Things to Eat in Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo is one of the few places where I'd never worry about gaining weight despite having a full day itinerary filled with food because you're walking around most of the day. Documenting some of the noms the bf and I had during our recent Tokyo trip, and including Google Maps links to pin for your next trip too! 

Personal Favourites

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Fuunji Tsukemen

Location: Shinjuku

If you're a fan of Tsukemen (dipping ramen), you absolutely have need to make a visit to Fuunji. Springy, al dente noodles paired with a rich, umami chicken broth with a slight fishy note. If I only had time to visit one place for a meal in Tokyo, this would be it.

They do have regular ramen as well, but we both went for the Tsukemen as it was clearly the highlight of the restaurant. Ordering and payment is via a ticket machine. Before you're seated, the staff will request for the ticket and ask if you'd like regular or large noodles (at no extra cost).

Bonus: Dishes are prepared in full view of diners. You get to watch the owner perform his ramen magic, which was extremely entertaining. Everyone is very hospitable and friendly (some of the staff speaks English and Mandarin as well), so even if you're the only tourist amongst the Japanese crowd (which I doubt), you won't feel out of place!

Once you're done savoring every bite of the noodles, there's a flask with diluted dashi stock that you can pour into your bowl of leftover broth and drink it all up as soup! 

They open Monday - Saturdays from 11-3PM, 5-9PM. Go before they open for minimal waiting time. People start standing in line even before they open and the line will get long. We arrived 15 minutes before 5PM on a Monday, and had to wait almost an hour to get a seat!

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Kaiten Sushi

Locations: Almost anywhere

We decided to skip Omakases and go for more pocket-friendly options instead, and were not disappointed. A meal at a Kaiten Sushi place averaged at SGD$50 for 2 (ate till we were stuffed). 

We tried Hanamaru, Katsumidori and Gansozushi, and enjoyed them all. Katsumidori was our favourite as the line was the shortest (to be fair, we visited the one at Ikebukuro which is pretty off-central, and went before dinner time) and the sashimi tasted the best (though only marginally). Price-wise, they're all fairly similar. Some places are better at certain things than others, for instance, Gansozuhi @ Akihabara had really good tuna.

Not all Kaiten Sushi places are made the same, be sure to read reviews first!

Get a seat, order via a sheet or an iPad (it's easy to over order, don't get too excited!), and your dishes will arrive either on a little train or served directly to you from the sushi chef if you're seated near them. There's always free green tea too, help yourselves to the green tea powder and hot water at every table. Once done, the staff comes by to count the number of plates and writes down a final bill amount depending on the colors of the plates. Most places (especially the ones popular amongst tourists) accept cards, but always bring cash just in case!

Some people insists that Omakases are waaaay better,  but the quality difference VS the price difference didn't seem that attractive to us, and we also enjoyed the dining experience so, whatever floats your boat!

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Hidemi Sugino

Location: Ginza

If you're a fan of sweets, Hidemi Sugino, named after the award-winning Japanese pastry chef himself, is a must for entremets that taste as amazing as they look.

I had a mini entremet craze once and found out about Hidemi Sugino when I was reading through recipes. Entremets are basically mousse-based cakes, with multi layers of complementary flavors packed in a little delectable cake. Personally, I love them as the combination of flavors always surprise me and they are absolutely gorgeous!

Some of the entremets are so delicate they'll melt in a matter of minutes if not consumed immediately, which is why some of them are strictly for dine-in only (including Sugino's famous Ambroise). But, there is a strict requirement that all patrons dining in has to order at least 1 drink, so that definitely adds up to the bill. Each dessert alone costs about 600¥ on average, but I personally feel it's worth every Yen (if you simply consider the time/effort taken to construct each little piece by hand, AND the time taken for Sugino to actually experiment and develop these recipes).

We went on a Saturday at opening time of 11AM, and (of course) there was already a long line. Due to space constaints, they only allowed batches of people into the store at once.  There was a to-go line so we managed to get in and out by 11.30AM. Got his cookbook (Taste in Progress, ~7,000¥) and a Tartelette au Caramel (タルトレット * オ * キャラメル, 680¥). Cash only!

Not exactly an entremet, but this easily tops my list of desserts. Flaky pastry tart with a sweet, slightly burnt caramel filling, topped with a perfect quenelle cream and nuts - and this is coming from someone who dislikes caramel! Should've gotten more but the bf and I were stuffed from our morning visit to Tsukiji market 😂

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Mutekiya Ramen

Location: Ikebukuro

Mutekiya is a small little ramen shop location along a busy road near Ikebukuro train station. You know it's good when there's constantly a line. Even before dinner time at 4.30PM, we waited for at least 30 mins to get seats for two. So worth it, though! This was the first ramen we had on our trip, and definitely unforgettable. Rich creamy tonkotsu broth with al dente ramen noodles, topped with melt-in-your-mouth buttery char siew pieces (and only about 1,200¥ per bowl). YUM.

