9 Cool Places To Eat And Drink In Tokyo, Japan

Overwhelmed by the massive choice of places to eat and drink in Tokyo? I’m not surprised, I was too. This guide will share my favourites to help you plan your trip!

Whenever I plan a trip to a new city, I love to sit down, review blogs and social media to find as many cool places to eat and drink as possible. Whether that’s edgy burger joints or popular cafes serving up great coffee, I like to have them all saved so that there’s always a plan or at least a back up option when you’re hungry, thirsty or (for us at least) when the kids are hangry!

With Tokyo being the largest city on earth, the options for great food and drink are endless and I want to put a little caveat at the start of this post as well as the other posts in this series. I can’t with good faith title this blog post ‘the best places to eat & drink’ or anything that suggests these are the only places that you should visit when in Japan. There are no doubt hundreds if not thousands of absolutely incredible restaurants, eateries, cafes and bars across Japan’s largest cities and it would be impossible to try so many in such a short space of time. I am absolutely not an expert so this post is simply my collection of places we ate and drank at whilst in Tokyo with my wife and toddler. We visited in November 2024 and so please note that standards can fluctuate and what works for one may not work for another!

However, saying all of that, I enjoyed absolutely everywhere on this list as, if I didn’t I obviously wouldn’t be sharing it with you. Hopefully you can use this guide to save some cool places and plan your trip but equally don’t be afraid to just walk in somewhere and try it out. That’s what we ended up doing on many occasions and we never had a bad experience!

So let’s get cracking and share my favourite places to eat and drink in Tokyo!

PLACES TO EAT & DRINK IN TOKYO

MAP

All of the places to eat and drink in Tokyo are included in the map below which hopefully will help when visiting a specific area. Tokyo is huge so having a few options of where to eat and drink in each location will always help out massively!

HOW TO USE THE MAP | Click the icon in the top left to show the list of all locations. Click on the top right corner of the map to open a larger version in a new tab. The star allows you to save directly to your own Google Maps.

Jennifer Seven

We’ll kick things off with quite possibly the coolest burger joint I’ve ever been to and certainly one of those places that, through my research, kept popping up as some of the best burgers in Tokyo. Jennifer Seven, in Omotesando near Shibuya, is a retro take on the 1950’s American diner with old school burgers (I’m talking simple cheese burgers with ketchup and mustard), fried chicken, coke floats, milkshakes and baked goods from The Little Bakery Tokyo across the road.

You enter Jennifer Seven through a door at the back of a goods store that has an upside down ‘M’ to welcome you. McDonald’s this is not. We ordered via the app and soon enough we had incredible burgers with sweet potato fries to satisfy our cravings. The problem with ordering via app is that you can easily keep ordering so we added a piece of fried chicken, a milkshake for Evelyn and a brownie because well, why not you’re in an old-school American diner in Japan. If we had more time in Tokyo, I would have eaten here again and spent more time in the area generally; it was one of my favourite places full of cool eateries, coffee shops and clothing stores.

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jennifer seven places to eat and drink in tokyo

Asakusa Kagetsudo Melon Pan

Just outside Sensō-ji, in an old shopping street, is this little store serving up sweet, crispy and warm buns (known as ‘Melon Pan’). We visited in the afternoon and the queue wasn’t too bad but it was absolutely worth it. Freshly cooked buns split open and filled with whipped cream – delicious and unmissable. Note however that it’s cash only!

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Korean Cafe Ueno

This was the last place we ate at during our precious time in Tokyo completely out of necessity and curiosity. We spent our last night at &Here Tokyo Ueno and found this brilliant Korean cafe just a few doors down from the hotel. After trying to pack as much as we could, we needed somewhere quick and easy for tea and here we found authentic Korean food at a really good price. We shared Korean fried chicken (though with the addition of cheese powder that I really wasn’t too sure about), dumplings and stir-fried chicken with cheese. All really good dishes though the stir-fried chicken had some textures that made me really not want to know what I was eating! The cafe is also a great choice during the day if you’re near Ueno park as the coffees look incredible with impressive and unique latte art. Again, this is cash only!

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Kurikoan

Here’s one for the Pokémon lovers, a small stand in Akihabara dishing out warm taiyaki in the shape of the beloved Magikarp. You get a choice of custard or red bean paste; we went with the custard that was incredible!

