Tsukiji Outer Market and Ginza
Sushi
Many counters serve the same fish at lunch for around half the evening price. At the counter you eat each piece as it is set down.
Regional food guide
What to eat in Tokyo
Written by hand, not generated. Dishes, markets, timing and prices for Tokyo.
Tokyo holds shops that make one dish for a lifetime and food from everywhere else in the world, in the same city. Many places seat barely ten people at a counter, which is why lunch service moves so fast. Restaurants split clearly into those you must book and those where you simply queue.
What people eat here
Start with the local defaults
Kanda and Asakusa
Soba
Named by how much buckwheat is in the flour. The local way is to dip only the end of the noodles into the sauce.
Tsukishima
Monjayaki
A loose batter worked flat on the griddle and scraped up with a small spatula. A Tokyo dish.
Ramen
The Tokyo baseline is a clear soy broth, but every regional style is represented, so you can compare them in one city.
Asakusa
Tendon
Tempura over rice with a sweet-salty sauce poured over. A common lunch set.
Where the food is
Markets, streets and harbours
Omoide Yokocho, Shinjuku
A narrow alley packed with grilled skewer bars — an evening drinking quarter.
Restaurants nearby
Tsukishima Monja Street
A street given over to monjayaki restaurants.
Restaurants nearby
Ameyoko (Ueno)
A market street of some 400 stalls under the tracks between Ueno and Okachimachi. It grew out of postwar black-market candy (ame) stalls; today seafood and fruit vendors mix with standing bars, busy from noon into the evening.
Restaurants nearby
Yurakucho Gado-shita
Izakaya and yakitori joints packed under the brick railway arches, built in 1910, between Yurakucho and Shimbashi. A drinking strip with postwar black-market roots that fills with office workers after hours, a classic Tokyo evening scene.
Restaurants nearby
Jimbocho Curry Street
Known for its secondhand bookshops, Jimbocho is also called a curry mecca. The story goes that students liked a dish they could eat one-handed while reading; European-style and spice curries now line the side streets.
Restaurants nearbyWhen to go
- Lunch service at popular shops is short, roughly 11:30 to 14:00, and they close when the ingredients run out.
- The outer market is a morning trade; many shops shut after 15:00.
- Independent restaurants take long breaks over the new year period, late December into early January.
Worth knowing
- 1Small counter-only shops are easier alone than in a group — single seats come up fast.
- 2Some long-running shops are still cash only. Carry a little cash.
- 3Many restaurants order through a ticket machine. Check the machine as you walk in.
- 4Some places restrict phone calls or photography inside. Look for the notice.
What it costs · Per person, roughly
Ramen or soba runs JPY 900-1,300, a sushi lunch set JPY 1,500-3,000, and an izakaya evening JPY 3,000-5,000 per person.
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