Where to Eat in Tokyo Guide & Map of the Best Restaurants

Tokyo is one of the greatest cities in the world, and its diverse culinary scene makes it one of the most exciting food destinations. The bustling capital of Japan is the city with the most Michelin stars in the world – but you don’t have to spend a lot of money to eat great food in Tokyo. Even convenience stores like 7-Eleven, Lawson, and Family Mart sell high-quality food, like egg salad sandos, onigiri, and fried chicken. Restaurants in Tokyo are extremely specialized – instead of large menus with a variety of options, it’s more likely to stumble into hole-in-the-wall shops with highly specific offerings. Whether you’re looking for traditional Japanese cuisine like sushi, ramen, and kaiseki, exciting street food, or world-class fine dining, Tokyo has it all.

With a population of over 37 million people in the greater metropolitan area and tens of thousands of restaurants to choose from, it can be overwhelming for first-time visitors to know where to go. In this foodie map, we have gathered all our Tokyo favorites. You’ll find everything from specialty coffee shops to award-winning cocktail bars and, of course, all the ramen you could dream of. Navigate the map easily either by scrolling through the list on the right or by clicking the points on the map. Places are listed in geographical order.

Calling all carnivores! Nakahara is our favorite eatery in Japan. Chef Kentaro (“Henry”) Nakahara is a self-taught butcher and a master of meat. He serves a tongue-to-tail wagyu tasting menu exclusively using Ōmi beef. Book seats at the counter to watch the marbled meat expertly cut by hand and cooked in front of you on the binchotan charcoal grills. The meat is all from the same cow – some of our favorite bites were the sirloin, the hanging tender, and the ribeye. The pieces are cut in different thicknesses and served with condiments like yuzu pepper kosho or garlic soy sauce, which enhance its distinct qualities. The meal concludes with Nakahara’s iconic wagyu katsu sando: a tenderloin filet coated in panko, fried, and served between two slices of fluffy white bread with tomato purée. We can confidently say this is the best steak we’ve ever had. Note: Nakahara offers online reservations.

When in Tokyo, a visit to Golden Gai is a must. This buzzy nightlife district is made up of narrow alleys lined with two-story shanty-style buildings. Inside, you’ll find hole-in-the-wall bars stacked on top of each other – tight, crammed spaces, typically with six to eight seats per bar. It can be hard to find a seat, but luckily there are over 200 bars in the area. Our top recommendation here is Pitou, a natural wine bar with fridges full of fun. We climbed the ladder to the second floor, took over the private room upstairs, turned up the music, and popped bottles from Gut Oggau, Radikon, Matassa, and Pierre Overnoy until five in the morning.

A Tokyo favorite noodle spot we always revisit is Udon Shin. On our first visit, we waited hours in line for these noodles, but now they have a ticketing system. Go a couple of hours before you want to eat, take a ticket from the machine, and receive a QR code with your queue number and estimated wait time. Grab a drink while you wait; you’ll be notified when it’s time to return to the restaurant. Then, you still have to wait in line a little (we waited 30 minutes), but at least you don’t have to stand the entire time. What you want here: the udon noodles with a raw egg, parmesan, butter, pepper, and bacon tempura. It tastes like the cacio e pepe of Japan – thick, slippery noodles in a creamy, cheesy, buttery sauce, topped with a slab of pork tempura, like a crispy piece of bacon. Absolutely worth the wait! Note: Udon Shin is cash only.

Former Florilège pastry chef Miho Horio used to host kakigori pop-ups before opening her own seven-seat counter in the Yoyogi district. The menu at her decadent dessert shop changes seasonally, with layered shaved ice creations filled with fresh fruit syrups, rich creams, foams, and jellies. On our visit, we tried the Cherry Blossom kakigori flavored with sakura leaf syrup and almond blossom, and a Strawberry Chiboust variety with strawberries, cream, pastry crumbles, and a brûléed custard on top. These are some of the best kakigori we’ve ever had! Note: Azuki to Kōri offers online reservations.

Conveniently located in our favorite part of Tokyo is the Kimpton Shinjuku, the perfect home base in Japan’s capital. Guests can enjoy a free coffee every morning in the lobby coffee shop and are invited to a free social hour every evening with free wine, sake, snacks, and more. The hotel is very close to Shinjuku station, but there are also free bikes for guests who wish to explore the city on wheels. The hotel rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows with sprawling city views, spacious, comfortable beds, and deep tubs perfect for a bubble bath, along with other thoughtful amenities like Japanese print robes, in-room Bluetooth speakers, and yoga mats. There is a state-of-the-art gym open 24 hours a day, and fitness classes are also offered. Whether you’re a guest of the hotel or not, visit Bar 86 on the rooftop for some of the city’s best cocktails and views of Yoyogi Park.

