The Most Romantic Restaurants in Tokyo

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.

Really one of my best meals ever. Each course was immaculate. Really one of my best meals ever. Each course was immaculate, cuisson perfect. From the turnip in kombu niban dashi, with yuzu. So mild and quiet, to the amazing somen and the grilled fish with kinome. Love that place.

Butagumi, beautifully located in a traditional two-story Japanese house, offers some of the best tonkatsu in Tokyo. The impressive menu lists more than thirty varieties of carefully selected pork from different prefectures in Japan (plus some specially imported ones). The chefs are detail-obsessed, and a visit here can be a religious experience if you're a pork connoisseur. Price is on the higher end but you’ll get what you pay for.

High level sushi in a business district of TokyoOpened during the pandemic, Sushi Mizukami is from Chef Michinobu Mizukami who worked for 15 years at Sukiyabashi Jiro Roppongi and 1 year at the original Ginza location. The beautiful 8 seat Hinoki counter was designed by Keiji Ashikawa who has also designed a number of Blue Bottle branches in Tokyo. Open for lunch and dinner, there are a couple menu course options but get the dinner course if you want to go all out (even for lunch). 6 otsumami, 16 pieces of nigiri and seasonal fruit rounded out one of my new favorite Omakase experiences in Tokyo. Watch for Mizukami-san to gain more attention and accolades as the restaurant hits their stride post-COViD.

Top Level Contemporary KaisekiOgino-san has worked at some of the most notable kaiseki restaurants in Kyoto and Tokyo and opened his own in 2019 in the Akasaka district of Tokyo. An intimate, counter-only spot that’s become very hard to book. Cooking is top notch, all done right in front of you in the open kitchen. His grilled eel and hassun (seasonal delicacies) are both standouts. The service is warm and friendly.

Intimate casual fine-dining by chef Ryouhei KuninagaOpened in April, this intimate casual fine-dining spot in Higashi Ginza is a great choice for catching up with a couple of friends. The vibe is relaxed, with mostly counter seating in a calm, minimalist setting. Working in the open kitchen, chef Ryouhei Kuninaga is a charming and chatty host who's passionate about ingredients. The enoki mushrooms he mixes into his signature sausages are grown with seawater to add notes of minerality and sweetness, while the "salad" is a sorbet of fragrant shishito peppers. The savory courses conclude with a deeply flavorful and restorative shamo (gamecock) consomme – delicious.

Top notch Tonkatsu restaurant opened by a pedigreed Chef from some of Tokyo’s top restaurants.Located in a more quiet part of Tokyo, Sharikimon Chawanbu offers some of the best Tonkatsu you can find in the city. The menu offers pork loin and tenderloin sets, with the option to choose premium pork varieties from different parts of Japan. The fry is a slightly lighter style, which really showcases the high-quality pork. Pro tip: be sure to order the curry!

Japanese-Californian authentic farm-to-table cult institution.A very charming hidden gem that combines Californian and Japanese light cuisine (due to the owner-chefs’ backgrounds). Wonderfully innovative but humble cuisine.

Amazing all female chef kaisekiLovely and intimate setting breaking the boundaries. Led by all female chef team, rarely seen in this culture. Putting beautiful cuisine with great ingredients. Extremely friendly staff.

Japanese - Thai OmakaseSuper interesting concept and delicious food! Thai flavour profiles, with very high end Japanese ingredients. Bright acidity, light food and an elegant spice to it! Only 1 chef in the kitchen which is even more mind blowing with the food he is cooking!Really cool space, book a table while it's still one of Tokyo's best secrets!

Good vibes only. Japan's best standing izakaya.Opened in 2003 and I've been a regular ever since. Be sure to take seats at the counter and order Omakase.Enjoy the objects and the atmosphere! But don't be surprised! If you want to feel the real Japan, not for tourists, this is the one.

Edomae sushi counter awarded with the gold award from Tabelog since 2017.This was probably the absolute best meal in our entire life. Right away when you enter this place, it already feels so special, as if you already know something amazing is about to happen. Then, the counter is beautiful, a 9-seat counter made of Hinoki, perfectly clean, and behind the kitchen you can see chef Takaaki Sugita starting to prepare everything for what we consider the most perfect meal we’ve had, with so much precision, purity, and so calm. Now, focusing on the menu, we had about 8 otsumamis, 11 nigiris, a clam soup, tamago and 3 extra pieces we ordered, and some of those dishes were the following:* Chawanmushi with anago.* Ankimo in sugar, shoyu, sake and mirin.* Kohada nigiri.* Tako.* Chu toro nigiri.* Kuruma ebi.* Bafun uni hokkaido.* Anago.* Tamago.This doesn’t even include some of our favorites, mainly given the poor photo quality (because we are bad photographers and we tried to max take 5 seconds taking the pic of each nigiri), but honestly each and every time we put a nigiri in our mouth it was like touching heaven, we can’t really put it into words.