shops

A 114-seat monja restaurant on the second block of Monja Street that serves straight through from 11:00 to 23:00, every day of the year, with no afternoon break. There are tatami rooms, and the seats themselves are non-smoking with a separate smoking room.

The house speciality is the risotto monja, made with rice in either a cream or a tomato version, which the association lists as the most popular of its unconventional monja.

Good to know

• The seats are non-smoking, but there is a smoking room.
• Prices for individual monja are not published; only the courses are.
• Listed by the Tsukishima Monja Association; the shop has no site of its own.

The first Sushizanmai, opened in April 2001 beside the Tsukiji outer market as what the company calls Japan's first sushi restaurant open 24 hours a day, every day of the year. The company still describes it as the chain's flagship.

There are 144 seats over three floors, with counters on the first and second. Reservations are not taken, so you join the queue. The grand menu lists every item in Japanese and English, and the bill can be settled by card, electronic money or QR payment.

Good to know

• Reservations are not taken. Join the queue at the door.
• Every seat is non-smoking.
• The menu lists each item in both Japanese and English.

A tempura restaurant on the ninth floor a minute from Exit C8 of Ginza Station, serving lunch from 11:00 and dinner from 17:00 every day except 1 January. The main shop closed at the end of 2025 to move, and reopened at this address in May 2026.

Dinner is built around set courses: ¥3,960 for the standard eight-piece course with salad and chawanmushi, up to ¥7,700 for the eleven-piece course with a hassun, sashimi and dessert. Two courses are bookable only at the counter, at ¥6,600 for seven pieces and ¥8,800 for ten, each with an appetiser and a drink.

Good to know

• Last orders are at 21:00 in the evening and 14:30 at lunch.
• The two counter-only omakase courses must be booked for the counter.
• There is no car park.

A Japanese restaurant on the corner of the Nishi-Azabu crossing, ten minutes' walk from Roppongi Station, serving soba made each morning from stone-ground buckwheat, skewers grilled over binchotan charcoal, and tempura. There are 260 seats across two floors, with counter seats, tables and private rooms.

It is open every day from 11:30 until 3:30 in the morning, with last orders at 2:45 for food and 3:00 for drinks, and the whole restaurant is non-smoking. A vegan menu and a halal course are both published. The building was the model for a scene in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill, and is where the Bush-Koizumi izakaya summit was held.

Good to know

• The minimum spend after 17:00 is ¥1,650 per person including tax, so a single drink will not cover it.
• The whole restaurant is non-smoking.
• Reservations are taken by phone between 11:30 and 22:00.
• Parking is six spaces shared with the sushi restaurant upstairs, with a height limit of 2.3m.
• The Japanese text on its own site says it closes at 3:30 while the English text says 3:00; the hours table gives 3:30.

A set-meal shop that opened in Asakusa Rokku in 1950 and is still run as a place where you can either eat a plain lunch or drink with sashimi. The menu runs to more than a hundred dishes, and the rice portion in a set meal can be chosen.

Raw tuna, served sliced or in chunks, has been on the menu since the shop opened. The ground floor has thirty-six seats, and the first floor has twenty-four chairs and thirty places on tatami.

Good to know

• Closed on Wednesdays.
• Last orders are at 20:00, which is early for a place that serves drinks.

SUSHI Gonpachi Shibuya is on the 14th floor of the E. Space Tower in Maruyamacho, eight minutes from JR Shibuya Station, with a view out over the city. The room is finished in wood and seats 50, with no private rooms. Alongside the nigiri there are speciality dishes, a board of the chef's daily recommendations and sake pairings. It opens at 17:00 every day and serves until 2:00 the next morning, with last orders at 1:00. The restaurant is non-smoking throughout.

