Travelling to Tokyo – Devouring Japanese food in Tokyo for the first time in three years

Hi, I’m Chie from Zakzakka. Today, I’m going to share various food I’ve enjoyed during my week-long stay in Tokyo.

Ever since I moved to UK, I’ve been going back to Tokyo, my hometown, every year but with Covid I had to stay put for nearly three years before finally visiting again!

I had a long list of things I wanted to eat, and a full schedule meeting up with friends over lovely food in Tokyo!

 

Kabayaki (grilled eel)

 

After dropping my cases off at the hotel, I headed straight to a nearby ‘unagi’ restaurant. Grilled eels have been eaten since around 1400’s in Japan, and the most popular way to eat them is with soy sauce based sweet sauce on top of rice.

It doesn’t taste fishy at all, and the flesh is fluffy and melts in your mouth soft. I had to have a toast with Japanese beer, as I have been so desperate to come back to Japan for the past three years!

Restaurant : Unagi Honmaru  
££ - £££

 

Tokyo Sushi

Probably the most famous Japanese food, sushi in Japan is so much different from that you can get overseas. Tokyo sushi is also called Edomae-sushi, and there are lots of ‘YO! Sushi’ type restaurants in Tokyo, but I prefer going to one with a counter, where the chef puts his delicate creations in front of you one by one.

Restaurant : Ginza Yokota 
 ££££

Popular types of sushi include tuna, fatty tuna, prawn, salmon roe, various white fish and sea urchin.

Popular types of sushi include tuna, fatty tuna, prawn, salmon roe, various white fish and sea urchin.

Restaurant: Sushi Kagura
£££ - ££££

 

Fugu Fish（Pufferfish）

Famous or shall I say infamous for its poison, puffer fish, or fugu is considered a delicacy. Handling and preparing fugu is strictly controlled by law in Japan, where only trained and qualified chefs can prepare fugu, removing the toxic parts and avoiding contaminating the meat.

I’ve only had fugu once before, so I must say I was a little nervous when my friend took me to an all-fugu course dinner, but I thoroughly enjoyed all the different ways in which the fish was cooked.

The most popular way to enjoy fugu is sashimi. Its flesh is a little tougher than other white fleshed fish. It’s lovely with ponzu, a citrus based dark sauce.

 

Grilled Fugu

 

Deep Fried Fugu

Restaurant: Yamadaya Marunouci
£££ - ££££

 

Types of Japanese Noodles

Soba, ramen and udon are the three main noodle dishes you can enjoy anywhere in Japan. Soba is made from buckwheat, ramen and udon from flour, and they can be eaten cold, or warm in a broth.

Cold soba with its distinctive colour and fragrance.

Restaurant: Soba Ishihara
£ - ££

 

Udon noodles are usually narrower and thicker, but this restaurant is known for its paper-thin super-wide udon noodles. I had to queue for half an hour to get in, I had no idea this place was so popular! Soy sauce based dipping sauce is the norm, but they also offered sesame based thick sauce, which went really well with the noodles! 

Restaurant: Hanayama Udon
£ - ££

 

Yakiniku

 Japan is probably the only place where you can enjoy so many different types of thinly sliced meat, and the best way to enjoy them is yakiniku.

You get your own grill at the table, and you can grill the meat to your preference.

 

I was too busy eating, these are the only photos I’ve taken!

Restaurant: Beef Kitchen
££ - £££

 

Yakitori, Takoyaki, Edamame & Beer!

These are all categorized as street food/snack, although there are posh counter type yakitori restaurants that have become very popular in the recent years.

Yakitori literally means grilled chicken, but you can enjoy a variety of different types of chicken meat, from breast, thighs, heart, wings to skin. They also offer grilled vegetables.

 

Takoyaki is a ball-shaped street food made of flour-based batter, filled with diced octopus (tako), pickled ginger and green onion, cooked in a special moulded pan. They are typically eaten with Takoyaki sauce (tastes like sweet Worcestershire sauce) and mayonnaise, with dried bonito shavings sprinkled on top.

 

Restaurant: Takobiva
£

I kept eating and drinking right up to boarding! My last Japanese food I had was edamame (and draft beer). I normally don’t drink beer unless I’m in Japan, and I have no idea how many glasses I’ve had during my 8 day stay!

These were a few things I indulged in during my short stay in Tokyo. I hope you enjoyed reading about them as much as I enjoyed eating them! I will be writing about sweets I had in Tokyo in my next article. I look forward to seeing you all then!