Need Recommendations on "The Best of..." Tokyo & Kyoto
I am planning a 7 days trip to Tokyo-Nikko-Kyoto, and would like to experience the best of Tokyo/Kyoto's diverse cuisine. My budget for dinner in Tokyo would be from 2000 to 10000 Yen/per person and lunch can be street food or dessert/tea places. I will mostly stay in Central Tokyo and West Tokyo (Tsukiji, Ginza, Senso-ji, Imperial Palace, Meiji, Roppoingi Hills) but wouldn't mind going out of my way for a truly excellent meal experience.
As for Kyoto, one out of two nights I will be staying in a Ryokan with Kaiseki provided.
What are the best __ in Tokyo:
1.)(Kobe beef or some other variety) Steak
2.)Ramon noodle
3.)Puffer Fish
4.)Pork Chop
5.)Unagi don
in Kyoto:
Best tofu/vegetarian restaurant or traditional Japanese.
TIA!
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FourSeasons
Mar 2, 2008 06:23 PM
I am not a big fan of ramen or tonkatsu (I assume that is what you mean by pork chop) so can't recommend any there. But ramen is extensively written on past threads so you may want to do some research there.
For steak, there are 3 places I loved; 2 of them are unfortunately above your budget. First is Ryugin, a contemporary kaiseki Michelin 2 star place, cheapest set is 15k per person which does not include the steak. I recall the one including steak is above 20k. Ryugin has received rave review here, you can read it. http://www.chowhound.com/topics/388553 . The website is http://www.nihonryori-ryugin.com/ Next is Makoto in a narrow alley Nihonbashi; you have to check with the concierge for the address as it has no website. The place specialize just on beef and has an awesome steak. Again, price is likely to be above 10k per person. And English is not spoken here, so not tourist friendly at all. The third place is more reasonable is Maimon , more of an oyster place but really cook a very decent steak as well. More likely to manage below 10k here. http://r.gnavi.co.jp/g398512/
As to puffer fish, the one I recommend is http://www.tettiri.com/ . It is not the best but price is quite reasonable and the servings are delicious. You are unlikely to pay less than 10k for the best puffer fish in Tokyo. Most will consider Tsukijiyamamoto as among the best fugu place but the price is about 35k per person. And they are close from April to September since they only serve wild puffer fish (torafugu) that is available only for 6 months.
As to Unagi, a very well known one, and considered among the best, is Nodaiwa. http://www.bento.com/rev/2290.html
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