What to Eat in Tokyo 东京美食攻略

Konnichiwa! Since you guys have been asking me What To Eat in Tokyo a lot, so I had decided to blog about it separately. I mentioned 'separately' is because normally I will include all the food recommendations in the respective guide such as Kyoto Travel Guide, Nara Travel Guide and Osaka Travel Guide. However, since we stayed in Tokyo for a couple of days, so I intentionally create a blog post about food that we ate in Tokyo. Hopefully, you guys enjoy reading and don't forget to let me know if you have any suggestion too.

1) Ikkakuya Tamachi (壱角家田町店)

The first night when we just touched down Japan, we went to check-in our hotel and we decided to go out to have our first meal in Japan. We bumped into Ikkakuya Tamachi because of their ramen looking tasty!

Although they are popular with their ramen and dumplings, both of us are super duper hungry, so eventually, we had ordered don (rice bowl). Please forgive us, you lost your mind once your hungriness strikes you.

I had ordered a chicken rice bowl. It served with chicken slices, lots of onion, cabbages and a raw egg.

A RAW EGG? Yes, and that's my first time to try the raw egg in my mouth! Normally I don't dare to try but we were in Japan, I guess we need to give it a try then.

Of course, I mixed the raw egg with rice and chicken. Therefore, it's taste won't so bad. In fact, it makes the chicken texture turns even better.

Husband had ordered a chicken katsu set. It tastes so good. Too bad my portion is too big so I can't finish it at the end. It was tasty and I'm looking forward to trying their ramen and dumpling at next visit.

DETAILS
Address : 3-1-13 Mita Minato Tokyo.
Opening hours : Weekdays (10.00am - 3.00pm) Weekends (10.00am - 11.00pm)
How to get there : 284 meters walking distance from Mita Station

2) Le Pain Quotidien Shiba Park

I told my husband to arrange some Western food on the itinerary and he did.

Classic light fare & organic bread fill out the menu at this rustic-chic bakery/cafe chain.
Communal tables, crusty, artisanal bread made with organic wheat: the format at Tokyo's first branch of Le Pain Quotidien will be familiar to anyone who's stumbled into one of the international chain's nearly 200 shops around the world.

The café and bakery sit right next to Shiba Park, with tall windows to help you enjoy the surrounding greenery, as well as an open terrace facing the street. There's a wide range of baguettes, bread and pastries available for takeaway, though you may find yourself tempted to stay a while longer – in which case you can sample a sit-down menu of open sandwiches, salads and Mediterranean-inspired entrees. Did I mention it was the Top 2 French cafe @ Minato in Tripadvisor?

Smoked Salmon Breakfast
Smoked salmon, soft-boiled egg, ricotta, mesclun and bread (1,190 yen)

Petit Dejeuner
Croissant or pain au chocolat, whole wheat bread and baguette, organic coffee or tea and orange juice (990 yen + add egg 200 yen)

DETAILS
Address : 3-3-1 Shiba Koen, Minato-ku Tokyo.
Opening hours : Daily (7.30am - 10.00pm)
How to get there : Onarimon Station (Mita line), Daimon Station (Oedo, Asakusa lines)

3) Luke's Lobster

Finally, I tried the famous Luke's Lobster! It is a popular store where they serve lobster rolls and other seafood rolls. They use selected lobsters which are produced in Maine, USA!

The Tokyo branch is located in Omotesando, Shibuya, Hiroo and their pop up store will be open at Aoyama for a limited time. It's a popular store and you usually see a long line of people waiting to try their delicious lobster rolls.

Their menu includes "seafood rolls", such as lobster roll, crab roll and shrimp roll.

If you want to try two kinds of rolls, you can order "seafood rolls half", and choose a combination of lobster & crab rolls, lobster & shrimp rolls or crab and shrimp rolls. We had ordered lobster and & shrimp roll (1,380 yen).

We had queued total of 30 minutes just to try this. So beware of the long queue if you're planning to pay a visit.

