What to eat in Japan guide to the best of traditional Japanese cuisine as well as the tastiest and best street food: You know as certified foodies, food was a big part of our Japanese vacation. We visited both Tokyo and Kyoto and hope to revisit them as well as discover other destinations in Japan such as Osaka and Nara.
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The one thing that disappointed me a bit about Japan was the lack of tons of sushi restaurants, something l had assumed would be so. Unless there is a specific area that we did not visit that was chock full of sushi places, we had a hard time finding them, and they were pricey when found.
We did go by the famous (old) Tsukiji fish market one afternoon. This is the place where they have the world famous tuna auctions at 5AM daily. I’m not that invested in fish, no matter how exciting it sounds 😉 to wake up that early, line up by 4.30AM hoping to be one of the only 120 people allowed in to watch the auction. I understand you can find really good sushi for breakfast close by. When we went, it was in the afternoon, and it wasn’t brimming with sushi places either.
*Update* Please note that since our visit, the location of the market has changed. The new location is at the Toyosu market and can be found at 5 Chome-2-1 Tsukiji, Chuo City, Tokyo 104-0045.
What to eat in Japan: A guide to the most awesome food to try
Yakiniku Tokyo Food Guide:
What Japan does have are a gazillion Yakiniku restaurants. Yakiniku translates to grilled meat. Think Japanese BBQ, similar to Korean BBQ. You get to cook your own bite sized pieces of meat and vegetables at a little grill that is at your table. This seems to be way more popular than sushi. It would be extremely hard to be vegan or vegetarian in Japan.
There is meat everywhere you look. They are also high in unsaturated fat, so indulging doesn’t feel quite so bad, and the Japanese tend to live a long life, so they must be doing something right. Once cooked, you dip the meat in different kinds of tare sauces which are mostly varying mixtures of sake, soy, sugar, garlic and sesame oil and fruit juices. That should have been added to our first impressions :-). I think populous Tokyo is probably the best food city in Japan.
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Tokyo and Japan Food: The most delicious and mouth-watering cut of beef of the Waygu (Japanese Cow) beef that you might be familiar with is Kobe beef. In the old days, the cows, in order to produce the most awesome meat, were put on regimented diets which include sake (Japanese wine) and beer. The alcohol was supposed to aid their digestion as well as induce hunger during the humid seasons. They were also regularly massaged to prevent cramping. It was a cow’s life back then 🙂 . These have mostly been discontinued as it was determined not to have any effect on the quality of the meat. Bummer!
My theory is that Yakiniku in Japan is quite popular because the restaurants get to do very little and get a high return. Once you’re seated and your grill is lit, they do little besides bring you the already cut meat and side dishes to grill by yourself. No complaining from customers as to the quality of the food since you only have yourself to blame if you burn it or what not. The sell the meat in 100gm servings. Your bill can add up very quickly, 100gm is not even appetizer size 🙂 . We rarely ate a meal that was less than $70 for Yakiniku.
Foodies in Japan: Sushi in Tokyo
The times we had sushi, they were very, very good. The best sushi in Tokyo that we had was at a place called Ouigisushi. It is worth checking out. The sushi was fantastic and you got really thick slices of fish. The price was also very fair. Most of the restaurants would have one or two plates only of sushi, like an after thought. Once we thought it was just us, but while walking around, we heard a French family behind us on the street complaining about the lack of sushi places. Maybe we were expecting too much..haha! We did find some places where it was prepackaged for takeout, but that’s no fun.
We found a great place in Kyoto with really good sushi as well. The name is Japanese, so l have no idea what it’s called, but it is quite close to the Kyoto train station. The only sucky part was that you must agree to this appetizer as part of your bill, and it costs about $3.50 per person. It was disgusting tasting to us. We also fell for the “extra cold beer” at $7 plus a glass. It was not super cold, and tasted the same. Don’t fall for it 😉 .
Foodies in Japan and the popular Japanese Noodles
No visit to Japan would be complete without Udon noodles. We found most reasonable priced, about $7.50 average for a big bowl of soup accompanied by either gyoza, the Japanese dumplings or tempura shrimp. There were plenty of places that offered them, and we basically just followed the locals to wherever they went. We were never disappointed.
