If you install Foursquare, you’ll see my recommendations and others that are pretty good for tourists. In general I’d pick what you want to eat by photo. If the menu is in Japanese only, you can also just bring up the photo and point to it and say “kore” (which means “this”).

Locals consider Google Maps as good as Tabelog for ratings these days.

For more general Japan Notes, see: https://mostlyobvious.org/?link=/Reference%2FTravel%2FJapan Notes

October 2022

• Curry Festival in Shimokitazawa going on all month https://curryfes.com/

Food Categories

• Japanese Food
  • Seafood
    • Sushi
      • Should try at least one cheap sushi train place, one fancy place, and one at a decent supermarket
    • Chirase/Kaisendon
      • Have a place I highly recommend
    • Dashi Chazuke
      • I’m a big fan of this chain Chazuke En but the kaisendon place may give cover that experience as well
  • Curry
    • Curry Rice
      • check out the Curry Festival. Maybe also try out CoCo Curry if you want to check out JP fast food
    • Curry Udon
      • There are a few great places in my neighborhood. I’d recommend either Udon Yamacho or Kagawa Ippuku Ebisu in Ebisu
  • Katsu
    • Butagami is my favorite katsu place in Tokyo, but there are a lot of high quality chains and restaurants in town
  • Yakiniku
    • Champion, Kintan, or Toraji are the big famous chains, but lots of options. Should try at least one decent Yakiniku place
  • Izakaya
    • Yakitori
    • Oden
  • Teppenyaki
  • Yokocho
  • Other
    • Gyudon
      • I recommend going to a Yoshinoya to compare, it’s actually pretty good especially for the price
    • Omurice
    • Egg Sando
    • Supermarket
  • Konbini
    • 7-11, Family Mart, Lawsons
  • Malls
    • There’s a lot of tasty food in the malls (usually by train stations). If you’re only going to one, I’d say Roppongi Hills and Tokyo Midtown (both within blocks of each other) is worth an afternoon to visit and wander.
• Other Food
  • Pizza
• Dessert
  • Bakery
  • Ice Cream
  • Custard/Pudding
  • Wagashi
• Drinks
  • Coffee
  • Alcohol
    • Beer
      • People like OL (Oslo Brewing) near Shibuya
      • There’s also a PDX Taproom in Jingumae
      • worth checking out some more Japanese style Beer halls I guess, but if you search for “Craft Beer” or “Beer Hall” you’ll probably get as much advice as I can give
        • In Ebisu
          • https://g.page/CraftBeerBarIBREWebisu?share
          • https://goo.gl/maps/YaFfpJvrNQJExyT9A - just opened, I always pass by
    • For fancy mixed drinks, Ebisu is a popular neighborhood
      • A10 https://goo.gl/maps/ZEF9iN4KDVVWopMS6
    • Friend’s Bar near Roppongi Hills - Wed night Karaoke
      • HOMEBASE https://g.page/homebasetokyo?share

Useful Phrases for ordering

• “Eigo menu?” - English menu (sometimes there will be, but mostly not)
• “Ko-re” - that, use when pointing to an item or picture
• “Nama beeru” - draft beer (related, advanced/situational: “nama shibori sowa” - freshly squeezed (citrus) sour)
• “Hitotsu” - one
• “Mo-ico” - one more