The Best Fine Dining 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…

Just the best Yakiniku in Tokyo…Of course, Nakahara-san became world-famous for inventing the wagyu Sando… but first and foremost, he’s a master butcher and his cooking is enriched by this rare skill among chef. He’s the best for selecting the best beef, the best cuts and grilling the meat with an unmatched precision. Perfection.

Modern dishes with Italian soul and Japanese perfection by Luca Fantin.(Bulgari il Ristorante Luca Fantin). No chef embodies Italian soul and Japanese perfection quite like Luca Fantin. There is focus and quiet intensity in the cuisine, which never strays from the palate of Italy into the realm of fusion. While Fantin is strictly locavore in his approach to sourcing, you won’t find yuzu, soy sauce, or shiso in any of the dishes at his restaurant. Instead, he uses ovoli mushrooms from Mount Fuji, caviar from Miyazaki, and olive oil from Kumamoto to create modern dishes that are “100% Italian in flavor while reflecting the seasons of Japan.”

Great scape from the busy city life of Tokyo.Chef Daniel knows what he wants. Best sea urchin dish ive had in years, great wine list. Incredible friendly staff. I would definitely go back if i find a table. Book book book.

Tokyo is without a shadow of a doubt the best place in the World to have sushi. The mix of respect for traditions, an insane focus on perfecting skills and naturally also the best seafood in the World has led to this. Because of this, the style of sushi is simple and uncomplicated but impossible to copy unless you have been raised in the World. Hakkoku is among the temples for sushi not only in Tokyo but the entire World. As a sushi novice, I don’t have other high-end sushi places to compare to. They did however impress me. The purity of flavor is amazing and as did the simplicity of the presentation. An end to end impressive feast from the very first otoro hand roll to the last piece of incredible egg “omelette”.

The Hotspot for Edomae style sushi.The hotspot for Edomae style sushi. Very militaristic approach to cutting + creating forms. Great with (a lot of) sake.

Chinese-Japanese fusion dishes by Chef Tomoya Kawada.Chef Tomoya Kawada, the chef-owner of Sazenka, thinks that Chinese cuisine is 'fire' and oil based, and Japanese cuisine is 'water' based. He combines both culinary perspectives and curates beautiful dishes which capture the best moment of the ingredients.The dishes have modulation, a spicy dish is followed by a clean water based dish, so it never gets boring.

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.

Masamichi amamoto san masters the art of sushi. In his 8 seat counter restaurant. Service, friendly chef, perfect techniques and the best ingredients from all over Japan. The food is so elegant, especially his otsumami courses, even Tho his nigiris are immaculate.

Some of the most coveted counter seats in Tokyo, but worth the trouble.Chef Daniele Casone perfected the art of pizza and brought stellar heights. The dough is one of the best out there, the tomato sauce superb and topings are just of outstanding quality.Pure happiness.

When fashion meets food.A dinner at Été is the most personal dining experience I have ever had. Natusko greets you at the entrance, pours the water, selects the wine, serves the food and naturally prepares it as well. Hence the experience is end to end an expression of her personality.The food is really delicious and prepared with proper craftmanship, but what really makes this stand out is everything else. The presentation are like no other and the intimate and private atmosphere is second to none. It is also one if the hardest restaurants in the world to book, and for good reason

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.

One of the two legendary sushi Jiro’s in Tokyo, this one is headed by the son. Probably world’s best nigiri with simply incredible ingredients from the sea. Dinner is 20 nigiris in about an hour. No alternatives. Worth a detour.

It’s one of those sushiyas where you can eat every day. If your budget allows of course. Proper edomae-style omakase courses (just nigiris or an option with starters and sashimi) carved by disciples of chef Shinji Kanesaka.

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.

Beautiful Japanese / French counter dining.Loving the setting at this very dynamic counter with very minimalistic cooking focusing on local ingredients. Excellent vegetable dishes.

At Bon.Nu they will take one ingredient and extract the best out of it, whether it’s the lobster that will return as a bisque, a cold iwashi broth, a pasta with tomato sauce or one of the best pieces of beef I had in Japan, great wine selection too.