Eating Out

Chashumen

Pomai

If you are looking for Japanese cuisine in Tokyo , you can certainly find it, but don’t restrict yourself to just Japanese food.   This city has much more to offer.   Restaurants in Tokyo run the gambit from little hole in the walls to big expensive international eateries.  

Most hotels offer for free what is called Breakfast Service which is served in your room and has to be ordered.   It is delivered anywhere between 6:30 and 9:30 am and don’t be late or you won’t get any.  

Almost every restaurant in town offers a lunch special which run from 11 am to 2:30 pm and there are many buffets where you can eat all you want for a very good price.   On the street you can find noodle shops called Tachigui Soba shops.   Many times you purchase a ticket from a vending machine before going in and present the ticket for your food.   There isn’t anywhere to sit (the name means stand and eat) because eat literally on the run.   Make sure to find one of these shops on the street as they are better than the ones in train or subway stations.     Sushi bars are common on the streets of Tokyo and they have the variety that revolves.   Plates are placed on a conveyor belt and you just take what looks good and pay for it.

When it comes to dinner many of the locals go to Izakayas or Japanese pubs where the working folk come to wind down after a day at work.   Food is served as well as drink and the atmosphere is quite unique.   Izakayas usually identify themselves with red lanterns hanging near their doors.  

Traditional Japanese Restaurants are very expensive and foreigners are sometimes lost because custom is followed.   If this isn’t your cup of tea Tokyo boasts world class French and Italian restaurants as well as any other national cuisine.   Dinner is usually very expensive in Tokyo .   You can find cheaper sushi or tempura chain restaurants, but watch the ones where the waitresses are dressed in Kimonos because those are expensive.  

Don’t restrict yourself to just Japanese food when in Tokyo .   The other cuisines are plentiful from French to American and back to Italy .   Experience the small local eateries as well as the expensive ones that support the customs of Japan .   This will give you a well rounded idea of what Tokyo is really like through its food.