Good to know

• A minimum charge per person applies from 17:00, but the amount is given differently: the restaurant's web page says ¥1,000 (¥1,100 with tax), while the official menu says ¥1,500 (¥1,650 with tax), with the difference charged if you spend less and the rule applying all day at weekends and on public holidays. Check on arrival.
• The restaurant is non-smoking throughout and has no private rooms.
• Open every day, with no closing day.
• Reservations are taken online through Toreta or by phone on 050-5443-0491.
• There is parking in the building, but it is not validated and cannot be used late at night.
• A vegan menu is available.
• Payment methods and any age limit are not stated on the official page.

Kakiden serves kyo kaiseki and cha-kaiseki over four floors of the Yasuyo Building, a minute from the Central East Exit of Shinjuku Station. The rooms on the 6th, 8th and 9th floors were designed by Yoshiro Taniguchi, the architect of the Crown Prince's Palace and the Japanese rooms of the State Guest House. The 9th floor holds three tea rooms, Zangetsu, the ten-mat room and Ichiyoan, which can be booked as private rooms; the 8th floor has chair seating. Courses run from a boxed kaiseki lunch to multi-course dinners, and a service charge of 10 percent is added. On Sunday evenings only the private rooms open, by advance reservation.

Good to know

• A service charge of 10 percent is added to the bill.
• The private tea rooms on the 9th floor carry a room charge and must be booked at least four days in advance.
• On Sunday evenings only the private rooms open, by advance reservation. If the following Monday is a public holiday, Sunday is normal and the holiday evening is private rooms only.
• The Tsuki course can only be ordered with an advance reservation.
• Prices, the Saturday and Sunday lunch last order, and the list of accepted cards are given differently on the Japanese and English pages, so confirm them with the restaurant.
• Cancellation charges apply: for the 8th floor, 30 percent from 15:00 the day before and 100 percent on the day; for the 6th, 7th and 9th floors, 30 percent from 15:00 three days before, 50 percent the day before and 100 percent on the day.
• Open all year except the New Year period and the summer Bon holidays.
• Book online through the reservation page or by phone on 03-3352-5121.
• The number of seats, the smoking policy and any age limit are not stated on the official site.

Ueno Torifuku is a chicken restaurant a minute from Ueno Station, on the third floor of Delicious Plaza, serving charcoal-grilled skewers, mizutaki hot pot and whole roasted chicken leg. It has 51 seats in all, including two at the counter, tables, sofa seats, window seats with a night view, and a private table room for 10 to 14 people. The whole restaurant is non-smoking, with no smoking booth. It stays open until 23:00 every day and opens from 13:00 on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.

Good to know

• A per-person charge is added on top of food and drink. The amount is listed differently in different official sources, so check it at the restaurant. It does not apply when you order a course.
• Torifuku-yaki takes about 30 minutes to cook.
• The whole restaurant is non-smoking and there is no smoking booth.
• Book online or by phone on 03-3835-4822. Courses with all-you-can-drink are available.
• No closing day is given on the official page, and hours over the New Year period may change, so contact the restaurant directly.
• An English menu is not mentioned on the official page.

The newest of the Bambi restaurants, two minutes from the station on the second block of Monja Street. Of its 60 seats, eleven tables are for two, and the association tags it as welcoming solo diners — which is not a given on a street built around sharing a hotplate.

On weekdays it opens at 18:00 and does no lunch; at weekends it opens at 11:00. The shop says it was the first in Tsukishima to serve a salt-based monja.

Good to know

• There is no lunch service on weekdays; the shop opens at 18:00.
• The whole restaurant is non-smoking.
• Listed by the Tsukishima Monja Association; the shop has no site of its own.

A Sushizanmai built inside a converted ryotei, which the company describes as giving it a calm, settled front. It holds 209 seats, including private rooms and a sunken-hearth section, and takes groups and set courses.

Open from 11:00 to 22:00 every day of the year, with last orders at 21:30. Bookings are taken by phone, but the counter seats are kept for walk-ins.

Good to know

• Counter seats cannot be reserved, only tables and rooms.
• Every seat is non-smoking.
• Last orders are at 21:30.