7 best fine dining restaurants with affordable lunches under ¥10,000

Chef-owner Kenichi Nemoto works closely with the fishermen he has known as a teenager, who send their catch of the day fresh from the boat to his kitchen, where he then devises a French-inspired multi-course seafood menu.

During our visit, the menu begins with charcoal grilled sweetfish that can be eaten from head to tail, served with a cooling sauce of spring onions, nori seafood and wild greens. Later, he serves yellowtail pan-seared medium rare, so that the skin is a crisp golden brown while the centre blushes a delicate pink. This is plated with sauteed chanterelle mushrooms, diced tomatoes and basil puree, which manager and head sommelier Yuito Terashima pairs with a bright Sauvignon Blanc to complement the Mediterranean flavours. 

Némo, with its sophisticated ambience enhanced by natural wood and Nemoto's undeniable passion, encapsulates all the traits sought after by the city’s 50 Best Restaurants regulars sans the hefty ¥30,000 price tag. Currently, a seven-course lunch is ¥9,350 while a dinner course will set you back ¥16,500. As Némo’s reputation grows, however, these rates are bound to increase, so be sure to make your reservation at this rising star while you still can. 

Chef Toshi Akama, who hails from Canada, stands out in Tokyo's culinary landscape as a rare example of a young chef under 30 leading a restaurant. At Ukiyo, Akama crafts modern, seasonal tasting menus that fuse Japanese ingredients with exotic spices from across the globe. His plating style is deceptively simple, yet each element on the plate is a product of meticulous preparation, often requiring several days to perfect.

Ukiyo has the potential to be one of the hottest restaurants in town, but as it has barely opened for a year, it's still building its clientele. To introduce more people to its exceptional cooking, the restaurant recently started serving a four-course lunch for just ¥3,800 from Thursday to Sunday. Dinner, on the other hand, comprises ten dishes at ¥15,000.

On the surface, Kabi comes across as a modern European restaurant, which is hardly surprising considering the chef and co-owner, Shohei Yasuda, worked at several French restaurants plus the two Michelin-starred Kadeau in Copenhagen. However, Japanese ingredients are front and centre, but interpreted through the new Nordic approach to food. Kabi's heart lies in its commitment to locally sourced ingredients, with staff who frequently journey to rural regions like Nagano and Niigata for wild greens and mushrooms that grace the menu the very next day.

Beyond its foraged produce, Kabi venerates the ancient arts of pickling and fermentation. The kitchen becomes an alchemist's den, brimming with jars showcasing vegetables in various fermenting stages and flowery elixirs that capture the essence of the seasons.

The ¥9,500 lunch menu is a reflection of the season's freshest ingredients. In previous summer, for example, the menu featured grilled eel with mango and green papaya, and refreshing desserts like almond ice cream infused with plum, hint of geranium oil and complemented with luscious, sweet Okayama peaches.

While Chef Hisashi Udatsu hails from a line of professional butchers, his chosen art is sushi. This duality enriches his approach: his sushi shines with tradition, yet it's peppered with surprising innovations. Highlights include the enticing dashi jelly atop ishidai, and the trout and seaweed roll bursting with fresh micro-herbs. His signature shari (vinegared rice) is elevated by a proprietary rice strain from a Kunitachi farmer and accented with a special vinegar blend.

Ingredients are top-notch: fresh catches from Toyosu Market and pesticide-free herbs from Kajiya Farms near Hiroshima. Situated on a discreet street in Nakameguro, Udatsu radiates elegance with its minimalist design marked by a hinoki cypress counter and contemporary art. While dinner is a luxurious experience starting at ¥22,000, patrons can savour an omakase lunch course for just ¥8,800. 

We’ve long known that Hiroyasu Kawate is a brilliant chef. But ever since Florilège moved to its new home in Azabudai, it seems he’s raised his game even further. The two-Michelin-starred restaurant temporarily closed its doors in Jingumae last summer, before opening at its new location in the much-hyped Azabudai Hills complex in November 2023. Trading its U-shaped dining counter for a more intimate 16-seater communal table, Florilège has evolved to further reflect Kawate’s commitment for culinary sustainability, with a particular focus on a vegetable-centric menu.

While Florilège's prix-fixe courses (lunch ¥10,000, dinner ¥20,000) still feature proteins like fish, beef and dairy, there's a significant emphasis on plant-based produce. The grilled eggplant ravioli – one of the standout dishes of this season – is a perfect example of Kawate’s philosophy in action. It's a dish that champions a familiar vegetable, by using the skin of grilled eggplant for the outer ravioli layer and its flesh for the filling, flavoured with kelp for just the right amount of umami. 

Denkushiflori in Aoyama Gem is a Michelin-starred restaurant combining modern European cuisine and Japanese kushiyaki (meat and vegetable skewers). As the restaurant is a collaboration between Zaiyu Hasegawa of one-Michelin-starred Den and Hiroyasu Kawate of two-Michelin-starred Florilège, the menu here combines the innovation of the former and the approachable playfulness of the latter.

The five-course lunch is a reasonable ¥7,370, featuring different kinds of delicately plated finger food like lamb tsukune meatball skewers with edible flowers, and firefly squid tacos with kinome miso, followed by a rice dish and dessert. 

It’s no exaggeration to say that Shinobu Namae, head chef of the highly coveted L’Effervescence in Nishi-Azabu, owes some of his fame to Kazunari Nakamura. The Michelin-starred master’s right-hand man for years, Nakamura struck out on his own in 2014, taking over La Bonne Table, a casual alternative to his very fancy former haunt. The jovial cook has earned many a fan with dishes such as the artistic shiitake mushroom boudin noir narazuke, all made with ingredients delivered fresh directly from farms and fishermen.

His harmonious symbiosis of Western and Japanese flavours is made by cutting small slits into the stems of the mushrooms, baking them until fragrant, and then combining these with boudin sausage and vegetables pickled in sake lees. While everything packs a punch, there’s more to La Bonne Table than flavour. Nakamura is dedicated to ecological eating, using ingredients and cuts of meat that might be discarded at more expensive places. Lunch menus start at ¥6,800 for five plates, with wine pairings available for an additonal ¥5,000.