shops

Sushizanmai Shinjuku Higashiguchi is on the third floor of the Seno Building, right by Exit B10 of the subway at Shinjuku-sanchome and three minutes from the East Exit of JR Shinjuku Station. It has 84 seats in all, 14 at the counter and 70 at tables, and the official page notes that the large number of tables suits everything from a pair to a group. Ordering is by tablet and dish names are printed in English as well as Japanese. The restaurant is open every day and non-smoking throughout. It closes at 22:00 from Monday to Thursday and at 23:00 from Friday to Sunday and on public holidays.

Good to know

• The restaurant is non-smoking at all times.
• Open every day, with no closing day.
• The lunch menu is served on weekdays only, from 11:00 to 15:00.
• Reservations are taken online through ResReserve, or by phone on 03-5357-7737.
• Whether prices include tax is not stated on the official menu.
• Any cover charge and any age limit are not stated on the official page.

THIS BREWING is a taproom attached to its own brewery on a back street that the brewery describes as being in Yushima. The beer recipes change from batch to batch, and there is a counter with the beer taps at the back. The ground floor is glazed, with the brewing tanks lined up behind. The taproom closes at 21:00 on most days, 22:00 on Friday and 20:00 on Sunday, and is closed on Tuesdays.

Good to know

• Closed on Tuesdays, and closing time is early (21:00 on most days, 20:00 on Sunday), so it does not work for a late night out.
• Prices in the taproom are not published on the official site; the prices shown there are for the online shop.
• Whether reservations are taken, the payment methods accepted and the smoking policy are not stated on the official site. There is only a contact form.
• The official site does not give the nearest station or walking time.

The largest of the Oshio restaurants listed here, with 124 seats over two floors: tables and tatami on the first, tatami only on the second. It is two minutes from the station, on the second block of Monja Street, and the shop describes its seating as sunken-hearth style.

It opens at noon on weekdays and 11:00 at weekends, and serves to 23:00 every day of the year. Smoking is allowed.

Good to know

• Smoking is allowed.
• Open every day of the year.
• Listed by the Tsukishima Monja Association; the shop has no site of its own.

A bar on a back street three minutes from Tsukiji Station, opened in January 2022 by a bartender who, the bar says, worked in bars for years before going out on their own. The room is red and black, lit low, with fifteen seats and a counter.

It opens at 18:00 and runs to 02:00 from Monday to Friday, and to 01:00 at weekends and on public holidays. There is no closing day. Note that smoking is allowed at every seat and there is no English menu, although the bar's own page can be read in English, Korean and Chinese.

Good to know

• Smoking is allowed at every seat.
• Children cannot be brought in.
• There is no English menu, though the bar's own page can be read in English.
• Only fifteen seats, and the bar cannot be booked out.

A tempura house that opened in 1885 and now sits in Ginza 8-chome with twenty table seats and ten at the counter. It is known for Edo-style tendon and for frying each piece in one go, and it serves the same all-day menu from 11:30 until last orders at 21:00.

Tendon runs from ¥2,860 for the vegetable bowl to ¥5,060 for the house kakiage bowl, tax included, and tempura platters from ¥2,860 to ¥4,950. Single pieces of tempura can be ordered one at a time, with rice and miso soup added as a set.

Good to know

• Closed on Sundays, but open on Saturdays and public holidays.
• Last orders are at 21:00, and the lunch menu stops at 15:00.
• The restaurant asks guests not to confuse it with similarly named shops: this is the main shop in Ginza 8-chome.

An udon restaurant on the seventh floor of Axall Roppongi, one minute from the Oedo line exit. It moved into this building on 1 September 2024 after nineteen years elsewhere in Roppongi, and every seat is designed differently: counter, tables, box seats, a terrace, two private rooms and two VIP rooms.

It serves from 11:00 until 8:00 the following morning, with last orders at 7:00, which makes it one of the last kitchens working in the area. On Sundays and public holidays it closes at 23:00 instead.

Good to know

• Sunday is the one night it is not open late. Check the day before you plan a late meal here.
• The restaurant's own menu page shows dishes as photographs without prices, so no prices are listed here.

