od_sf

I've done the full nighttime omakase with Chef Iwa-san a few times. And yes, the price is steep, but trust me you will find it worthwhile. :-)

If you do sushi Iwa 815 at night, then I would recommend one of the following steak places for lunch the next day.

Ginza Gomei (Akita beef lunch at Y12,000) - https://pocket-concierge.jp/en/restaurants/244057
RRR Otemachi (Kobe beef lunch at Y5,300) - https://pocket-concierge.jp/en/restaurants/244593 (note, pocketconcierge won't let you book for 1 person, but this is a large restaurant that should have plenty of open seats for a lunch on Monday - have your hotel call ahead that morning, and it should be fine.)

Both of these steak options are easy walking distance from Ginza / Tokyo station area.

Do yourself a favor, skip the conveyor belt sushi. It really isn't that good.

tearex

Let's be more specific.

Sushi Ginza Iwa and Sushi Iwa 815 are two separate restaurants. And to further add to the confusion, there is Iwa Hanare.

od_sf is talking about Sushi Iwa 815.

TWA884 Is talking about Sushi Ginza Iwa.

I myself have been to Sushi Ginza Iwa and can recommend it for lunch, though it is not my favorite experience. I prefer a longer meal at Sushi Shin in Nishiazabu (about 12 min taxi ride from Tokyo Station), if you can do the dinner, just due to the interaction and watching the preparation.

OP, unfortunately many top-end sushi places are closed Mondays.

od_sf

Just to clarify, both Ginza Iwa and Gina Iwa 815 are owned by chef Iwa-san. These days I recommend the 815 location because that is were Iwa-san works, the original location is now operated by assistants.

Of course, there are shops in Tokyo with better sushi than Iwa, but Iwa-san's restaurant is a great introduction to high end Tokyo sushi for a first time visitor. Easy location in Ginza, restaurant is very used to foreign guests, and the sushi itself (when Iwa-san prepares it rather than an assistant) is very seasonal, very balanced, and with delicious, flavorful shari. And also, Iwa is considerably easier to book on short notice than the very top places.

Even if Shin happened to have an open seat, I'm not sure that it would make sense to send someone with so little time in town to a very residential area in Nishiazabu, especially if they want to take public transport. The nearest station to Shin is either the Hiroo or Roppongi station, and both are a good 15 to 20 minute walk away.

shuigao

Any personal favourites? In my past few trips I've managed to squeeze in:

Pierre Hermé
Sadaharu Aoki
Hidemi Sugino (probably my favorite so far)
Echire Maison du Beurre
Théobroma

... I've also done a mini tour of some of the Kantaro The Sweet Tooth Salaryman's dessert shops (lol): Hatsune, Akasaka Sagamiya, Kajitsuen Libre / Riiberu, Kinozen, Cafe Recherche, and Esse Due.

LapLap

Will add:
Gazta at Shirokane Takanawa, Takana Fruits Parlor in Shinjuku, Patisserie K Vincent, Iidabashi.
Am rather busy today to add more.
My bucket list includes Satsuki at the New Otani for Strawberry Shortcake, but that would mean being there in the winter - which has become challenging for me. I started making Strawberry Shortcake and turned it into a Christmas tradition at my home but my cooking improves when I’ve had exceptional versions to try for myself.
EDIT TO FURTHER ADD - I have a huge weakness for flan/creme caramel/“pudding” so will mention Happy Pudding near Meguro also http://www.happypudding.com/shopinfo/
There seems to be a “boom” lately for shops specialising in egg or egg custard based desserts lately (for example, next to Gatza is Eggcellent O-factory ) Not something I am at all displeased about
Anyway, you can walk off the Happy Pudding by a ambling along to Patisserie Cacahouete which is closer to Nakameguro

whipwhitaker

Folks, many thanks for your encouraging and helpful posts and suggestions! I just came back from Tokyo, stayed at a hotel in the Kyobashi area within walking distance to Tokyo station and had Ginza shopping district right at my doorstep.I managed to see (just from the outside) the Imperial Palace, had some great ramen in Tokyo Ramen Street and took the Metro to see some of the sights in the very limited amount of time that I had there. I finished strong at a great conveyor belt sushi restaurant near Tokyo station before heading back to NRT. Without all of your help, I wouldn't have known where to begin to plan this, or maybe would've backed out of it altogether.

I will definitely be back!

freecia

I was going to ask about the desserts at ESqUISSE CINq in Tokyo Plaza but it closed in Feb 2019. Harumph as that's where I liked to pick up a good croissant without having to go over to Echire. Any suggestions in Ginza for a good high end croissant? The Dominique Ansel Bakery Ginza in Mitsukoshi and Cafe in Omotesando closed (exited Japan entirely).

jerseytom

Very glad you enjoyed it! Do you remember where exactly you went for kaiten / conveyor sushi?

whipwhitaker

Yes, the place is called "Kaitenzushi Marunouchi" (shows up under "Nemuro Hanamuru Sushi" in Google Maps). It is located on floor 5F of the Kitte shopping center, opposite Tokyo Station Hotel. Friendly staff that speaks English and they accept credit cards. People were lining up for the 11 AM opening already.

MSPeconomist

Near Ginza there's a bakery inside the Imperial Hotel. It opens after their breakfast closes in the morning. The croissants are the same as the ones served in Saisons restaurant, the fancy second floor French restaurant in the main building.

IIRC the Pen also has a bakery.

freecia

There's also a Nemuro Hanamuru in Tokyo Plaza on 10F along with a standing sushi bar at B2F. It is a Hokkaido sushi chain. I don't think the ones in Tokyo do iPad ordering and no on-demand sushi bullet trains if you're looking for that "wacky Japan" or low human interaction factor. The quality is more on par with independent sushi shop than chain conveyor belt sushi.
Kaiten-sushi Nemuro Hanamaru / Sushi bar Siki Hanamaru

Gradfly

I'm surprised to hear the cafe closed. I was there this past winter during my last trip. Went during the evening and that place was packed. We ended up waiting around 20min before a table opened up.

nightkhan

DA is a great marketer, but actual products are very lackluster and mediocre. Even his products in NYC aren't that great, but attract a lot of attention because of how they're presented. I figured his shops wouldn't do too well in Tokyo after the hype died down considering the high standards in Japan, and considering the quality of his products in NYC is already sub-average,

evergrn

I don't have any good suggestions, but are the croissants at these high-profile artisan bakeries significantly better than what you get at, say, Pompadour?

I went to a well-regarded French place in Roppongi but didn't think theirs was really special.
Lot of Japanese people think Maison Keyser is great, but I still think Pompadour's croissant is better.

There's a shop called Pain Traditionel (or something like that). Very good.

The best shio-pan award goes to Pain Traditional and Vie de France, for sure.

freecia

I had to look up ポンパドウル. I don't think I've ever been to one. Looking at the photos here T ?????? | POMPADOUR???????? | ?????? this looks like a good offering in Japan's pretty decent croissant game. I can't say without trying it but I probably would be more enticed by the flakiness of the bottom one than the smoothness of the the top. I've been pleasantly surprised by a few croissants to not judge them on looks alone.

I'll just put out that the really good artisan bakeries around my area can charge $4-6 per croissant and I consider them worth every penny and calorie. Then again, the average supermarket croissant around here could be substituted with a crescent roll and some people might not notice.

Food preferences make things interesting. Even artisan level Parisian croissants are different https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jI6...p_eNxv&index=8