Where to Eat
1. Zen no Ya 然の家: Right across the Dai Ichi Hotel Annex in Shimbashi is the raised subway/train tracks. Underneath the tracks are some restaurants. If you cross the street from the hotel, turn right, walk to the intersection (without crossing the street), turn left, and you'll see a tunnel into a few restaurants on the left. One of them (the 2nd one in restaurant in) serves izakaya food (Japanese pub food). The restaurant decor is interesting (probably your typical after work hang-out type place in Tokyo ), food is pretty good, and prices are surprisingly inexpensive. Beware though of a smoky environment.
 | 2. Daiwa 大 和: You can get here by either taking the subway (but need to transfer) or a cab. It’s pretty close to the Shimbashi/Ginza so the cab fare should be cheap. Try to get there early (like 6 or 7 a.m. if you can). Expect to be in line for 1-2 hours, get squished/packed like sardines, and eat for only like 20 minutes. They don’t take credit card so bring cash and expect to pay a little under US$100 per person. Just get the chef's special (“omakase” in Japanese), it's a very nice assortment. But also get the uni if it's not within the chef's special (probably isn't)...it's absolutely delicious and not like your US varieties. Here's a map of the fish market area. A1 on the map is a subway exit but you'll probably arrive on one of the big streets on that map.http://www.tsukijigourmet.or.jp/acces... |
Daiwa is in that blue area of the map. It's in the #6 building stall (blue
area) on the list map.
(http://www.tsukijigourmet.or.jp/list.htm)
3. Ten-Ichi 天一: Famous tempura bar chain. The one closest to Dai Ichi is located in Ginza within walking distance from the Shimbashi, in the basement of the Sony building. Even the French president ate here! You can just get one of the sets they have, and add more at the end if you want more variety of other stuff.
4. Otako Ginza: Yummy oden bar in Ginza, another favorite hangout of businessmen after work. By definition of oden, you get healthier food choices here, and lots of variety. Lots of different types of fish cake, skewers, etc. Yummy stuff!
Address:
8-6-19 Ginza Chuo-ku Tokyo
Phone: 03-3571-0751
Open: Weekdays: 17:00-24:30
Saturday:
16:00-22:30
Sunday: closed
Map: http://www.otako.co.jp/ginza/map.htm
6. Jangara Ramen: This place is pretty popular and Julian just loves ramen. There's one branch of this restaurant off the Akasaka station (get off the station, come up to ground level, cross the street, turn right to walk down the street, and it's about 5-10 minutes' walk).
7. Kinsen: One of many restaurants that offer kaiseki cuisine in Ginza. Neat little place in the basement of a building. Excellent environment for a delicious, quiet meal.
8. Zipangu: It's also
in the Akasaka plaza (same as Ninja) and very easy to get to. Food and
environment were both very good! It’s
some sort of a fusion tapas cuisine. The sea bream dish was very good there!
| 9. Tea house Tsujiri
-- Great
dessert/in between meal type of place, famous for their green tea
sweets. On
the weekend, you'll see long lines waiting for a seat in the tea
house next to the shop. The green tea soba and various ice cream/mochi
desserts are absolutely delicious! And if they have it (it’s
seasonal), you
should try their green tea chocolate.
They have two types, both very yummy. This
place is also within walking distance from the hotel in the Caretta Shiotome shopping mall, you basically walk one station’s
distance (~8-10 minutes) towards Shiodome. |  |
Directions & map from Dai Ichi in Shimbashi: Caretta Shiotome is located at the center (a read mark) of this map; there are two hotel marks on the upper left, which are Hotel Dai Ichi Tokyo and Dai Ichi Annex. The easiest route is to first go to JR Shimbashi station, then walk through the station and enter into the subway Shimbashi station (underground); from there you can walk to the Shiotome station underground. Caretta Shiotome is right near the Shiotome station:
http://www.mapfan.com/m.cgi?MAP=E139....
 | |
10. Minamoto-no-munechika (pronounced like "Mi-Nah-Moe-Toe No Moo-Nei-Chee-Kah"): This place is at Mitaka, so be sure to go here the day you go to Ghibli Museum !! It’s a ramen shop with the BEST smoked eggs in the whole wide world. So make sure you get that extra smoked egg with the ramen when you purchase it at the vending machine inside the store. Here’s the map that shows the location relative to the train station: http://tinyurl.com/2q3hbv