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Some other popular dishes in Japan that we tried, but did not take pictures of included Tonkatsu which is a Japanese pork cutlet dish (something we have a lot of at home, so it was not super special) and Unagi (eel), another food that we have plenty of at good Japanese restaurants stateside.
What to eat in Japan – Best Street food
I am not a huge fan of street food anywhere, truth be told as l don’t have a strong stomach. l also usually like comfort when l eat. A table, napkins, service. Federico is not a huge fan either, and his stomach is fussy, so we try to avoid it. We however, had no qualms about eating street food in Japan. The stalls looked clean and the food delicious.
Takoyaki:
We ate lots of Takoyaki. A favorite snack food that became popular in Osaka, it is now commonly found everywhere in Japan. Takoyaki is a wheat flour based batter mixed with diced octopus (Tako) and tempura scraps. It is shaped like a ball and cooked on the grill in a pan. It’s soft and chewy and my goodness, insanely hot! Wait at least 5 minutes after splitting it open or you burn your mouth. It’s really good, but you can’t taste much when your mouth hurts as Federico found out. 🙂
Onomoyaki:
Teriyaki Chicken: The real deal!
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Green tea ice cream:
The meals usually came with green tea, so that was what we had. We rarely felt the need for beer or wine truthfully. I thought l would have sake, but l remembered not liking the taste so we skipped that too. We rarely had dessert. We did try the green tea ice cream that everyone raves about. Federico loved, as did a lot of people in line with us. Tasted like medicine to me, so nope..not a fan!
Foodie App Japan: If you’re looking for great tasting food in Japan and don’t speak Japanese, be sure to download the Japan Foodie app from Google Play or the Apple store. You can even use it to pay for your meal. It comes in very handy.
In Conclusion, some of the best food to eat in Japan include:
- Sushi
- Onomiyaki (street food)
- Takoyaki (street food)
- Tonkatsu
- Gyoza dumpling
- Udon and Miso Soup
- Waygu beef
- Tokyo salad
- Tempura
- Teriyaki chicken skewers (street food)
- Green tea ice cream (acquired taste)
- Tempura shrimp
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What do you think of the food in Japan? Are you a meat or fish lover? Does any of these look good to you? Have you tried them or would you be willing to try them?
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Oh Boy!! Now I am hungry! I swear there are places I want to go just to eat and drink! I had no idea they did BBQ as mush as Koreans. I am shocked to hear about the lack of sushi places! That tempura shrimp looks like heaven! I actually went to a sake tasting recently and like sparking and flavored sake. I am cautious about street food too but the grilled chicken skewers looked safe lol. Allison did a guest post for me on eating in Tokyo recently and I was surprised to hear about the variety of restaurants including soul food!
Writing it made me hungry as well 🙂 . I have no problems with going somewhere solely for the food and drinks. I welcome a resort vacation every so often like you do. I was shocked as well with the abundance of the BBQ places. I had no idea they had sparkling sake, l must keep that in mind. The grilled chicken was delightful. Yeah..the actual first picture was of the place Allison took us to when we had dinner. It was fantastic, and l was shocked as well at the variety of ethnic cuisine when she told me. That’s cool!
Ah, I was waiting for this! :)) Great food and great pictures of food. I didn’t know that food in Japan was that expensive (I’m talking mainly about the $70 Yakiniku) but just from the looks of it, it’s all worth the price. I like how everything also looks extremely clean, even the street food stalls. I just think of the photos I’ve seen of Thailand street food and Japan is definitely a completely different thing. More expensive, but risking your health isn’t worth the couple of dollars you’d save 🙂
Haha! Glad l could oblige you. I don’t think l would be brave enough to try street food in Thailand. I would hate to be sick on my vacation even though it’s only a slight chance. I guess l would have to wait and see what the place looked like before deciding :-). I am admittedly a chicken though. I want good food. The really good beef was expensive, but so was the chicken really when you see the portion, it is tiny to say the least, so it adds up quickly because you say 3 portions of this, 3 portions of that to get a decent meal and boom! Yeah, l think generally from the pictures l have seen, Japan stalls might be a bit more spacious and cleaner.
It’s after 1am here and I’m up and starving now thanks to this post! Lol! Japan is at the top of my Asia travel list and in large part that’s because of the food. I love yakiniku and noodles although I’m not a very adventurous sushi eater. I tend to play it safe and opt for tuna, salmon or my beloved California rolls (I’m such an American!). I’m hoping we can get to Japan and eat our way through the country sooner than later.
