A fortnight night holiday in Japan can send you to the poor house if your not careful. However you don’t need to go rummaging around bins for food or restricting yourself to MOS burgers to avoid this. Fortunately some quality restaurants in Japan have some real bargains at lunch.
4. Kisoji
Kisoji in Shinjuku’s specialty is sukyaki which is cooked at your table by waitresses in Kimono. Considering the quality and service, lunchtime is an absolute bargain with prices for a big suyaki set course with a small dessert starting from about £15.
If times are too tight for that you can get this huge sashimi course which comes with tempura, miso soup, rice, dessert and a few other bits and bobs for just 1500 yen (about £7).
Shinjyuku New Fuji building 4-6F, 3-17-5 Shinjyuku, Shinjyuku-ku, Tokyo www.kisoji.co.jp
3. Teppanyaki Akasaka
If you like your steak with a nice view, take a trip to the 37th floor of the ANA hotel for some teppanyaki at Akasaka.
Whilst the evening prices are for Johnny Money Bags with dinner course prices starting at £70, the same courses are a fraction of the cost at lunch.
The lunchtime fillet steak course is only £20 and is absolutely delicious. For an extra £5 the chef will chuck a live prawn on the hot plate, cooking the unfortunate chap alive. This possibly takes freshness to an unnecessary level but it was very nice.
6. Ninja Akasaka
If you want to have your food served to you by a bloke dressed up as ninja, there are not too many options. Thankfully Ninja in Akasaka fits the bill. Normally I wouldn’t go in for this themed restaurant malarkey but unlike other themed restaurants in Tokyo the food is really good, and our ninja was rather amusing, performing an array of “ninja tricks” whilst bravely battling with the English language.
Mind you, the nice food and accompanying ninja shenanigans don’t come cheap with set courses ranging from around £35 to a ridiculous £150.
5. Coco Curry
Delicious, katsu curry barrels unashamedly in at 5 in the form of Coco Curry. Like MOS burger this is a huge chain in Japan but surprisingly few in Tokyo however there is one in Shibuya.
They used to have a challenge where if you could eat 1300g of curry and rice in 20 minutes you got the meal for free. Sadly this no longer exists, but with chicken katsu curry costing only £4 it’s not a deal breaker.
Whilst wandering through Roppongi during my recent holiday to Japan I noticed a young lady with a colourful logo on the back of her jacket.
Japan is no stranger to giving things bizarre names – A drink called Pocari Sweat and a band named Bump of Chicken for example. However I’m pretty sure the peanut butter based product here is not genuine, which to be honest is a bit of a shame.
8. Cha Cha Hana
If you’re looking for a type of Japanese drinking establishment which also serves food to accompany the drinks then you’re best off heading to an izakaya.
Izazakaya’s come in all manner of forms, and at the trendier yet reasonably priced end of the izakaya spectrum is Cha Cha Hana. It’s in Shinjuku and it’s lovely.
1-1-1, Kabukicho, Shinjyuku-ku, Tokyo
7. MOS Burger
Low rolling its way in at number 7 is MOS burger. The partially informed might doubt the inclusion of MOS at number 7, foolishly mistaking it for a Japanese version of McDonalds. However the MOS Cheeseburger is pound for pound the best burger in the world.
MOS burger is a huge chain and is now the second-largest fast-food franchise in Japan after McDonald’s so you should have no trouble finding them.
Tokyo has thousands of restaurants. From my time living there and subsequent visits I’ve been to an extremely small percentage of them. So with complete disregard for statistical significance, here is the definitive list the best 10 restaurants in Tokyo.
10. Ippudo
Like Kitkats, Baseball and Gary Lineker ramen came to Japan from abroad and was fully embraced by the Japanese, and it’s a ramen restaurant that kicks things off at number 10.
Ippudo in Roppongi is a popular place with the queue extending outside the door when I visited on a Monday afternoon. The ramen and gyoza are superb and they kindly give you the opportunity to choose the hardness of your noodles which is a nice touch.
Ippudo is a chain that’s obviously doing pretty well as they’ve just opened a restaurant in New York.
9. Yottekoya
2 ramen restaurants in the top 10 might seem a little excessive when there is so much food variety in Tokyo. To be honest it probably is, but none the less Yottekoya in Shinjuku has snuck onto the list at number 9 off the back of its marvelous super garlic ramen.
Yottekoya’s regular ramen is pretty tasty but the garlic one is something a bit special, particularly if you’re trying to keep a cold at bay. It launches into a four pronged garlic offensive - whole fried garlic gloves, grated garlic, crushed garlic and a dark threatening garlic sauce. It’s also pretty good value with ramen and a plate of gyoza costing about £5. If you’re still not convinced Garlic Central lists all manner of garlic benefits, including effective natural mosquito repelling qualities.
I’m on holiday in Japan at the moment so won’t be posting for a couple of weeks. However on my return I should have all manner of Japan inspired bits and bobs to scrawl onto these pages.
