Sara Shina Horii 総本家更科堀井 本店

Anthony Bourdain and Iron Chef Morimoto was here! I think that’s pretty self explanatory. Chef Morimoto took Anthony Bourdain here on his show No Reservations for some local Japanese soba.

Sara Shina Horii was established in 1789 so it’s been around for 226 years! I wasn’t a huge fan of soba before, but once I had my first slurp of the soba, I instantly fell in love! They use a lot of buckwheat for the soba so it’s really light and refreshing. We got a side order of duck with the hot plate and it was delicious!

We ended up ordering another set of soba and we added a tempura this time. The tempura was perfect! It wasn’t oily or brown color so you know they use new batches of oil. At the end of your meal, they’ll bring a pot of soba water and you can pour it into the sauce to drink it like a soup. When you leave, they have a display case of dried soba and canned sauce that you can purchase. We bought a few packs to cook at home and it’s just as good!

It’s a pretty popular place so I’ll recommend to go a little earlier to get a spot! We came back to Sara Shina Horii on our second trip because it was one of the best meals we had on our first trip!

Address \\  3-11-4 Motoazabu Minato Tokyo
Phone Number \\   050-5868-0352 (Takes reservations)
Hours \\   Monday – Sunday: 11:30am – 8:30pm (Last order)
Average Price \\   Lunch: ￥1,000 – ￥1,999,  Dinner: ￥3,000 – ￥3,999
Payment Method \\   Credit Card Accepted
Rating \\ 3.60/5
Website \\   Sara Shina Horii (Mainly Japanese)

Meishu Sake Center 名酒センター

Aside from non stop eating, another must do thing in Japan is sake tasting! There’s seriously an unlimited selection of sake to choose from so if you’re not sure what sake’s good, these sake tasting shops would be a good place to start!

Meishu Sake Center in Hamamatsucho is a small shop but packed with over 150 bottles of sake to choose from. The social etiquette is find an empty table, pick up bottles you want to try, bring it to your table and wait for one of the staff to help you pour the sake. Each bottle has a price tag attached to it and usually tasting ranges between ￥200 – ￥400 per tasting depending on the sake grade. If you bring 3 bottles at once, you get a ￥100 discount!

They’re very generous with their pouring, around 60ml pour so make sure you pace yourself. They have a small fridge that offers some snacks like nuts and sashimi for a few hundred yen in case you need some food to go with sake.

If you’re still not sure what bottles to pick up, you can ask the staff what they’d recommend or what kind of sake you like and they’ll make a recommendation for you. This place usually gets pretty packed with salary men after work so I recommended to go a little earlier to get a table!

Address \\  2-3-29 Hamamatsucho Minato Tokyo
Phone Number \\   03-5405-4441 (Cannot make reservations)
Hours \\   Monday – Friday: 11am – 9pm,  Saturday & Sunday: 3pm – 8pm
(Closed Holiday & 4th Saturday of the month)
Average Price \\   ￥1,000 – ￥2,000
Payment Method \\  Credit Card Accepted
Rating \\ 3.57/5
Website \\  Meishu Sake Center (Option for English available)

Hidden Gem In Tsukiji Market

This is one of my favorite hidden gem in Tsukiji Market! There are some places I want to keep it a secret so it doesn’t get raided by foreigners. So I’m sorry for not disclosing the name of this restaurant.

This hidden gem is known for Japanese uni, so if you’re an uni lover, this is heaven for you! Japanese uni is very different than the B.C uni I’m used to from Toronto. Japanese uni is smaller, a little less creamy but it’s a lot sweeter! You can order uni bowls with 5 different types of Japanese uni for ￥5,980. If you’re on a budget, you can just order a piece of uni sushi ￥580 – ￥1,000.

Most Japanese restaurants don’t allow people to share an order but this restaurant is okay with it. We went with our friends and we ordered 2 bowls to share so it ended up being around ￥2,500 per person which isn’t too bad. So if you’re lucky enough to stumble upon this restaurant then don’t miss out! There’s so much to eat in Tsukiji Market so at least we got a taste of this place and we headed out to eat more!

Address \\  Tsukiji Market
Hours \\   Generally Mon – Sun: 10am – 10pm
Average Price \\   Lunch: ￥2,000 – ￥2,999,  Dinner: ￥4,000 – ￥4,999
Rating \\ 3.50/5

Gyuubei Souan 牛兵衛 草庵 池袋西口店

My dad and I stumbled upon Gyuubei when we last stayed in Ikebukuro so I had to bring my boyfriend back here. Known for fatty beef yakiniku BBQ grill. This place is a little pricey but the beef is really marbled and fatty. Literally melts in your mouth! We ordered the not so fatty and fatty beef platter so we can try a bit of everything. It doesn’t look like a lot but we were really full after. This place opens late too, so if you want to try but don’t want to break the bank, go after dinner to get a taste!

Address \\ 1-10-2 Nishiikebukuro Toshima Tokyo
Phone Number \\   03-3983-7676 (Takes reservations)
Hours \\   Monday – Friday: 5pm – 12am
Saturday, Sunday & Holiday: 12pm – 12am
Average Price \\   ￥5,000 ～￥5,999
Payment Method \\   Credit Card Accepted
Rating \\   3.55/5
Website \\  Gyubei Souan Ikebukuro (Japanese only)

Menya Musashi 麺屋武蔵

Menya Musashi is one of the popular ramen chain in Tokyo. Known for their fatty piece of pork that melts in your mouth! The pork has an even layer of fat and it’s really tender. They serve thick noodles and if you’re a big eater on a budget, this is the best place for you. You can get small, medium or large portion of noodles at no extra cost!

They have locations in Shinjuku, Ikebukuro, Shibuya, Roppongi, Akihabara, Ueno, Kanda and Takadanobaba station. The one I went to was in Akihabara after I toured around the famous geek town!

Address \\ 2-18-5 Kanda Sakumacho Chiyoda Tokyo
Phone Number \\   03-5822-4634 (Cannot make reseravations)
Hours \\   Monday – Sunday: 11am – 10:30pm
Average Price \\   ￥1,000 ～￥1,999
Payment Method \\   Cash Only
Rating \\   3.5/5
Website \\   Menya Musashi (Japanese only)