Tokyo Food Guide: 18 Must-Eat Restaurants in Tokyo, Japan

We were having sushi in Shinjuku with our tour guide Nori when I asked him if he could name three or four dishes that he felt defined or at least represented Tokyo cuisine. He thought about it for a moment before answering.

“That’s a difficult question to answer because Tokyo has become such a melting pot. It’s hard to narrow it down to just a few dishes.”

He’s right. Like New York, L.A., or any other large metropolitan city, Tokyo has become a melting pot of people from different parts of Japan. They’ve all brought their regional cuisines with them so you can pretty much get whatever you want in Tokyo. Dishes like Fukuoka’s motsunabe, Sapporo’s jingisukan, and Osaka’s takoyaki are well represented here.

In light of that, I wanted to come up with as well-rounded a food guide as…