The Best Casual Restaurants in Tokyo

Incredible experience Den by Chef Zaiyu Hasegawa doesn’t need a review. Everyone knows it is incredible. Preplan your trip to Japan and book a meal here. Thank me later…

Eating shoulder to shoulder and sharing ochoko of warm sake in this tiny hole in the wall seems a world away now, but it was the inspiration for my restaurant, Okra Hong Kong. The simple menu that changes every day based on the days’ best ingredients cooked simply, either fried, grilled, roasted or raw without any long preparations or black truffle shavings or caviar, leaves you with a warm sense of being as you stumble out into the back alley of the entrance into a night with endless possibilities.

Sushi omakase served by chef Kimura, known as the “father of aged sushi”.This was definitely one of the highlights of the entire trip and truly eye opening for us. At this small counter you get served around 10 otsumamis, 12 nigiris, tamago and one dessert. The chef, Koji Kimura, is lovely and fun, offering a more relaxed vibe than perhaps other sushiyas where it’s a bit more serious. Koji Kimura, as mentioned, is known as the “father of aged sushi”, aging some fish up to 50 days, like his famous swordfish nigiri, and this is probably the main characteristic that makes this sushiya different from the others.Now, let’s show you some of the dishes we had:* Nigiri of Aori Ika from Mie aged 1 week.* Ankimo, peanuts & chili.* Smoked Hokkigai and a pinch of salt.* Shirako risotto & pepper.* Watarigani marinated in brandy and its inners for 6 weeks, sishito and sancho pepper.* Nigiri of Shima ebi from Hokkaido aged 3 days.* Nigiri of Needle fish (sayori) aged 1 week.* Nigiri of Sujiko aged in soy sauce 10 days.* Nigiri of Iwashi aged 1 week.* Nigiri of Swordfish (makajiki) aged 55 days.This was our first sushiya of the trip and it really left an impression on us, we can still remember pretty much every bite, the more intense shari, the perfect temperatures, just a once in a lifetime experience for us.

High-end and fun Izakaya-counter with great sakes and natural wines.Sowado was one of our favorite and most fun experiences without a doubt, and for this one in particular we want to thank Alex, and also Hoze (who pretty much organized our whole trip), for making this happen. The place was probably our favorite when it comes to the interior, deco and atmosphere, which as mentioned was very fun, and even though the place kind of felt high-end, it was still super casual, just a perfect balance.Focusing on the food, some of the dishes we had were the following:* Chawanmushi with kue (grouper), dried sea cucumber & nanohana.* Tofu.* Chu toro sashimi with nori.* Pot with shirako, crispy rice and shiitake.* Turtle egg soup.* Unagi.* Fried chicken.The whole menu is a la carte, and we ordered the most items possible, and we really enjoyed our experience here. On top of that we had some great wines and sakes, actually some of the best of our trip.Definitely a place we want to come back in our future trips to Japan.

Neapolitan Pizzeria in the Ebisu neighborhood.A part from, of course, Japanese cuisine in all its different ways, the pizzas are also famous in Japan for being some of the best, so during our trip, we tried a couple of different ones. The first one was Marumo, Chef Yuki Motokura’s own place after working at Savoy for three years. We ordered four different pizza’s which were the following:* Pizza marinara.* Pizza Margherita.* Pizza “Red Hot Chili”.* Pizza “Japanese Umami”.We really enjoyed all of them, with our favorite being the Margherita, but we thought the Japanese Umami was a very interesting and unique one worth trying as well.Definitely a place that’s at the level of the more hyped pizza places in the city.

Fantastic ExperienceJambo Hanare branch on the counter is a great way to have yakiniku. The meats are fantastic and it is all cooked for you to perfection. I would say it was our favorite yakiniku this past trip to Tokyo. Make sure to pre order the beef rice. It is incredible. I have posted a photo of this dish.

Love this place and their thick udon noodles. This is udon carbonara style with a slice of crispy bacon. Only ten places but well worth the queuing.

Japanse curry place with extra care of details. One of the best japanese versions I have eaten. This one with shrimps and avocado, served with both rice and mash. Topped with garam masala, black pepper, nutmeg, cumin, shalott, chili and you can add cheese.

An intimate soba restaurant in the back streets of Tokyo's Asakusa neighbourhood. You're here, as is the case at most soba joints, to take aim at the house-made noodles with Ozawa offering theirs in three different thicknesses (the parpadelle-like futo-uchi soba, as pictured here, is the thickest of the noodles). An excellent pit-stop for those shopping for ceramics or kitchen goods in nearby Kappabashi.

Tonki has existed since the 30s and they still serve really hard deep fried tonkatsu in two versions. One with more and one with less fat - go for the one with more fat as most of their customers do. The fat version is still a little less juicy than other favorite tonkatsu versions in Tokyo but great environment makes up for it.

The old style coffe places - kissaten- are the best in Tokyo. This one is a proper treasure. The menu consist of many beans that been stored for ages and they have funny things as coffee and egg, and coffejelly. A lot of hard looking regulators.

Smash burger with 100 percent wagyu meat. Probably leftover parts from their mother restaurant Sumibi Yakiniku Nakahara. Perfect lunch while shopping in Daikanyama.

Yuzu ramen is the specialty here and the choices of broths and toppings makes for a super tasty bowl. Surfer asthetic, fast service, great location. There are other Afuri shops all over tokyo and the consistency is top.

Simple, satisfying egg tempura. Get it on top of rice (玉子天丼, tamago tendon) or on the side (玉子ランチ). The chef speaks English and is a bit of a showman.

Chef Katy buys everything directly from farmers she travels around Japan to meet. Her food is heatfelt and inspired from her California origins and the space has such a good vibe. Expect a crowd of local ex-pats, japanese creatives and friends stopping in for a glass of wine on the way home.

Tsukiji Toritoh, opened in 1907, is famous for oyakodon, mother-and-child donburi, of eggs and chicken cooked with a sweet soy sauce broth over rice. I prefer the karaage fried chicken or the torimeshi of soboro ground chicken, teriyaki chicken, and simmered bonjiri the fatty area near the tail of the chicken. There are a few small side dishes including sunagimo garlic, sliced gizzard with simmered onions and garlic. There are six counter seats overlooking the stove where special pans made exclusively for cooking the oyakodon are cooked and a few tables in the back of the shop. The main retail shop for Toritoh is around the corner and has smaller bites available like yakitori and if you're lucky, fried chicken skin.