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Sristi

Sristi, an Indian and Nepalese restaurant, is one of those places to eat in Tokyo that we randomly stumbled upon thanks to its convenient location close to our hotel (MONday Apart Premium Ginza Shintomicho) and the staff being more than accommodating for our stroller and toddler in the small basement restaurant. These are the types of places that I highly recommend just strolling into as often they won’t be on any list of ‘best places to eat in Tokyo’ but you won’t leave disappointed.

The food here actually blew me away and you could tell that it was popular with Japanese salarymen who presumably had all come straight from the office for beers and curry. We shared chicken tikka to start, fresh from grill, followed by chicken masala topped with a boiled egg (really good!), rice and a cheese naan. Emma went with the butter chicken and they had a kids menu too which Evelyn really enjoyed! If you’re in the area, you really can’t go wrong with Sristi for great Indian food especially if you fancy a little break from Japanese food.

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PST Higashi Azabu

You’ll be surprised about this one. Again, one place that we stumbled upon purely out of ease and proximity to our hotel after a busy day exploring. What we didn’t realise that this is home to some of the best pizza in Tokyo and perhaps even the world. This Japanese pizzeria surprisingly took home the number one spot at the Worlds Best Pizza Awards in Milan so clearly they’re doing something right!

There’s a cover charge for each guest which some people don’t seem to like but it does get you a little shot glass of, for us at least, homemade mushroom soup. I went with the Arrabbiata pizza which was topped with tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, N’duja, garlic and parsley. I tried to add homemade pork sausage though I’m not sure there was any on at all despite paying for it! Emma and Evelyn shared a Margherita which they both really enjoyed too.

Make sure you get here early or reserve online in advance as it can get busy and it’s only a small restaurant!

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Iyoshi Cola

Here’s a really unique place to grab a drink in Tokyo; Iyoshi Cola is home to the viral (or at least extremely popular) cola in a bag. The company has a nod to the families pharmaceutical roots having developed its own blend of spices (kind of medicinal tasting in a way) to create this interesting craft cola. The Dreamy Flavour is the most popular and the sort of ‘base level’ for newcomers; I really enjoyed the unique flavouring though Evelyn’s face was an absolute picture as she condemned the drink for being ‘too spicy’. She’s two, she clearly doesn’t have such a sophisticated palette! Also, the way the drink is served makes for some cool photos too!

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Mikkeller Tokyo

Mikkeller is a trendy Danish craft beer brand and out of the back of Shibuya station (Exit A0) is a small bar serving up excellent beer that feels like a little bit of a secret. We visited during a rare afternoon nap for Evelyn and immediately leant into the laid back vibe, sitting on the concrete bench in the alleyway sipping cold, cold beer. I’m not ordinarily a big craft beer lover, you wouldn’t catch me drinking a sour for example, but the IPA went down really well. The only thing that was missing when we visited was the branded beer mats and branded glasses that I really wanted to buy to add to the collection back home!

This is a must-visit for beer lovers when visiting Tokyo, highly recommend!

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ONIBUS Coffee

Last but by no means least is one of the most popular coffee shops in all of Tokyo with a unique view of the passing trains whilst you sip your flat white. This ONIBUS location is situated just a short walk from Nakameguro Station in a cool little suburb south of Shibuya. Nakameguro features cool cafes, stores such as Traveler’s Factory and high quality restaurants. I found it a much quieter area that allows time to breathe after the chaos of Shibuya and Shinjuku.

ONIBUS coffee is very popular and many will come just to sit in the famed corner watching the trains depart all whilst your coffee and cake shake from the vibrations. The cafe is quite small; find a space first and then head downstairs to order from the window. I enjoyed the flat white and we all shared a cake before we (Evelyn) burnt some energy at the nearby play park.

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That wraps up my guide to the coolest places to eat and drink in Tokyo according to me. There are of course thousands of other places to eat and to drink and I’m sure there are many other guides out there that promise you the ‘best’. This however was just something to share where we ate and drank at to help other first time visitors to Tokyo or those that may have visited before but fancy trying somewhere new!

It’s always interesting to get other peoples takes and thoughts so, if you have any tips or want any more information, just leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you!