South Tower 1F, 1-4-5 Roppongi, Minato-ku; +81 3 3589 4412
2. Narisawa
Yoshihiro Narisawa trained with some of the greatest chefs in Europe – Joël Robuchon, Frédy Girardet and Paul Bocuse – but the cuisine he serves at his sleek, modern restaurant in upmarket Aoyama is very much his own. Intensely driven by Japan’s long tradition of artisan foods, he sources ingredients directly from farmers, fishermen and foragers throughout the country, to produce dishes that reflect the earth, forests and streams that comprise the Japanese terroir.
His extended tasting menus (both lunch and dinner) may feature Hokkaido sea urchin, sea snake from Okinawa or fugu (pufferfish) alongside such signature dishes as his black-crusted wagyu beef. Drink pairings are also likely to incorporate premium sake alongside Japanese and European wines. Now in its twelfth year, Narisawa is firing on all cylinders – and this is reflected in its recent elevation to eighth place in the annual World’s 50 Best Restaurants list.
2-6-15 Minami Aoyama, Minato-ku; +81 3 3589 4412; www.narisawa-yoshihiro.com
3. Mikawa Zezankyo
Premium tempura, like the finest sushi, is one of the crowning glories of Japanese cuisine. And, in just the same way, the very best tempura restaurants are those where you sit at a counter and watch a master chef preparing each succulent piece in front of you. At Mikawa Zezankyo, veteran Tetsuya Saotome produces superb morsels of seafood and vegetables, serving them directly from his deep-frying wok to your plate. The wooden nine-seat counter is in traditional style, but the eclectic décor is anything but. In-between courses, gaze around at the European antiques, traditional lacquer work and the extractor hood in the shape of Saotome’s favorite fedora. Zezankyo lies quite a distance from Ginza and the centre of the city, but it well repays the taxi ride out into the residential backstreets east of the Sumida River.
1-3-1 Fukuzumi, Koto-ku; +81 3 3643 8383; www.mikawa-zezankyo.jimdo.com
4. Shiba Tofuya Ukai
In a city of intimate, single-counter restaurants, Shiba Tofuya Ukai is a magnificent anomaly. Instead of a single central dining room, this sprawling, low-rise, 800-seat complex has individual dining rooms, all of them overlooking carp ponds or traditional gardens. With bustling kimono-clad waitresses, it feels more like a rural ryokan inn than in the town centre beneath the iconic Tokyo Tower.
The menu’s focus is tofu, which is brought in fresh each day from a small workshop in the hills of western Tokyo. This features in a number of dishes, such as creamy, soy-milk casseroles that are cooked at your table; or deep-fried tofu pouches, which are grilled over charcoal in a hut in the middle of the garden. While a vegetarian option is also available, the centrepiece of the multi-course meals is usually fish or meat. Don’t expect cuisine of great subtlety. Just settle in and enjoy the view and the remarkable sense of having left the bustle of the city behind.
4-4-13 Shiba-Koen, Minato-ku; +81 3 3436 1028; www.ukai.co.jp/shiba
5. Den
Both outside and in, Den looks entirely traditional. But after taking your seat at the small, nine-person counter, its unique style quickly becomes apparent. Chef Zaiyu Hasegawa’s cooking is deeply based on the principles of kaiseki, Japan’s traditional haute cuisine. But he is not shy to incorporate influences and ideas from chef friends around Japan, and from as far away as Denmark (René Redzepi of Noma) or Brazil (Alex Atala of D.O.M.).
As is so common in Japan, his multi-course menus are intensely seasonal, revolving around ingredients that he sources direct from the producers. But they also feature audacious and often humorous touches, from foie gras in his appetisers and ants in his colourful salads to his now-trademark Dentucky Fried Chicken. “I cook dishes that reflect modern Tokyo, not ancient Kyoto,” he likes to say. “The only thing that matters is that my customers leave satisfied, and with smiles on their faces.”
2-2-32 Kanda-Jimbocho, Chiyoda-ku; +81 03 3222 3978; www.jimbochoden.com
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