Tokyo

Best Bites 2024: Tokyo

Living in Tokyo, there is no end to high-quality eateries, and we certainly endeavor to find the best of the best. Those that rise above the others are collected like gold dust. Whether it’s a quick bite on the go or a fancy sit-down meal, there is always something to entice us to the different suburbs of the city. Amidst the colossal amount of choice – which some might feel is overwhelming – here is a handy list of some of our faves from the past year. Latino is a new find for me, but it is an old haunt of my fiancée’s that she frequented when she worked in an office nearby.

Tokyo

Latino: Curry Cantina

Tokyo is a fast-paced city with many opportunities for work but also a plethora of places to destress and find comfort. In the heart of Kayabacho, a business district in central Tokyo, sits Latino, a prime destination for some of the best comfort food the city has to offer. On the surface, the name can be a bit misleading: the restaurant does have great Mexican food, a rarity in the city, but it also has a myriad of fantastic fusion curries. To get there, we walk past the office buildings and up a quieter street to a strip of restaurants serving everything from Thai to Korean. We hunt for the restaurant’s unassuming green awning and go in.

Tokyo

Shirubee: Shibuya’s Hidden Izakaya

Shibuya is one of the busiest areas of the sprawling megacity of Tokyo, home to department stores, the famous Scramble – the world’s busiest walkway, and a whole host of eateries for the masses of tourists that come to play. In amongst all of this lies Shirubee, a hidden izakaya. This casual style of Japanese restaurant, featuring a smorgasbord of different comfort foods, is one of our favorite ways to dine, making it possible to taste and share many small dishes, much like Spanish tapas. There is no signage from the street and no instructions on how to find the place. Even Google Maps is incorrect about where the entrance is. Unless you have been taken there before, it is almost impossible to locate.

Tokyo

Sen: Natural Fusion

To reach our evening’s destination, we amble our way down Ura Shibuya-dōri (which translates to “Shibuya backstreet”) and pass by a litany of small eateries and charming hole-in-the-wall bars. This quaint neighborhood is just off the main drag, tucked in behind the more mainstream domain of tourist restaurants and the accompanying crowds. Here the streets are filled with stylish people in their twenties to thirties, young families, and salary men looking for a more suburban life beyond the hustle and bustle of Shibuya. As we pass by we notice a mix of great independent locales, from cheap Chinese eateries to fancy tuna restaurants to funky izakayas filled with locals.

Tokyo

Miura: Seafood Simplicity

The Japanese philosophy of ikigai follows four key tenets: to find in life what we love, what the world needs, what we are good at, and what we can get paid for. At Miura, chef and owner Hiroki Nara has found his ikigai at this stunning gourmet fish restaurant.   This idyllic little secret is tucked into a quiet backstreet of Shimokitazawa, one of the few neighborhoods in Tokyo devoid of skyscrapers and department stores. This small district lies in the heart of Setagaya, the second largest ward in Tokyo.