Hah! Sorry about the starvation. It was part of my cunning plan 🙂 . The food really was great, and l took comfort in the fact that the meat was high in unsaturated fats 😉 . Made me feel less guilty. Oh, you must explore more sushi. If you look at one of the pictures, there was a really thick fish, silver looking..till today, we have no idea what it was. Two old Japanese men were eating it at the next table and we just pointed. It was really good. It did have a film on it though that we took off as l wasn’t sure if it was part of the food :-). Not gonna choke on my vacation! You’ll get there, and you will enjoy the food 🙂
Wow!! Now your making me hungry! I’m a foodie and I love to see differ dishes and I would love to try anything once!!
I like that you are adventurous like me 🙂 . You would love the food for sure!
This sounds like an incredible experience. I’m a baby sushi eater so I might have been very hungry. lol The noodles certainly sound more like my speed. Sometime about raw meat that doesn’t sit all the way well with me.
The ice cream looks good, but green tea does not. lol You guys did a great deal of exploring and eating, I love that.
It really was. I think the reason we tried to do as much as we could was because it is so far away and we weren’t sure if we would come back someday 🙂 .The noodles were really good. It’s kind of cool to watch them make it too. They are super long. Oh, you have to dive deeper into sushi. Wonderful food. I did not like the green tea, he on the other hand liked it a lot..yuck!
Wow! That sushi looks awesome and at a great price. I’m allergic to most of the things listed but they still look delicious.
Oh sorry about your allergies 🙁 . The sushi really was great at that Ougisushi. Tops!!!! I wish we had gone back again, but found it late into our stay.
I love Japanese food! Everything looks so good! OK, so have you been in Japan this entire time, or are you just writing about different things after the fact?
Haha! I wish. We were there for 12 nights. I mostly write after the fact, l’m kind of superstitious. I will take a break from Japan even though l still have one or two more posts 🙂 . We actually left for Copenhagen like 10 days after we got back and just got back 2 days ago, so l will switch up :-). The food really was awesome!
I’m so glad you guys had such cool dining experiences in Japan. I feel like you tried more foods in 12 days than I did in 6 months LOL. I’m shocked that you had such a hard time finding sushi! It’s around just about every corner, although I am a little picky about my sushi restaurants, so I wouldn’t necessarily eat in many of them.
LiveLifeWell,
Allison
I doubt that very much 🙂 . We did a lot though..haha! We found that most places only had 2 items of sushi, like an 8 piece or 16 piece plate on the whole menu. We were in Ikebukuro and there were a few take out places. We really were on the lookout for them, we would have loved to eat at tiny places too..we only saw lots of the Udon places which we loved as well. Well, next time l guess 🙂 . Hope you’re enjoying being back stateside.
Cool that you had a foodie good ole time in Japan. Some of it looks good.
Ye! It was good eating 🙂
Oh, YUM. So many tastes – so little time. What fun to wander about and enjoy the real thing! We’ve just discovered a couple of Japanese “buffets” here in Lagos which, even though they’re probably not quite authentic, we’ve really enjoyed. The small plates of food are made fresh and you order as you go – usually we’re stuffed and have to waddle out. Lot of sushi too! 🙂
Now l really can’t wait to check out those places in Lagos. I am sure we would like them a lot. Yep! we loved just having no agenda except to find places to eat 🙂 . There is nothing wrong with waddling out after a meal..haha! 🙂
On the one hand, when I have to cook my own food at a restaurant, it’s usually tasty and fresh. On the other hand, I get tired of cooking my own food. That’s why I go out. So, I don’t know about that BBQ stuff. The sushi and street food actually look great. Medicine ice cream, not so much. Did you see much fresh fruit at any street markets? Just curious what they had in the way of street markets as far as produce.
Have a good weekend.
Terri
Haha! I feel you on the cooking 🙂 . I for one hate cooking and rarely do it, so it was kind of fun for me. I would hate doing it in addition to home cooking. Federico doesn’t mind it as much and he ended doing most of the grilling as l would just set it on the grill and instantly forgot about it 🙂 . I don’t recall seeing much fresh fruit at the markets. There were several that were selling smoothies though, so maybe the fruit was covered to keep them fresh. I saw lots of people drinking healthy stuff..like kale..and yes…green tea smoothies.. Yeah..to me the green tea ice cream tasted like green pepto bismol with a worse aftertaste! 🙁
I love Japanese food, it is so full of flavour, I would be in food heaven in Japan. I do like street food in particular if there is a queue of locals eating there, it is good sign of being clean and fresh. I would love to eat my way around Japan…dreaming ????
