Hienadz Vardanyan 
There are many one Michelin star restaurants in Tokyo – in fact, 149 restaurants have been given that prestigious award.
While planning your trip to Tokyo, you have probably been struggling to narrow down what fine dining experiences you want to enjoy.
When you have over 149 options in one city, it can be hard to pick a favorite. If you’re also interested in exploring more casual dining options, you might want to check out the best sushi buffets in Tokyo.
On the other hand, if you are very particular about taste, here is a list of three Michelin-star sushi restaurants you should not miss while in the city.
Aroma-Fresca
Italian Cuisine
This is the first one Michelin star restaurants in Tokyo we will be looking at today.
This is a concept restaurant that is themed around the scent of smell.
You are probably wondering why a restaurant would want to be themed around anything other than taste – but trust Chef Shinji Harada to take you on a journey.
He has been running Aroma-Fresca since 1998 after all.
Chef Shinji Harada apprenticed at a large restaurant in Tokyo before opening his own Italian restaurant in the late 1900s.
The chef’s motto is ‘the shortest distance for the ingredient’.
What this means is that the food is local and exceptionally fresh.
As you would expect from a restaurant named Aroma-Fresca, every dish smells amazing, looks spectacular, and tastes even better.
The dishes that are served up are simple, elegant, and compact – much like the restaurant itself.
Harada creates dishes that allow all the ingredients he includes to shine. Nothing is smothered in sauce, no flavors are lost in the cooking – everything is fresh and present on the plate.
Chef Harada offers an eye-opening take on Italian cuisine that sometimes airs on the side of being slightly too Japanese to be considered Italian.
That being said, you will really struggle to find a bad dish on any of Aroma-Fresca’s seasonal menus.
With an emphasis on the freshness of the food, it is no surprise that the menu is constantly shifting depending on what food is available locally.
Store Information
- Tel: +813-3535-6667
- Business Hours: [Monday / Tuesday] 17: 30-23: 00, [Wed / Thu / Fri / Sat] 11: 30-15: 00, 17: 30-23: 00
- Regular Holiday: Sunday / first monday
- Access: 1 minute walk from Ginza 1-chome Station on the Tokyo Metro Yurakucho Line
- Address: GINZA TRECIOUS 12F, 2-6-5 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
Ginza Bird Land (銀座バードランド)
Yakitori Cuisine
The next one michelin star restaurants in Tokyo is Ginza Bird Land.
Yakitori is the Japanese take on chicken skewers. Going to a restaurant that nearly exclusively serves these may sound like overkill.
But trust us, if you are a chicken lover or a meat lover in general then you have to visit Ginza Bird Land.
This restaurant also has some of the best sake in the city on offer. It is said in Japan that it is a crime to serve yakitori without sake.
So, it is no surprise that a restaurant themed around this chicken dish has a wide range on hand.
In fact, each yakitori dish comes with the sake the chef has hand-picked and thinks it suits best. His pairings are always spot-on, sometimes unexpected, and occasionally mind-blowing.
If you are looking to expand your knowledge about sake – visit Ginza Bird Land.
One of the unique selling points of this restaurant is that the chef prides himself on using the whole chicken. He orders his meat as locally as possible and it is all incredibly fresh.
You can expect to be served thigh meat, gizzards, sleds, bonbochi, chicken wings, and nearly every other part of the chicken.
We highly recommend the house chicken liver pate, the Shamo chicken oyakodon, and the baked cheese served with sake.
Ginza Bird Land shows a side of Japanese cuisine that you rarely get to see in the world of fine dining.
Store Information
- Tel: +813-5250-1081
- Business Hours:17:00～21:30
- Regular Holidays: Mondays, Sundays, and public holidays
- Access: When you enter the C6 exit of Ginza Station on the Marunouchi Line, you will see a sign with a picture of a chicken. 77m from Ginza Station.
- Address: Tsukamoto Motoyama Building B1F, 4-2-15 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
Shun Keian AraKaki(旬恵庵あら垣)
Tempura Cuisine
It is difficult to find good tempura dishes outside of Japan, so make sure to eat a good amount of them during your visit.
Before opening his own restaurant, Chef Arakaki spent 20 years training in many of Tokyo’s best restaurants. All of this experience shows in the menu, the service, and the design of the restaurant.
You will notice a heavy Okinawan inspiration on the menu, with many of the key ingredients hailing from this area. There are many dishes sold here that are not made anywhere else in the world.
When it comes to local products, the majority of fish cooked in Shun Keian AraKaki is caught in Tokyo Bay. They serve local items like sand borer and conger eels.
Also, in consideration of local production for local consumption, most of the fish he cooks are caught in Tokyo Bay such as sand borer and conger eels.
Store Information
- Tel: +8190-7716-4125
- Business Hours: Dinner: 18: 00 ~ 19: 30 (Last entry), Lunch: 12: 00 ~ 15: 00 (Open only on Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays)
- Regular Holiday: Irregular holiday
- Access: 5 minutes walk from Tokyo Metro “Shintomicho” station
- Address: 3-5-10 Minato, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
Ginza Yamanobe Edo Chuka(銀座 やまの辺 江戸中華)
Chinese Cuisine
Our final one Michelin star restaurant in Tokyo is Ginza Yamanobe Edo Chuka.
Ginza Yamanobe Edo Chuka offers some of the best Chinese Edo-inspired food in the whole of Japan.
The menu is selected and prepared by Chef Hitoshi Yamanobe, who brings ingredients from all over Japan together to create an exciting take on traditional Chinese food.
Where Yamanobe excels is serving Japanese quality seafood, with Chinese inspiration – the Botan shrimp with Shaoxing rice wine and red king crab with chili sauce are must-order dishes at this restaurant.
These are some of the most interesting seafood dishes being served in Ginza.
Store Information
- Tel: +813-3569-2520
- Business Hours: Lunch 12:00～14:00, Dinner 17:30～22:00
- Regular Holidays: Sundays, public holidays, irregular holidays
- Access: 312m from Shimbashi Station
- Address: Hosaka Building B1F, 8-4-21 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
