Sitting down for tea inside historic Tokyo Station is always a smart choice, and this café run by venerable wagashi (traditional confectionery) purveyor Toraya never fails to satisfy. Tucked away on the second floor of the Tokyo Station Hotel and decorated with old bricks from the station’s original facade, it serves both seasonal sweets and light meals.
While the pretty rice dishes and artisanal pork cutlet sandwiches hold their own, when at Toraya, you’ll want to try one of the shop’s signature sweets. Two time-honoured favourites are yokan, a jelly-like but somewhat firmer sweet red bean dessert best enjoyed with green tea, and anmitsu, a mix of anko bean paste, mitsumame jelly cubes and fruit drizzled with kuromitsu (black sugar syrup). The yokan can be purchased to go, too, and buying a slab here comes with the added bonus of getting it packaged in a gorgeous Tokyo Station-themed box.