DETAILS
Address : 6 Chome-7-１ Jingumae, Shibuya City, Tokyo 150-0001, Japan.
Opening hours : Daily (11.00am - 8.30pm)

4) Eddy's Ice Cream (エディズアイスクリーム)

As the world capital of kawaii, Harajuku is the must-go place to experience Japanese pop culture and wacky fashion at its finest.
Eddy’s Ice Cream is one of the newest additions to Harajuku’s colourful concoction of cute cafes giving all budding Harajuku girls the chance to accessorize their ice creams with ribbons, cat paws, and unicorns.

Accessories include everything from lips, hearts, palm trees, and unicorns. Alternatively, you can leave the careful arrangement to the professionals by choosing a ready-made combination of accessories from the original menu. These include the “American”, “Lovely”, and “Kiss Me”. Prices range from around 800 to 1,400 yen depending on how blinged out you’d like your ice cream to be.

DETAILS
Address : Tokyo Shibuya-ku Jingumae 4-26-281F.
Opening hours : Daily (11.00am - 8.00pm)

5) Kaikaya By The Sea (開花屋)

Hubby also brought me an izakaya called Kaikaya By The Sea.

A surfboard hangs under the ceiling. It belongs to the master of the house, owner-chef Teruyuki Tange, who’s been out riding waves since the 1970s. He opened this unique izakaya back in 1988, as a way to dovetail his twin passions, cooking and the ocean. “Kaikaya by the Sea” he calls it: If you can’t make it down to the coast, then he brings the coast together with its laid-back lifestyle into the city.

But there’s plenty more to Kaikaya’s popularity than just the warm welcome and party vibes. It’s based on the basic virtues of good, hearty food including plenty of excellent seafood, shipped directly from the fishing ports of Nishi-Izu plus a fine selection of sake and shochu. The fully bilingual menu is a major plus for the foreign community, and everyone loves the very reasonable prices.

We had ordered a course for both of us. To me, it is like the fusion of Japanese food with Western plating. Their food tastes great especially the seafood. Now I know why they got great ratings on the Internet.

They have been served us the sashimi, salad, fish, rice, soup and many more. Although the portion is not huge, enough for both to us to be full.

Sakura Ice Cream (cherry blossom scent)
How can we end our meal without a dessert? Their sakura ice cream is 100% made from natural products. First, they preserve the cherry blossom leaves with salt for 3 years. Then, they soak the leaves to get the salt out and chop them up. Boil them with milk to make the milk with the cherry blossom scent. Add cream and sugar and then freeze them. It is a MUST order.

DETAILS
Address : 23-７ Maruyamacho, Shibuya City, Tokyo 150-0044, Japan.
Opening hours : Daily (5.00pm - 10.30pm)

6) Shake Shack

Finally, I got to try the popular Shake Shack! Always saw it on Instagram and now I'm here. Japan’s fourth Shack is in Southern Terrace, just steps away from the Shinjuku Train Station, which services an astounding 3.5 million people per day.

We had ordered 2 sets of burgers, hot dog roll and a fries with cheese on top! Their burgers taste so good. Not to mention the melting cheese on top. Yummy~ We queued for total 20 minutes for this and it was totally worth it. Oh my god, I'm craving for it now while I'm typing this. Lol

DETAILS
Address : Odakyu Southern Tower 2F, Shinjuku Southern Terrace 2-2-1 Yoyogi, Shibuya-ku Tokyo 151-8583 Japan.
Opening hours : Daily (11.00am - 10.00pm)
How to get there :

7) Kani Doraku (かに道楽)

Kani Dōraku is a Japanese restaurant chain that specialises in crustaceans and other seafood. The restaurants are known for their traditional appearance and the large, mechanical, red crab that moves above the main entrance. Visited the branch at Dotonbori, Osaka a few years back and this time, we had visited the branch in Shinjuku. Since I like to eat crab a lot and that day was my birthday, so hubby had decided to bring me here as a birthday dinner. Yay!

There are so many different kinds of crab dishes and we had no idea which should we order. Thus, in the end, we had ordered the courses. Easier right? They served us the raw crab so we can grill it by ourselves. Also, some tempura as well.

Look at the crab meat! You will know it will taste so good by just looking at it! Once we took a bite, it tastes so fresh and soft! One of the best meal of my entire Japan trip!

