I’ve been to Tokyo twice, but with so many incredible food experiences to choose from, I am not qualified to write this post. It’s a good thing my friend Jessi has lived there for around 7 years, and is an incredible foodie guide! Here are 2 of her Places You Have to Go in Tokyo, and one of mine.
1. Ukai Toriyama
Minami Asakawa 3426, Hachioji City, Tokyo (Tel. 0426-61-0739)
Known for it’s amazing yakitori (grilled chicken skewers), Ukai Toriyama is one of the most gorgeous restaurants in Tokyo. The restaurant is a bunch of rooms situated in a massive garden, and to get to your table, you have to walk over little bridges and wind around twists and turns of beautiful foliage! The standout meal is the yakitori of course, but it comes wiht a little bit of everything: grilled fish, fried tofu, soup, dessert, and it’s all delicious.
2. Akasaka Fukinuki
3-6-11 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo Shinjuku Station (Tel: 03-3585-3100)
This is the only unagi place in Tokyo where you can eat hitsumabushi, the bowl (donburi) of unagi (grilled eel) that comes from the Nagoya area. Servers explain the 3 sequential steps to eating the hitsumabushi: with Japanese pepper, with green onion and nori, or by mixing negi (green onion), nori, and wasabi with warm dashi (soup stock). The pickled vegetables should be eaten between each small bowlful to cleanse the palate. Confused? A lot of the staff speaks English, you’ll be fine!
3. Kappabashi-dori (Kitchen Town)
This Tokyo street between Ueno and Asakusa is lined with shops supplying the city’s restaurants, selling everything from beautiful plates, place mats, tea and saki sets, to knives. It’s the knives that have made it my Mecca. The Japanese know their chef’s knives – the same care that once went into folding the metal of the samurai’s katana now serves to create the perfect chopping blade: the Nakiri bocho (vegetable knife). I have two, and have given at least five as gifts to my very best friends. They’re not cheap, but after buying the first one one in Kappabashi, my Henkel has been shoved to the back of the drawer.
Photos courtesy of Jessi Nuss.