125 Best Restaurants in Tokyo, Japan

When it comes to preparation, this long-running unagi (freshwater eel) restaurant sticks to tradition, claiming to follow a 200-year-old recipe. For its ingredients, however, Maekawa takes a modern turn towards sustainability. Instead of using (rapidly dwindling) wild caught unagi, the restaurant uses only the highest quality domestically farmed unagi for its dishes. Choose from the una-ju (eel over rice served in a lacquered box), kabayaki (sweet grilled eel set meal), or shirayaki (plain grilled eel without sweet glaze). Maekawa offers a few small side dishes such as sashimi and dashi-tamago (Japanese rolled omelet) but like most classic unagi restaurants,  Maekawa does exactly one thing and does it well.

Dating back to the 1950s, this classic izakaya is a casual and lively place, where the third and fourth floors have tables, and the first two floors have only counter seats that are ideal for watching and chatting with the chefs. The focus is mostly on seafood, which pairs well the nihonshu on the menu. The only challenge to ordering might be your language skills, as the menu is handwritten in Japanese on the walls. However, this being low-key Fukagawa, the friendly staff will find a way to ensure that you're well-fed, even if that means pointing at other diners' dishes. Or you could inquire what they recommend ("osusume wa nan desu ka?"), and go with the flow.

High-quality marbled beef is taken quite seriously in Japan—cuts are ranked based on the ratio, distribution, and sweetness of the fat in relation to the meat. At Ushibenkei, you can sample some pieces of the highest rank at reasonable prices in a charmingly rustic atmosphere. Although you could order á la carte, for the full (and easier) experience select a gyu-nabe ("beef pot") course, and your server will move a shichirin (a portable coal-burning stove) to your table and prepare a range of cow tongue, beef, tofu, and vegetables in front of your eyes. The meat is fresh enough to be safely eaten raw, so don't be surprised if you are given paper-thin cuts of beef that are only lightly seared.

For a quick caffeine break, Verve serves coffee made using single-origin beans from around the world in fashionable, but laidback surrounds. They also have herb teas, sandwiches, and sweet treats like carrot cake and vegan cookies.

Not far from Tsukiji, Tsukishima (Moon Island) is a large man-made island known as the birthplace of delicious monjayaki: a thin batter is mixed with shredded cabbage and other ingredients, fried on a griddle built into the table, and eaten directly from the grill with metal spatulas. The main street in Tsukishima is filled with dozens of monjayaki establishments, but Yumeya is one of the best, an obvious fact when you spot the line of waiting patrons. Tried-and-true monjayaki eaters make it themselves at the table, but it can be a tricky endeavor—you need to form a ring of dry ingredients on the grill and pour the batter into the middle. If you're not feeling confident, servers can also make it for you at your table.