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Magikarp Taiyaki @ Kurikoan

Location: Akihabara

We chanced upon this gem right next to SEGA when we were looking for UFO machines in Akihabara to bring home a Charmander. They were making a fresh batch of Magikarps when we ordered so we got a chocolate Magikarp fresh off the pan. Perhaps you can get it for the gram, but we thought it was delish too.

The taiyakis are a little thicker than the usual, giving a crunch on the outside but a chewy interior. They're not fully "sealed", so it's like the filling sandwiched between two halves of a Magikarp. Magikarps come in Chocolate or Cream only, for 210¥ each. The other normal taiyakis ranges from 140¥ - 250¥. Cash only.

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Sarutahiko Coffee

Locations: Shinjuku, Omotesando

We visited this hole-in-the-wall (literally?) coffee shop in Shinjuku as an alternative to a Blue Bottle coffee outlet, which was closed. Glad we did, because oh wow, this had one of the best lattes I've had. Due to a communication barrier we didn't manage to ask what beans they used, but their espresso wasn't acidic (as how we like it), and the crema that sat atop the latte was perrrrfect. Aromatic and delicious.

Image credits

My handy maps 😛💖

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Chavaty

Location: Omotesando

You think you know milk tea from all your bobas, but Chavaty takes the milk tea game to a whole new level. Their Uva milk tea (uva black tea from Sri Lanka, paired with Hokkaido milk) is out of this world, and this is coming from someone who doesn't like the taste of milk.

They also have a whole range of desserts, like soft-serve, jellies and scones. If Uva milk tea isn't your thing, they have matcha and houjicha as well. Unfortunately we were both stuffed so we just got the milk tea to go, which we ended up keeping and drinking only 2 days later cus we forgot about it in the fridge. Still good, though!

Some other stuff we tried that may be of interest as well:

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Cremia

Location: Shibuya

This store is called "Silkream", but they sell Cremia ice cream - milky soft serve on a cookie cone, very popular soft serve in Japan.

When we started dating the bf mentioned Cremia soft serve and casually said "guess I have to take you to Japan to try it" - guess it happened hehe 😬

 Requested for half milk half chocolate because.. I couldn't decide and wanted both hahaha. We tried it again in Narita airport and got the full milk one and it was waaay too milky for my liking.

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Lattest

Location: Omotesando

Near Chavaty is a cute little coffee shop that Noel randomly found on Google Maps (which was also how we chanced upon Chavaty).

We both had their signature Lattest (Matcha & Original) - hot espresso in cold milk. It was good, but on hindsight it's a pretty simple drink to prepare and paying almost 500¥ for it didn't seem that worth it.

Bonus: If you're a fan of Terrace House, one of the ladies works as a barista here. We only found out when we were there and surfing Yelp.

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Ratio & C

Location: Shibuya

A cute bike x coffee shop that retails bicycle-related goods, and serves coffee by Onibus Coffee (one of Tokyo's top specialty coffee roasters). Also seems like a great place to chill or work out of, although there were limited seats inside.

Unfortunately, nothing else could match up after we had Sarutahiko coffee.. Heh.

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Zaku Zaku
Location: Harajuku

Located along a bustling street in Harajuku, Zaku zaku sells the likes of churro-looking cream puffs with a crispy exterior (explaining the name - Zaku zaku means crunchy in Japanese), filled with Hokkaido custard.

250¥ per piece, 6 for 1450¥. They also sell soft serve at 450¥ per serving. Yep it tastes exactly how you would imagine it to, cream puffs but just crunchy on the outside.

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Cheese Hotdog

Location: Harajuku

We saw a bunch of people standing around munching on this huge corn dog looking thing that is filled with stringy cheese. And the line for that was long. Typical Singaporeans: long line = yum, of course we stood in line... Hahahaha. 

700¥ for this チーズハットグ (chiizu hattogu).

Apparently this started from Korea, and the little square bits on the dog is supposed to be potato? But this one just taste like flour, so it could be dried croutons? To be honest I still don't know what we ate. I only knew how to find it on Google again cus of how iconic the little red food truck looks like...

Poor bf was expecting a real hotdog - meat inside, the cheese was a bonus. But nope, it was a full stick of mozerella coated in batter and deep fried. Looks better than it tastes, oops. 

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Dominique Ansel Bakery

Location: Omotesando

Update May 2019: DA Bakery has closed down in Tokyo. I couldn't find any articles on it, but they removed the Tokyo location from their main website. 

