Akasaka Sushi Ito in Minato’s back streets delivers a quietly confident, classically framed sushi experience — refined without being showy, and deeply rooted in Tokyo’s old-school Edomae traditions. This is the sort of place where counter craft, calm service and well-judged value make it as compelling for a languid lunch as for a more celebratory…
EAT > JAPAN
Beaux Séjour at Naeba Prince Hotel delivers a surprisingly polished, gently old‑world French dining experience at the base of one of Japan’s classic ski mountains, with a New Year’s menu that leans into nostalgia, craft and alpine comfort in equal measure.
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Tucked inside the sprawling Naeba Prince Hotel complex, Beaux Séjour feels like…
Sobadokoro Shinbashi in Yuzawa delivers the kind of quietly confident, deeply local experience that turns a simple bowl of soba into a small ritual—rooted in snow country traditions, polished enough to feel special, but never overworked. A few minutes’ walk from Echigo-Yuzawa Station, it is the sort of place you start recommending to friends long…
Shiratsuyu at ANA InterContinental Appi Kogen is less a standard hotel restaurant and more a calm, quietly luxurious alpine dining room, where polished service, thoughtful cooking, and a deep sense of place come together just steps from the snow.
Returning to Appi Kogen after a couple years has been a mixed experience. Our first time…
Tucked into the ground floor of TRUNK(HOTEL) YOYOGI PARK on the Yoyogi Park side of Shibuya, L’ombelico feels like a little slice of contemporary Tokyo-Italian: wood-fired warmth, natural wine energy, and that relaxed, park-adjacent buzz that rolls from breakfast through to late-night pizza.
AMBIENCE >
Set on a prominent corner of Inokashira-dori with three sides…
Tucked into a quiet backstreet on the Akihabara side of Chiyoda, Kufuku feels like stepping out of electric town and into a parallel world—one where time, fermentation, and French technique quietly reframe Japanese comfort food. Set inside a lovingly preserved kominka, this is destination dining for travellers who like their Tokyo with as much patina…
High above Ginza’s polished sidewalks, Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura feels less like a fashion-house spin‑off and more like a jewelled little universe of its own—part salon, part stage, part lucid dream in Gucci green. Here Italian technique, Japanese produce and a distinctly theatrical sense of storytelling converge into a tasting menu that is playful, polished…
Tucked away in the residential fringes of Jingumae, just beyond Omotesando's designer bustle, JULIA remains a Shibuya gem for those seeking Japan's seasonal essence through innovative fine dining. Returning after our acclaimed 2024 visit to the expanded space—where Chef Nao and Sommelier Kenichiro elevated their husband-and-wife intimacy to a poised team operation—this latest meal reaffirms…
In the beautiful back streets of Gion where the traditional ‘Matcha’ tea houses hide away there are some amazing restaurants hidden behind the sliding doors and ‘Noren’ doorway curtains.
One of these outstanding restaurants is Sushi Masumoto which is a set Omakase course sushi restaurant preparing perfect individual morsels for 12 diners (eight at the…
Ramen. You love it, or you don’t. Hot, spicy, full of flavour. The best ramen is something of a work of art (see the quote below from the incredible 1985 movie Tampopo).
Sugari has something of a following in a classic Matcha house, hidden on a narrow lane off a side street,…