An oden shop that opened in 1915, after moving to Asakusa from Hozenji in Osaka. Oden is a pot of ingredients simmered in broth, and about forty kinds are served here. The same recipe has been carried through the 1923 earthquake and the war, by the founder's children and grandchildren.

It opens only in the evening, from 17:00 to 23:00, and is one of the few places in Asakusa still serving at 22:00. There are private rooms, and the seating is non-smoking.

Good to know

• A seat charge of ¥500 per person is added to the bill.
• The shop's own site gives two different accounts of its closing days — one page says Sundays, another lists only a handful of dates for the year. Check the site before you go.
• Individual oden prices are not published online; the price list is a members-only page.

Sushi Ito Ikkan serves Edomae sushi on the Tower Side Terrace of the Cerulean Tower Tokyu Hotel, five minutes from the West Exit of Shibuya Station, with its entrance on the outer terrace rather than inside the hotel. It is the Shibuya branch of Akasaka Sushi Ito, which ran in Akasaka for 25 years. There are 15 seats: nine at the counter and six in a private room. Ingredients are brought in from around the country with the season, the rice is Kinuhikari sent directly from a farm in Koka in Shiga, and the sushi soy sauce, gari and sushi vinegar are made in house. The restaurant opens every day and is non-smoking throughout.

Good to know

• Each guest must order a course, and listed prices already include a 15 percent service charge and 10 percent consumption tax.
• The whole restaurant is non-smoking and the dress code is smart casual; men in T-shirts, shorts or sandals may be turned away.
• The restaurant asks guests not to wear strong perfume or cologne, so that the aromas of the food come through.
• The last order for lunch is given differently by the restaurant's own pages: 13:30 on the top and dinner pages and on the hotel's page, 14:00 on the access page. Check before you go.
• The cut-off for entering the private room is also given differently: 20:30 on the top, access and hotel pages, 20:00 on the dinner menu page.
• Open every day.
• Reservations are taken through TableCheck or by phone on 050-3503-4110; other enquiries go to 03-3476-3498.
• Payment methods, any cover charge and any age limit are not stated on the official site.

Sushizanmai Higashi Shinjuku stands on the corner where the street meets Shokuan-dori, north of Kabukicho, and is open from 11:00 right through to 5:00 the next morning every day of the year. The fish is sent in daily from Toyosu. There are 72 seats spread over the ground floor and the basement, with counter and table seating on both. The restaurant is non-smoking throughout, dish names are printed in English as well as Japanese, and ordering can be done from your phone.

Good to know

• Open until 5:00 the next morning, with last orders at 4:30.
• The restaurant is non-smoking at all times.
• The lunch menu is served on weekdays only, from 11:00 to 15:00.
• Reservations are taken by phone on 03-5155-6655.
• The official page carries notes about reservations and lunch being suspended between 8 and 16 August, but does not give the year, so check before relying on them.
• Whether prices include tax is not stated on the official menu.
• The official page gives walking times from Higashi-Shinjuku and Seibu-Shinjuku stations but not from JR Shinjuku Station.

Eitaro Sushi serves aged sushi, ageing the fish for several days to draw out its flavour, with omakase courses at the heart of the menu. The counter is reserved for guests having a course and lets you watch the chefs work; nigiri sets are served at the tables, and there are two tatami rooms that take up to 18 people when the partition is removed. A course includes two appetizers, sashimi, three prepared dishes, eight pieces of sushi, a soup and a sweet. Sake comes from breweries such as Kokuryu, Isojiman, Denshu and Utou, and the wine list is mainly white to go with sushi.

Good to know

• Prices are listed differently on the Japanese and English pages of the official website, so check the current prices with the restaurant before you visit.
• Counter seats are for guests having a course. Nigiri sets are served at tables.
• Reserve online at regli.jp, by phone on 03-3828-5472 or by email. Lunch courses also need to be booked in advance.
• Cancellations should be made at least two days ahead; the restaurant may charge the full amount for a same-day cancellation.
• Credit cards are accepted at dinner only. At other times payment is cash.
• The restaurant is closed on irregular days, so check before you go.
• Children are welcome, but the restaurant may be unable to take them depending on other bookings, so ask when you reserve.
• The restaurant cannot be hired privately, and there is no car park; there is paid parking nearby.