Our favorite little neighborhood in Tokyo is Nishihara, located just beside the beautiful Yoyogi Park. We started a delicious wander down the winding main street at Equal, a take-out-only pastry shop from the owner of restaurant Path. The cream puff is the signature item here – an airy, eggy choux pastry filled with custard cream. Many other tempting treats line the shelves, including crullers, pies, and cheesecakes. Equal also offers packaged pastries like madeleines and financiers for take-away.

Further down Nishihara Street is Kasiki, a sleek, minimalist ice cream shop serving small batch, seasonal ice cream. They offer unique flavor combinations like strawberry and rosemary, orange and rum raisin, and olive oil, vanilla, and sea salt. Our favorite flavors were the chocolate chip cardamom and the apricot kernel and jasmine tea. Pair your ice cream scoop with a glass of natural wine, coffee, or tea.

Été is a private dining concept from chef Natsuko Shoji, an award-winning pastry chef and artist who was previously the sous chef at the two-Michelin-starred Florilège. Été has only one table that seats up to six people. Shoji and one or two assistants prepare the entire meal themselves. Été sits at the intersection of food and art. It’s a stunning, aesthetic meal, but the flavors are balanced and delicious. From the sweet uni tart to the decadent lobster pithivier, these were some of the tastiest bites of our Japan trip. Été is well worth saving up for on a special occasion, but if you just want a taste of her food, splurge on one of her signature takeaway fruit tarts. The signature mango tart with whipped cream and a buttery cookie crumble is one of the best desserts we’ve ever had. Note: Été offers online reservations.

Le Cabaret is a French bistro and natural wine hub in Tokyo. Classic French dishes are written on a blackboard daily, with staples like steak frites and “rillettes de canard” often on the menu. However, even more impressive than the food is the wine cellar, featuring rare bottles from mainly small-scale French producers. There are some unicorn bottles here! Save room for decadent desserts like lemon tart and créme caramel.

Switch Coffee is our favorite Japanese specialty roaster, open for over a decade, with several cafés now operating around Tokyo. Owner Masahiro Onishi prides himself on sourcing, roasting, and serving the highest quality coffee beans possible. Hand-drip coffees, espresso drinks, and even rum lattes are served at the brew bar. We especially loved a fruity gesha from Honduras with notes of orange, cherry, honey, jasmine, and chamomile.

Fuglen is a Norwegian specialty coffee roaster with a few locations in Japan. The original, and our favorite café in Tokyo, is in the Shibuya district – it’s a coffee shop by day and a cocktail bar by night, with vintage Scandinavian furniture and a cozy design. On the menu, you’ll find espresso-based drinks, pour-overs, and Norwegian breakfast staples like heart-shaped waffles and slices of bread topped with brunost (brown cheese).

Our favorite natural wine bar in Tokyo is Ahiru Store, a cozy corner shop in the Tomigaya neighborhood. On the shelves, you’ll see a large selection of minimal intervention wines, mostly from legendary French and Austrian producers. You won’t find a selection like this at any other bar in town. Bistro-style small plates are available to go with the wine, such as bread, pâté, sausages, and oeuf mayonnaise. Ahiru Store is popular – arrive before they open to guarantee you get a seat.

The Sip and Guzzle (“SG”) Club is our favorite cocktail bar in Tokyo. This multi-story bar houses unique concepts on every level – Guzzle, on the ground floor, and Sip downstairs. Like the name suggests, on the menu at Sip you’ll find creative, complex cocktails that make you think, while Guzzle serves the chuggable, delicious, easy-to-drink juice. We loved trying drinks in both bars, but we found the cocktails at Guzzle most suited to our palate, with the most fun vibe. The top floor houses Savor, a members-only cigar and cocktail lounge. The SG Club is frequently ranked among The World’s 50 Best Bars.

Den in Tokyo has two Michelin stars and is a mainstay on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. Chef Zaiyu Hasegawa serves a modern, playful take on traditional kaiseki cuisine, with dishes like the signature "Dentucky Fried Chicken" (stuffed chicken wings served in a take-away box), Japanese carbonara made with asparagus, egg, and dashi, a savory cappuccino served in a Starbucks mug, and the famous Den salad topped with a smiley-face shaped carrot slice. The team at Den is unmatched when it comes to hospitality, making guests instantly feel part of the Den family. Note: Call to book – Den offers reservations over the phone.

Chef Shinobu Namae’s three-Michelin-starred fine dining restaurant, L’Effervescence, has been open since 2010 and is frequently featured on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. L’Effervescence has won awards for its sustainability efforts – the chefs work with small, local farms and feature only the best seasonal ingredients. The only dish that is always on the menu is the “Tokyo turnip,” a signature dish that changes as the turnips become sweeter in the summer and more bitter in the winter. However, our favorite course was the wood-fired Kyoto duck with port sauce, mountain vegetables, and morel mushrooms. While the dining room was very formal, with white tablecloths and staff in suits, the service was incredibly friendly and put us at ease. Note: L’Effervescence offers online reservations.

