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Fast food
Japanese fast food restaurants offer decent quality at reasonable prices. Many chains offer interesting seasonal choices that are quite tasty. Some chains to look out for:
- Yoshinoya (吉野家), Matsuya (松屋), and Sukiya (すき家) are gyūdon (beef bowl) specialists. All have been hit hard by the recent BSE scare, and have switched much of their menus to pork.
- Tenya (てんや), the best tempura you'll ever eat for less than ¥500
- MOS Burger seems like just another fast food chain, but actually has a pretty interesting menu — for hamburgers with a twist, how about grilled eel between two rice buns? Notice also the list of local produce suppliers posted in each shop. Made to order, so guaranteed fresh, and unlike some fast-food places, Mosburger products generally look like their advertising photos. A bit more expensive than McDonalds, but worth the extra. MOS stands for Mountain, Ocean, Sun, by the way.
- Freshness Burger tries to be a bit less fast-foody and more like an "all-American" joint. The food's decent, but just be prepared for the tiniest burgers you've ever seen.
- Beckers Operated by JR, these fastfood burger restaurants are often found in and near JR stations in greater Tokyo and Yokohama. Beckers offers made to order burgers and Menchi burgers (minced black pork). Unlike most shops, their buns are fresh and baked inside the stores. Unused buns are thrown away if not used 1.5 hours after baking them. Their Pork Teriyaki burger is awesome. They also offer Poutine, which is of course a French Canadian snack consisting of french fries, gravy and cheese. The chilli topping needs to be tried. More often than not, you can pay with the JR Suica pre-paid re-chargeable multi use traincard.
- Ooto-ya (大戸屋) is really too good to call fast food, with a menu and atmosphere that matches any "home-style" Japanese restaurant. While there are illustrated menus on signboards, ordering can be confusing: at some stores you order at the counter before taking a seat, while at others servers come to your table.
- Soup Stock Tokyo is a trendy soup kitchen chain that serves delicious soup all-year round, with a selection of cold soups in summer. It is a bit more expensive than most other fast food chains but you may consider it a healthier alternative to burgers.
- Lotteria Standard burger-type place.
- First Kitchen This chain offers a few dishes outside of the standard fast-food fare, including pasta, pizza, and fries with a wide assortment of flavorings.
- Coco Ichiban serves Japanese style curry rice with a vast array of ingredient choices. English menus available.
American fast food chains are also ubiquitous, including McDonald's, Wendy's, and Kentucky Fried Chicken. McDonalds restaurants are almost as ubiquitous as vending machines.
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Department stores have food halls, typically in the basement, with food which surpasses top delicatessans in other world cities. Not only is cold food on offer, but also food to go. Tokyo has a huge amount of restaurants, so see the main Japan guide for the types of food you will encounter and some popular chains. Menus are often posted outside, so you can check the prices. Some shops have the famous plastic food in their front windows. Don't hesitate to drag the waiting staff out to the front to point at what you want. Always carry cash. Many restaurants will not accept credit cards.
Tokyo has literally tens of thousands of restaurants representing more or less every cuisine in the world, but it also offers a few unique local specialties. Nigirizushi (fish pressed onto rice), known around the world around simply as "sushi," in fact originates from Tokyo. Another is monjayaki (もんじゃ焼き), a gooey, cabbage-filled version of okonomiyaki that uses a very thin batter to achieve a sticky, caramelized consistency. It is originally from the Tsukishima area of Chuo and today there are many restaurants near Asakusa offering monjayaki.
Budget
Go to the convenience store (konbini), there is one every second corner. Really, the options may surprise you. You can get rice balls (onigiri), bread-rolls, salads, prepared foods (like nikuman and oden), and drinks (both hot and cold) for ¥100-150, bento lunch boxes for around ¥500 and sandwiches for ¥250-350. At some convenience stores, microwaves are available to heat up your food for no additional cost. Supermarkets (suupaa) are usually cheaper and offer a wider choice, but more difficult to find. (Try Asakusa and the sidestreets of Ueno's Ameyoko market for local supermarkets.)
Also, look for bentō shops like Hokka-Hokka-Tei which sell take-out lunch boxes. They range in quality and cost, but most offer good, basic food at a reasonable price. This is what students and office workers often eat.
Noodle shops, curry shops, and bakeries are often the best option for people eating on the cheap. They are everywhere. The noodle bars on every corner are great for filling up and are very cheap at ¥200-1000. You buy your meal ticket from a vending machine at the door with pictures of the dishes and hand it to the serving staff. The one question you will typically have to answer for the counterman is whether you want soba (smaller diameter) or udon (larger diameter) noodles. Some offer standing room only (but with a counter to place your bowl), while others have limited counter seating. During peak times, you need to be quick as others will be waiting.
Fast food is available just about everywhere, including many American chains like McDonald's, Wendy's, and KFC. But if you are visiting Japan from overseas, and wish to sample Japanese fast food, why not try MOS Burger, Freshness Burger, Lotteria, or First Kitchen? If you're looking for something more Japanese, try one of the local fast food giants, Matsuya, Yoshinoya or Ootoya. For under ¥500, you can get a giant bowl of meat, rice, and vegetables, sometimes with egg thrown in for good measure. Drinking water or hot ocha (Japanese green tea) is usually available at no extra cost.
Raw fish enthusiasts are urged to try kaitenzushi (conveyor belt sushi), where the prices are very reasonable. Prices are depending on the color of the plate, so be sure to check before they start to pile up.
Many of the larger train and subway stations have fast, cheap eateries. Around most stations, there will be ample choices of places to eat, including chain coffeeshops (which often serve sandwiches, baked goods, and pasta dishes), yakitori places, and even Italian restaurants.
The ubiquitous "izakaya", a cross between a pub and a casual restaurant, invariaby serve a good range of Japanese dishes and can be good places to fill up on the cheap in the evening. Many chains have picture menus.
Mid-range
By tradition the basement of almost any department store, including Mitsukoshi, Matsuzakaya, or Isetan, is devoted to the depachika (デパ地下), a huge array of small shops selling all kinds of prepared take-out food. You can assemble a delicious if slightly pricey picnic here — or, if you're feeling really cheap, just go around eating free samples! The very largest department stores are Tobu and Seibu in Ikebukuro, but Shibuya, Ginza and in fact any major Tokyo district will have their fair share. Shinjuku Station is home to several famous department stores, such as the Keio and Odakyu department stores. Many stores begin discounting their selections at about 7pm each night. Look for signs and stickers indicating specific yen value or percentage discounts. You will often see half-price stickers which read 半値 (hanne). This discounting is also common at supermarkets located at the smaller stations, although the quality may be a notch or two down from the department stores, it's still perfectly edible.
Splurge
There are countless very expensive restaurants in Tokyo, but one splurge is worthwhile for fans of sushi. The best sushi in town, if not the world, can be found in Tsukiji, fresh from the famous fish market. Figure on ¥3000 for a set meal, which is a bargain compared to how much sushi of similar caliber would cost elsewhere. A sushi breakfast in Tsukiji, after exploring the fish market, is a great option for the jet-lagged traveler's first morning in Tokyo.
For upmarket Japanese eats, Ginza is guaranteed to burn a hole in your wallet, with Akasaka and Roppongi Hills close behind. You can limit the damage considerably by eating fixed lunch sets instead of dinner, as this is when restaurants cater to people paying their own meals instead of using the company expense account. |
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