DA is one of my favourite pastry chefs! I love how he injects fun and creativity into traditional pastries. I mean, back then, who would think about turning a croissant into a donut? Visited his bakery for the first time in New York on a summer trip during a school exchange trip in 2014 (omg), and I requested for this visit while we were in Tokyo! TBH I didn't enjoy this meal as much as I expected myself too, but I had the best company, so oh well hehe.

Clockwise: Cronut, DKA, Cookie Shot, Mr Robot

Cronut is well, the cronut. The ever so coveted dessert back then that led to snaking lines in DA's first bakery in NY. This month's special in Japan was the raspberry hazelnut praline. It's interesting, but I always find it overly sweet.

DKA (Dominique Kouign-amann) - hands down my favourite! Buttery, flaky, sugary, and goes so well with a cup of coffee. Yums.

Cookie Shot was sooo disappointing. It's as gimmicky as it looks. Overly chewy and dense cookie (more like a kueh texture) and a shot of milk.

Mr Robot - a Japan-only item. Melon and brown sugar bread topped with craquelin (butter, sugar, flour) that has a robot face cut out. Cute, but too sweet. (The bf ended up eating most of it, oops)

There are a million and one things to choose from the stores. My personal favourites would be the DKA and mini madeleines (little buttery shell-shaped cakes) - they're ultra zesty and fragrant, and you can bring them along to snack on.

By the way, if you're ever planning on visiting the cities where there are DA bakeries, get a DAB passport from the staff! Every item you order that's on the passport entitles you to a stamp. Complete the entire passport and you win a (signed) DA cookbook and 12 cronuts. Talk about excessive, but hey, go for it.

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Tsukiji Market

Location: Tsukiji

There are two parts to Tsujiki market, the outer portion (together with most of the morning tuna action) recently moved to Toyosu, what remains in the original location are some of the shops.

 The only time I got to eat Warabi mochi during the entire trip :( We got it from some random stall - kinako, matcha and goma. Yums.

There were a lot of BBQ stalls too, we got from a random one - hotate (scallops), eel and gizzard

There are a lot of tamagoyaki stalls in Tsukiji, but we went for the one at Yamacho (which of course, had a super long line, but it moved quickly). They sell it for 100¥ a stick, there's a salty and sweet version.

It was extremely therapeutic to watch them cook the tamagoyaki!

Bonus: There are cute gachapon machines all around! We found one dispensing Pokemon cat hats and tried it. Kept a Vulpix one for our future cat.. LOL.

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Udon Shin 

Location: Shinjuku

We tried this RIGHT after going to Fuunji, which I still don't know if it was a bad idea cus we were stuffed, but the store was just across the street from Fuunji. Look out for the line, we went straight for the door and got called out for cutting the line cus the line broke into two. Oops. We stood in line for about 45 mins around dinner time on a Monday.

You can find their English menu here. Given the small space, there is a minimum requirement of at least 1 dish per person, if not you pay a "cover charge" of 650¥, which is also the price of their most minimalistic udon (Udon + Raw Egg).

Left: Soy Sauce Udon Noodles + Soft Boiled Egg Tempura + Pork Fillet (1200¥)

Right: Udon + Raw Egg (650¥)

We both barely finished it cus we were full, and also thought there was nothing special about the udon in terms of texture nor taste. There are varying opinions on this, some people swear that the udon is the best they've ever had. Not for us!

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Burnside Cafe

Location: Harajuku

Another disappointment, not sure what we were expecting, though. Initially, we wanted to go to Gram @ Harajuku. There's a ticketing system and we did get a number, but it was at a timing when we were full and also planning to leave Harajuku, so we opted to walk around and try Burnside Cafe instead.

They have pretty extensive menu, but we only wanted to try their fluffy pancakes and got the White Souffle pancakes for 1220¥. Unfortunately they have a min. order per pax, so we got a Cafe Latte (600¥) as well. They accept cash only!

Coffee was just okay. Pancakes-wise, they were indeed very fluffy but eggy/bland. Whip your own egg whites at home and use a mold, you can make these too.

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Gyukatsu Motomura

Location:  Harajuku 

(But they are also available everywhere else)

Gyukatsu was apparently really popular a couple of years back, but I think the hype may have died down. Fortunately the outlet at Harajuku that we went to was not crowded even during dinner time. It was a satisfying meal for the cold weather.

Deep fried breaded beef cutlet, think Tonkatsu but only that it's beef and not pork. You get a hot grill where you finish off the beef to how you like it, and eat it with their special sauce, rice and cabbage.

What are some of your favourites in Tokyo? Anything we didn't manage to try that you absolutely love? Let me know! 👇