Butagumi is a popular place for tonkatsu, located inside a traditional Japanese house in the Nishi-Azabu neighborhood of Tokyo. There’s a variety of premium pork on the menu, with details about the origin of the meat as well as explanations of the different cuts to help guests choose based on their preference. We tried two different cuts – juicy sirloin and fatty pork belly, both deep-fried in panko breadcrumbs. All tonkatsu is served with rice, miso soup, fresh cabbage salad, and pickles.

Bricolage is a bakery and collaborative project from chef Shinobu Namae of three-Michelin-starred L’Effervescence, baker Ayumu Iwanaga, and Kenji Kojima, head roaster of Fuglen Coffee. You’ll find our favorite pastries in Japan here, with items like chocolate escargot, croissants, and pain au chocolat on the shelves, alongside loaves of artisanal bread made with whole grain Japanese wheat. There are also sandwiches, salads, and, of course, Fuglen coffee.

You’ll find our favorite pizza in Tokyo at Savoy, which serves authentic, Neapolitan-style pizzas from a wood-fired oven. Savoy first opened in 1995, and now has a few locations around the city. Only two pizzas are served at Savoy Classic: margherita and marinara. We loved the margherita, with tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, and basil, and an exceptionally pillowy crust.

Tucked away down a plant-lined path in Tokyo’s Ebisu neighborhood is Winestand Waltz, a discreet natural wine bar from Yasuhiro Ooyama. The slim interior is standing-room-only, with a small counter that accommodates around eight guests. The rotating wine list often features bottles from Jura and Japan, as well as other European hotspots. Note: Winestand Waltz is cash only.

Since our first visit to Tokyo, Land Bar Artisan has relocated from its original basement location to the fourth floor of the New Shimbashi Building in Ginza. There are only nine seats at the bar, but if you’re lucky enough to snag one you’ll be rewarded with some of Tokyo’s best tipples. There’s no menu here – simply describe your preferences to Daisuke Ito, the extremely friendly owner, and watch him whip up a craft cocktail. Drinks are often fruit-based – we loved one that combined Japanese yuzu, apple, lime, and gin, and another that featured strawberry, gin, and ginger beer.

Kagari is another of our favorite Tokyo ramen shops, tucked away in an alley in the Ginza neighborhood. The signature dish is the Tori Paitan Soba, a chicken-based ramen with a rich, creamy broth and the optional addition of soy sauce and truffle. With thin slices of slow-cooked chicken, seasonal vegetables, and delicate noodles, it’s more like a chicken soup than your typical ramen. The shop is small, so expect a line of people waiting for a seat at the U-shaped counter – but this ramen is worth the wait. Note: Kagari is cash only.

Three-Michelin-starred Sézanne is one of the top fine dining restaurants in Japan. British chef Daniel Calvert, who formerly worked at Per Se in New York, Epicure in Paris, and Belon in Hong Kong, now shines at his Tokyo restaurant. A master in sauces and an expert at enhancing Japanese ingredients, he skillfully blends French elements into his seasonal menu. The uni tart was the star of an exceptional meal, with Hokkaido sea urchin served atop riz au lait. This bite was dessert-like, melting in our mouths, with the uni’s sweetness harmonizing with creamy rice pudding inside a buttery tart shell. Another favorite was a sakura dessert with sabayon cream, cherry leaf, cherry blossom oil, and cherries – the perfect intersection of French and Japanese cuisines. Note: Sézanne offers online reservations.

Butter lovers – rejoice! This specialty butter boutique is a pastry lover’s paradise, featuring the renowned French butter brand Échiré. You can buy packs of butter to take home, but you can also purchase baked goods such as croissants, madeleines, and financiers, all made with different varieties of Échiré butter (doux, demi-sel, etc.). We waited an hour in line for the most buttery croissants we’ve ever eaten – moist, perfectly laminated, and absolutely delicious. Line up early – many items sell out within a couple of hours of the store’s opening.

In the basement of Tokyo Station you’ll find “Ramen Street,” where there are eight ramen stalls in a row. Here, you’ll find the legendary Rokurinsha, one of the first spots to popularize tsukemen, a type of ramen where the noodles are served separately so you can dip them into the broth. You’ll have to line up, but the queue moves quickly. Our favorite was “Special Dip Noodle 1” with thick, chewy noodles, a seasoned egg, and minced pork meat in a rich, savory broth. Rokurinsha also has a few other locations around Tokyo. Note: Rokurinsha is cash only.

Can you handle the heat? Kikanbo serves Tokyo’s spiciest ramen, flavored with hot red chili peppers and numbing Sichuan peppercorns. You can pick how spicy you want your ramen, from no heat all the way to “devilishly hot.” The steaming, sizzling, spicy miso ramen is topped with stir-fried bean sprouts, sweet baby corn, and super fatty braised pork belly. The noodles have a fun texture – they're cut in slightly different sizes for more textural variety. Kikanbo is absolutely worth the queue – this is our favorite ramen in Tokyo! Note: Kikanbo is cash only.