Best Fine Dining Restaurants in Tokyo: Top 10 Choices

From casual eateries to upscale restaurants, anyone can find a meal they love in Tokyo — especially once you start looking through the 2000+ Tokyo restaurants on our platform — but there’s a difference between dining and fine dining.

Tokyo is known for its high-end dining scene, with several Michelin-starred restaurants offering exceptional cuisine and a wealth of world-class sushi, innovative fusion dishes and inimitable gastronomy experiences you’ll find nowhere else.

So if you’re looking for a truly memorable meal to round out an afternoon spent shopping in the city, look no further than these fine dining restaurants in Tokyo.

For a take on French food you won’t find anywhere else, come to Alternative to try “Saito-style” French food from Chef Saito Takayuki himself. Training at Michelin-starred French institution Le Benaton, Chef Saito takes typical French food and turns it on its head, infusing it with Chinese and Japanese elements. 

How, you ask? Meat isn’t the centerpiece of the meal. Instead, the locally-sourced vegetables are given just as much emphasis. As a result, several dishes are vegan and vegetarian-friendly.

As the seasons change, so too does the menu. In spring, for example, there’s the asparagus Kandinsky, in which Chef Saito mimics the expressionist painting style with edible ingredients. 

However, in winter, amaebi shrimp tataki is served with Muromachi-era Jingoemon potato grown at only one farm in Japan. How’s that for an exclusive dining experience in Tokyo?

Want to go to Kyushu without having to fly down? Visit Saga Prefecture via your plate by tasting ingredients sourced from the chef’s home prefecture, whipped up Kansai-style. 

Jushu refers to the concept of living each day with discipline. Originally born from a saying of Chinese philosopher Mencius, Chef Senzaki’s grandfather and founder of Jushu was greatly impacted by this quote as an accomplished poet and calligrapher. 

Eventually, he was inspired to embark on a culinary career, first leaving Saga to train in the Kansai region before moving to Tokyo to open Jushu. His discipline has been rewarded with a Michelin star and great success in the cutthroat neighborhood of Nishiazabu. 

Patrons come to appreciate the impact of a single bite of, say, melt-in-your-mouth Imari beef, encompassing multiple generations of talented chefs, all plated up on Ko-imari and Karatsu ceramics from their native Saga. 

A world traveler from a young age, this Noto-born chef brings a global perspective to traditional Japanese food with an elegant flair. 

Working as a chef in the Japanese embassy in Bolivia didn’t stunt his love for Japanese food — in fact, Chef Okado’s travels only made him appreciate seasonal Japanese cuisine even more. With that passion in mind, he opened Imakoko in 2013. 

At Imakoko, all ingredients are sourced directly from Noto Peninsula, including its famed seafood, produce and beef. Whether you go for the lunch course or evening course, you’re sure to feel the love for Japan and Ishikawa in particular with each bite. 

You could say Japanese cuisine runs in Chef Sugimoto Shuichi’s blood as the eldest son of a sushi chef. With extensive experience as the head chef in a ryotei, a famous Yokohama hotel, and a kappo restaurant, Chef Sugimoto went on to open his own restaurant, Ginza Hassen, in Azabudai in 2005. 

Backing up his masterful cuisine is the selection of sake from 250-year-old Hachinohe Shuzo brewery in Aomori. Given the pristine spring water and traditionally-farmed rice and yeast that goes into making a bottle, it’s no surprise Chef Sugimoto puts the same dedication towards his food. 

Take the Special Eburi and sake tasting set, which features hard-to-find ingredients such as kegani hairy crab, sustainably-sourced fukahire shark fin, abalone and uni sea urchin risotto, Yamagata beef, and, finally, sake lees pudding. 

Fans of Iron Chef Japan will want to pay a visit to this Roppongi location where you might even see some celebrities dining! 

One of 20 signature restaurants by household name Morimoto Masaharu, atelier Morimoto spans an impressive three floors, with a teppanyaki counter in the basement, a sushi counter and bar on the first floor, and a cigar lounge and private teppanyaki grill on the second floor. 

Drawing many to this establishment is the prowess of head chef Takeshi Hatakeyama, who balances the traditions of Edomae-style sushi preparation with a flair for innovation. 

Find out more: Where To Eat Teppanyaki in Tokyo

Head to Shirogane to feel the homey atmosphere of this Kyoto-style ryotei restaurant. Although appearing like a particularly nice house on the outside, inside awaits a “community-rooted establishment” headed by Chef Inoue Daisuke. 

Welcoming high flyers such as actors, idols and members of parliament, Wami Daisuke offers private rooms and traditional Kyoto-style cuisine with ample ambiance. Adding to the dining experience is the extensive selection of sake, with over 30 varieties on the restaurant’s shelf. 

In fact, each of their course menus on byFood also comes with all-you-can-drink included, giving you a little more time to sip your way through. 

A native of Tochigi, Chef Saotome Hiroyuki has a noteworthy resume: a stint at London’s Nobu, time at thrice Michelin-starred Kikunoi in Kyoto and Yamazato in Amsterdam, and another role at Kaiseki Den on Hong Kong’s Hollywood Road, where he helped the restaurant earn its first Michelin star. 

By the time he opened Azabu Saotome in Nishiazabu in 2020, he had a cult following that included A-list clientele. 

Just as the warm wood aesthetics are prioritized, so are the omakase courses that blend kaiseki multi-course dining techniques with international cuisine. Drawing the crowds back in for more is his signature truffle clay pot rice with butter, parmesan and water from Mt. Fuji. 

Training under the likes of Fredy Girardet, Joel Robuchon and Paul Bocuse in Europe at only 19 years old, Chef Narisawa Yoshihiro is definitely the nail that sticks up in all the best ways. 

Narisawa’s cuisine is based on “satoyama,” the word for the region between mountains and flatlands. In the same way, Narisawa’s dishes find their inspiration somewhere between rural Japan and Europe. 

See the creativity for yourself with the Satoyama Scenery appetizer, an edible diorama of hills, trees and moss-covered rocks. Some controversial ingredients are also included in other dishes: soil from Nagano Prefecture and poisonous Okinawan snake soup. 

Pair your Michelin-starred meal with a fine wine from a Japanese vineyard. 

Remember how the chef at Narisawa trained under Joël Robuchon? Well, now you can dine at his very own restaurant right in Ebisu. 

Here, the undisputed king of fine French dining established his most famous restaurant location in Asia, located in the 18th-century grand chateau-like house of Yebisu Garden Palace. 

The elegant surroundings are matched by unparalleled customer service and delectable food. Unlike some French restaurants, the course menus are notoriously filling, so be sure to come on an empty stomach — you won’t regret it.

Straight from the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi is Sukiyabashi Jiro, now run by the son of Chef Jiro Ono himself. 

Visited by former president Barack Obama and the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2014 — and also one of the favorites of the aforementioned French chef Joel Robuchon — we probably don’t need to say any more to hint that you should dine here if fine dining in Tokyo is on your Japan trip’s to-do list.

Although you can only make a reservation via concierge at your hotel, doing so is absolutely worth it for this once-in-a-lifetime experience. 

See all of the Sukibashi Jiro locations in Tokyo.

Looking for more fine dining options in Japan? Check Michelin Star restaurants in Tokyo (and a separate best restaurants list!), Michelin-starred restaurants in Nara, and the best luxury restaurants in Osaka and Kyoto.