Sashimi is a Japanese delicacy which often gets confused with sushi. Another common misconception is that the term sashimi only refers to raw fish.

Commonly sashimi will be a type of fish or seafood, but it can also take the form of raw meat such as horse or even (eek) chicken. Sushi does often utilise raw fish, but the vinegared rice is what sets it apart from sashimi.

The joys of sashimi are starting to be known worldwide. Meticulously, freshly prepared and bursting with a refreshing flavour, if you’re a first timer there’s no reason to be afraid of the raw stuff.

Sushi is already high on everyone’s list of must-try food in Japan, but you’ll be missing out if you don’t give sashimi a try too!

Best Sashimi Restaurants in Tokyo

If you're looking for luxury, affordability, accessibility, or anything else, there’s all kinds of sashimi restaurants in Tokyo. Here are some of our picks.

Taiko Chaya Sashimi Buffet

For those with big appetites and tight purse-strings, Taiko Chaya offer this almost unbelievably affordable option. Their lunch time all-you-can-eat sashimi buffet for just 1200 yen has plenty of fishy favourites like tuna, salmon and Japanese amberjack, plus salads and side dishes too.

Naturally with such a great deal comes a massive queue, they even have a numbering system in place to deal with their popularity. The restaurant asks that you don’t arrive at the restaurant before they open, as the crowds were causing trouble for neighbouring residents. Arrive at or after 10 am, get your time slot and come back 10 minutes before it’s set to start.

Takobo

An option for the intrepid explorer, this homey looking restaurant can be found off the beaten track to the little known Mozen Nakacho area. The daily menu is up in handwritten Japanese, and the sashimi comes in sizable slices, presented in a simple manner.

Hananomai

Sashimi is a great drinking food, and is served in many Izakaya, a traditional type of Japanese pub. If you wants lots of choice and beautiful presentation, try a seafood izakaya such as Hananomai.

An assortment of three types of sashimi of the day is just 990 yen, but they have more elaborate and expensive arrangements too.

Kumada, Harajuku

Are you not yet ready to cannonball straight into the world of sashimi? If you just want to timidly dip your toes in, try Kumada. The name of the restaurant literally means, I’m a bear and if you envision the stereotypical image of a bear with a massive salmon in his mouth you’ll understand why.

This place offers ‘kaisendon’, slices of sashimi (or other seafood) on top of a bowl of rice. It’s affordable, casual and starts you off with some delicious, high quality salmon, the least scary raw fish.

Ichibasushi, Toyosu

Tokyo’s legendary fish market, Tsukiji (famous for their tuna auctions), recently had to up sticks and move en masse to Toyosu. The dust is still settling, but the popular restaurants have found new premises, and the sushi and sashimi should be just as delectable. Of course most people make their way there to sample incredibly fresh sushi, but many restaurants offer sashimi sets too, so don’t be afraid to forego the rice.

Ichibasushi is one such place with a sashimi ‘moriawase’ (assortment) so you can try a bit of everything for 3400 yen. This seems a bit pricey, but generally sashimi is, and this is some of the freshest stuff you can get.