Nothing wrong with that dream 🙂 . I think sometimes it’s not all about the sights. The aroma and cuisine count for a lot. We always follow our nose and do keep an eye out for where the locals go. Always a good sign. I wouldn’t mind going back to eat some more. I am dreaming as well 🙂 .
All that food looks so Good! I can’t wait to find myself in Japan one day.
I hope you do too. I think you would enjoy the people and the food 🙂 .
I had the pleasure of staying a whole summer in Japan while in college and I too thought that sushi would be everywhere. I must say though when I ate sushi in Japan it was absolutely fabulous! I dont think I have had anything that has come close here in the US, not even at the best sushi spot.
I loved the food though. It was flavorful and filling. What I also loved is the availability to find quality food at the most common places like the corner store and the mall. I am hoping to return to Japan soon to explore the sights and the food some more.
Oh you were lucky, lucky, lucky! I’m so glad you also agree that sushi wasn’t everywhere like one would have imagined. I thought it would be like McD, one every corner.. 🙂 . I have to admit only one place in the U.S l’ve had as good sushi (Sushi Karen) in L.A and l have eaten at a lot of the “in” and $$$ places. Yeah, even the 7-11 had fresh to go boxes and the malls too. We went to the big department store Isetan and the food was just insanely good and fresh. I hope you get to return soon, that would be awesome 🙂 .
This is on my top five places I want to visit /reside in. Your post just fueled that fire even more. I would honestly go to the auction at 4am then return home to sleep.lol
Noooo!! 4AM??? Noooo!! I just couldn’t do it 🙂 . Even if l was wide awake, l wouldn’t want to actually get out of bed at that time. Mind you l have to when the dogs come get me to go pee 😉 . I think l would put it in my top 5 to reside as well. It is just so orderly.
Amazing! Sounds like you had a good time overall. I can’t believe how cheap it is!
It was amazing food and yeah, we had a blast the whole time 🙂 .
You end up paying more for the experience more than the servings of the food at the grills. Now that noodle setup had me drooling, I love to eat and this is a cuisine that I’d love to experience.
Very true. The cost was more for the experience as the servings were small indeed. I don’t know what base the milky noodle soup was, but l have been dreaming about it since. I’m just mad that it was later that we discovered it 😉 and the bowls were huge too, very good portions.
This food looks so good. Everything looks fresh and authentic. I bet food here in the states will never measure up.
I notice in most places that the food really is fresh. They don’t believe in artificial growth of fruit and veggies unlike the U.S. The upside is that l eat a lot more veggies and fruit now as l find them delicious. I have recently become a fan of leeks, which l thought was celery 😉 .
It sounds like you had an interesting foodie adventure in Japan. I want to travel there, but I’m afraid of what I will eat. Your post has offered new options. Thanks for sharing!
You would love the food there. There are definitely options. We had dinner one night with Allison Jones and she says they have everything from Italian to Chinese to Soul food restaurants in Tokyo 🙂 . So go…sure they have plenty of fries too 🙂 .
I’m just shocked Japanese people eat sushi and all the usual foods we see in the west. I kind of assumed it’s all a westernised idea of what the Japanese eat. Sort of how you hear that authentic Chinese cooking bears no resemblance to what is served in Chinese restaurants in the western world! Everything looks lovely though and I love udon noodles and dumplings.
Haha! It’s kind of like the same. I went to Mexico years ago thinking the food would be the same..hmm..nope! :-). They eat everything..and then some! Good to know for people who are afraid of trying new things.The dumplings were really good. It’s one of my favorite things to eat..ever! I was surprised l liked the noodles too, but l definitely did. It was cool watching them make the noodles too.
It all looks great Kemkem! Like you, I love sushi. Funny enough some of the best (and great value) sushi we’ve ever had was in Cape Town. Shame you didn’t see more restaurants, I guess we assume that you go to Japan and that every 2nd restaurant will be a sushi restaurant…
If there’s one thing that matches sushi for me though it’s noodles. It’s why I love Asian cuisine so much. Those Udon noodles look fantastic.