They also served each of us a crab rice bowl. There are pieces of crabs and its fragrance already absorbed by the rice. So you can imagine when you eat rice, you can taste the crab meat too. Yum yum~

They also served us some sushi, they taste good and fresh too. Really different from what we ate in Malaysia. Lol

I also ordered a cup of chawanmushi because I just love steam egg. It is a MUST order to me every single time I dine in Japanese cuisine. Anyone of you will do this as well?

After finished all the food, they served us a bowl of soup to wash our mouth palate I guess. Or, it is good for our health I don't know. HAHAHA.

Mochi as dessert! The mochi is in azuki flavour and it tastes so delicious too. Anyway, this cuisine is really worth for you to visit especially if you're a crab lover like me.

DETAILS
Address : Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo Musashino Bldg 4F.
Opening hours : Daily (11.30am - 11.00pm)
How to get there : (By trains) 1-minute walk from East exit of JR Shinjuku Station. The restaurant which in Musashino bldg. It is directly connected to the Shinjuku station by an underground passage.

8) Izakaya @ Akihabara

For your info, an izakaya (居酒屋) is a type of informal Japanese pub. They are casual places for after-work drinking. They have been compared to Irish pubs, tapas bars and early American saloons and taverns. We around Akihabara to shop for toys figures and we dropped by at this random izakaya. Don't really remember the name but you can just visit a few of them here because there are plenty of them.

We had ordered 2 glass of beer and some snacks. Love the environment but I really can't stand those smoke. Since I'm allergic to the smoke, so we just there for about 20 minutes then we ciao. Too smelly to me I cannot.

Also, before we take the train to go back to our hotel, we went to a random stall to purchase Taiyaki.

Taiyaki is a Japanese fish-shaped cake. It imitates the shape of the Tai, which it is named after. The most common filling is red bean paste that is made from sweetened azuki beans. Other common fillings may be custard, chocolate, cheese, or sweet potato.

9) Ippudo Ginza

Renovated in 2013, this now world-famous Hakata ramen chain's Tokyo flagship is one of the fancier-looking ramens out there. Yes, I'm talking about Ippudo, branch at located in Ginza. Ippudo has received much praise and approval throughout Japan. In 2010, they won 1st place for "Tokyo Ramen of the Year (TRY Grand Prize)". Trip Advisor also ranked them the #1 ramen restaurant for "Restaurants popular with foreigners in 2014." They are also published in the Michelin Guide every year.

I love their ramen! It is smooth and yet has a rich flavour. While sticking to the traditional way of making Hakata tonkotsu ramen, they have added their own special way of creating this delicious ramen through their "Juku Kasane" method where they add many layers of depth to their flavours. They cook their soup in a special soup cauldron for 18 hours and then let the soup age for a whole day at a low temperature. Their tonkotsu broth is smooth like silk and has a deep flavour.

Hakata Bite-sized Dumplings (420 yen)
We also ordered the gyoza and it tastes so gooddddddd. I'm a gyoza person and I personally their gyoza taste amazing! It was really worth for me to start queueing before they even open their shop and we're the second customer to walk-in on that day. (Yes, someone was earlier than us).

We also had ordered a potato salad with egg and hubby meal set included an onsen egg with rice. Simple but delicious.

DETAILS
Address : 4-10-3 Ginza, Chuo Ward, Tokyo.
Opening hours : Monday (11.00am - 2.00am) Friday & Saturday (11.00am - 3.00am) Sunday (11.00am - 1.00am)
How to get there : Higashi-Ginza Station (Asakusa line), exit A8

10) Tapi Mo Shinokubo Ekimae

While shopping at Shinjuku, we dropped by at this cute cafe called Tapi Mo Shinokubo Ekimae.

It was a cafe selling bubble tea and some light foods.

The logo of this cafe attracted us! It was a cute Shiba Inu face on the packaging.

DETAILS
Address : 2-17-1Hyakunincho, Shinjuku 169-0073 Tokyo.

Well, I guess that's all for the food post about what to eat in Tokyo. Hope it helps while you're doing your itinerary to Tokyo. All the pending travel post has been clear. I'm looking forward to the next trip so I can share more with you guys. Till here.

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