The Best Lunch Spots in Tokyo

Best ramen shop I’ve ever been to, tasty broth, great noodles, tsukemen's also great! Well hidden gem under a staircase in Shibuya!

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.

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.

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”.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Gastro-bar with Catalonian dishes helmed by Chef Jérôme Quilbeuf.Gastro-bar helmed by Chef Jérôme Quilbeuf, ex- Head Chef of 3 Michelin-starred restaurant in Spain, Sant Pau (closed in 2018, since Chef Carme Ruscalleda determined to devote herself to the study of cuisine) and Executive Chef of San Pau Tokyo(running, two Michelin starred). A relaxed atmosphere, good line-ups of wine (such as vintage Unico). Mineral-rich, huge quality Japanese oyster with Peruvian yellow chili sauce is his interpretation of ceviche is my favorite dish, and Smoked eel Tortellini with Japanese kelp and bonito flakes dashi is devine. Also for the sweet ending, must-must try Jerome’s Basque cheesecake, using slightly smoky Spanish sheep cheese. Outside is nicely burnt, inside is fluffy and melty. If you drizzle olive oil and a pinch of salt, it goes well with red wine, too.

Perhaps the best tonkatsu deep fried to a golden crisp from juicy kurobuta loin fillets. The masters go at it with precision and concentration while you enjoy at the counter. Impossible to compare to a regular fried pork chop- so much in its own league.

Enjoy bold, tasty and rather unusual combinations served at the counter.KUSHI means skewers in Japanese, but do not be mistaken. It will not be another yakitori with grilled meat experience.Started as a collaborative venture by Zaiyu Hasegawa of Den (**) and Hiroyasu Kawate of Florilège (**) after a conversation on a fishing trip during the lockdown, Den Kushi Flori offers bold, quirky and extremely tasty seasonal combinations. Some of them indeed served on skewers.What would chef Shogo Komura serve?- grilled mochi wrap with caviar, cured egg yolk and lime to die for- shirasu & shirako rice served with garlic butter- anchovies fishcake served in tomato sauce with yuba and beans- taro served with bisque- wasabi sourDo book ahead. It is a small place for a dozen of people.

My Favorite Burger in TokyoIt is a small restaurant where they craft you a delicious wagyu cheeseburger. The cheese is a cream of cheddar, the bun is a brioche and the fries are excellent. Also great onion rings… Make sure to prebook everything to avoid disappointment.

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.

Six seater wagyu tasting menu with countertop dining & open kitchen.Membership required (steps below on how to obtainWagyumafia is the best meal ive had in my life - forget three michelin small plates, the Wagyu Mafia tasting menu is 16 courses of the best A5 wagyu in Japan. Starting off raw with nigiris and moving on to bbq and ofcourse their gamous sando (had to pay an addtional $300 for this but totally worth it.) Membership is 150$ - once you have obtained a membership its an easy process to get in the restaurant. Its easy to miss, on the second floor of what looks like an apartment building, the Wagyu mafia is a dark tiny restaurant with two tables (one waiter per table.) The exclusive restaurant means you are treated like kings & lots of interaction with the chef which we love. Watch them cook whilst sipping on sake. Incredible in every sense

Tonkatsu specialist hidden inside a Korean Restaurant in TokyoSome of the best Tonkatsu in Tokyo can be found in what is typically a horrible neighborhood for food, Kabukicho. Located in Shinjuku, Pretty Pork Factory is a Korean restaurant that specializes in Samgyeopsal, but offers their spectacular Tonkatsu only during the day. The Chef curates some of the best types of pork from across Japan and also offers a shoulder cut thats is rarely seen in Tonkatsu shops in Japan.