We’ll be in Japan in November and really look forward to trying out some of your recommendations 🙂
Frank (bbqboy)
We love sushi too. You’re right, we had the preconceived notion that it would be just about everywhere in Japan.. :-). I was actually surprised at how much l liked the Udon noodles. They were really good, tasty and reasonably priced. You will like japan, l’m positive :-). We certainly wouldn’t mind a return visit. Too bad shopping is a no-no. Way too pricey we thought :-(. We are probably just too spoiled with the U.S prices.
Japan foods are totally awesome. There are so many different varieties. I really liked Hiroshima style okonomiyaki and Shabu Shabu. Kushiage is quite good too. 🙂
Oh, now we have to plot someway to get back and try Shabu Shabu and Kushiage. The names sound intriguing 🙂 and l am a total sucker for food..and more food..and even more food! You know l’m looking them up 😉
I also loved the food in Japan, though this line “The one thing that disappointed me a bit about Japan was the lack of sushi restaurants” is exactly my thought when I visited Tokyo. I though Sushi is all I would be eating but we really had to look. We found one place in the Shibuya area that you could order the sushi from a screen at your table and it would be sent on a conveyor belt to your table. It was fun and expensive. But delicious.
On a side note, Z loves sushi as much as Chad and I. There is only one place in Phuket I like for sushi, but it is an expensive place, so rarely do we go there.
I really did think we would find so many sushi places. I’m glad l wasn’t the only person that thought so. Very strange isn’t it our perception..haha! I’ve tried the conveyor sushi in London and Marseille before. They do always turn out to be more expensive because everything looks good.. 🙂 . How cool that Z loves sushi. Such good taste that little missy has! We found one place that we like for sushi in Seville, not love..but like..but l think there are good ones, we just haven’t found them. The search goes on! 🙂
I am always on the search for good sushi. 🙂
Me too 🙂
Japan is a definite foodie tour!. Did you ever try sukiyaki or teppanyaki? Those are my favorites. I have never had Japanese street food.
Yes, we did try Teppanyaki. The salad on there was made that way and I really liked it. I felt better trying street food in Japan than in Thailand :-).
Okay that photo of tempura and noodles had me drooling on myself. Stop it! These reports are just too tempting and now my stomach is growling and I must go raid the kitchen cupboards!!
I love Japanese soup and noodles (and sushi of course) but I found it a bit of a problem in Japan (as opposed to Japanese restaurants in other countries) because everything seemed to contain meat.
Yeah..pretty much everyplace was meat which surprised us too. I figured there would be a sushi place in every corner instead of BBQ. I guess we have this preconceived notions :-).
Oh be still my little heart! As a lover of Japanese food, I was clearly drooling midway through this piece. You brought back memories of Kobe beef in several courses, so good that I returned to the same restaurant the next night, at great damage to my wallet! As for finding sushi that’s affordable, the two places I met with success were in large subway stations, the ones with plenty of shops – I found small local sushi places that catered to workers in a hurry. The other place is the basement of department stores, where they keep the food – the sushi was beautifully wrapped and fresh – just grab and run, and definitely more affordable than some of the pricier places I visited.
You’re so right Leyla about the grab and run sushi. We did find them in the basement department shops even though we didn’t try. One night, we went to a 7-11 type shop where they had them ready to go and we took it back to the AirBnB. We would have preferred staying to eat at a restaurant for sure, but it was a good alternative. Haha! You sound like us when we find good food, we return the next day and say the hell with the cost :-). Glad you enjoyed the post, and drooling is always welcome.
Thanks! This will be a good reference for our next trip-and it’s just enjoyable to recall all the good eats. Unlike some countries, the street food in Japan doesn’t require being daring:)
Most of my best memories from travel include food 🙂 . Yeah.. I agree with you there about the street food. I just wasn’t brave enough to try it in India or Thailand. Not even in my home country of Nigeria :-).
I so admire a great food writer and you are! Although Japan is not on my radar at the moment, I may make my weekend eat-out destination a Japanese restaurant!! Everything looks amazing!
Thanks for the compliment Marilyn 🙂 . We did find the food amazing and l think you should make your weekend eat-out Japanese. I love food, but especially Japanese food.