(Updated on Feb. 4, 2019 with information on in-store eating area and new space rental options)

Once upon a time, a burrito fell in love with a sushi maki roll and they had a beautiful baby called the sushi burrito. Born in the West Coast, she quickly became the darling of foodies and headed East to other cities in the US, then onwards to Europe, the Middle East and Australia. Now, at the Easternmost point of her journey, she has, at long last, an opportunity to discover her mother's homeland here in Japan.

With the launch of beeat Sushi Burrito Tokyo in November 2018, the sushi burrito has finally found its first specialty shop on Japanese shores. However, it wouldn't be fitting for such a fusion child of the 2010s to make her appearance in a conventional way. Thankfully, the inventive folks at UBO Co., Ltd. found the perfect setting for her Japanese debut: the heart of Japanese subculture, Akihabara.

With its rows of square lattice shelves brightly lit up in neon colors, numerous television monitors, and a narrow counter on the opposite wall, beeat Sushi Burrito Tokyo's interior looks less like a conventional restaurant and more like a night club or a pop-up boutique.

Stress-Free Ordering

beeat Sushi Burrito Tokyo wants to use technology to create a stress-free experience for their customers. Lunchtime on weekdays in Tokyo can be stressful, especially for popular shops, since it involves waiting in long lines and sometimes fiddling around with ticketing machines. By focusing exclusively on online ordering, they can ensure that customers won't have to wait and can pick up their order and be on their way. (Although other times and days may be added later, for the time being, they are focused on lunch, offering their tasty sushi burritos from 11 am to 3 pm on weekdays.)

So, imagine you're visiting Tokyo and happen to be in the Akihabara area enjoying some shopping. If you want a sushi burrito, just pull out your smartphone, create an account on their website in a few easy steps, then place your order. You can use Amazon Pay as well as credit cards. (English menu also available)

With whimsical names such as "(Lunch time final battle fight) Fried Chicken Armageddon" and "(Ghost in the shell) Crab Cream Croquette the Trooper" borrowing both from Western and Japanese pop culture, the menu items offer an interesting variety of combinations with seafood ingredients such as shrimp cutlet, conger eel, tuna, salmon, crab cream croquette, and even lobster, meat ingredients such as hamburger steak, fried chicken, grilled beef and coarse ground beef, as well as a vegan offering. You can order burritos singly or order a party pack for a large group. Soup, drinks and sauces to accompany your sushi burritos are also on the menu.

The menu is created under the supervision of chef Kazuyoshi Mizuguchi, winner of the Grand Prix SOPEXA in 1995, so you can be sure you're getting a quality meal.

Prices are determined by an AI algorithm based on the price of ingredients which vary from day to day, but generally range between 780 JPY and 1,300 JPY.

Pick Up

If you're a bit early, you'll see your name on the blue monitor:

You can also check out their promotional video which they have playing on loop inside the store:

When your order is ready, you'll see your name on the red monitor, with the number of the box where you can pick up your order.

Looks like my order is ready in Box 24.

I ordered the "(King's table) Omar Shrimp King of Kings," a lobster cream croquette burrito with a rich miso sauce, carrots, lettuce, red cabbage, cucumber and sesame seeds.

For later, I also ordered the party pack, in which you can choose four of your favorite varieties from the menu.

Pick up your box and the accompanying plastic bag which you can use to carry it and then you're on your way!

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Collaboration with Cafe Triomphe

If you have a place to stay near Akihabara, you obviously have no problem carrying home your sushi burrito and eating it there. However, if you're a tourist just visiting, you might at first glance be dissuaded from ordering something from a carry-out only shop since you'd have to eat it while standing in the street, which is not exactly the most comfortable way to eat lunch.

Fortunately, two doors down from beeat Sushi Burrito Tokyo, there's a comfortable little place called Cafe Triomphe which has a special agreement so that you can eat your sushi burrito there in comfort. The only thing they ask in return is that you order at least one drink from their menu. The staff are very kind and friendly, so you'll surely feel welcome.

Cafe Triomphe has a wide selection of beverages, from coffee and black tea to herbal teas, to alcoholic beverages. Beer always goes well with sushi burritos, so I ordered myself a Löwenbräu and proceeded to enjoy my lunch.

I made a good choice with the Omar Shrimp King of Kings. It was a satisfying combination of rich seafood flavor, crunchy croquette and red cabbage, and the miso sauce gave it a nice umami punch.

If you're not in the mood for alcohol, you could also try one of their herbal teas. Their mango orange tea matched the lobster cream croquette very nicely.

The sign explains that they have a special arrangement with beeat Sushi Burrito Tokyo

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Eat-In Area

From Feb. 1, 2019, and for a limited time, beeat Sushi Burrito has an eat-in area for customers' convenience.

Rental Space on Evenings and Weekends

Also from February, the store is available as a rental space on weekday evenings and weekends. You can choose to rent the kitchen area or not, additional equipment, add of course catering options such as a beeat Sushi Burrito party packs or even a special luxury dinner course by Chef Mizuguchi. There's even a rental option for YouTubers.

If you want to rent a space for a party or event, read the details at beeat Sushi Burrito's page on SpaceMarket.com.

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beeat Sushi Burrito Tokyo

• Address: 5-6-2 Kamikada, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
• Business hours: 11 am – 3 pm, weekdays
• Shop website: https://beeat.jp
• Ordering website HERE

Cafe Triomphe

Address: 5-6-4 Kamikada, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo

Business hours: 11:30 am – 9 pm, weekdays

Tel: 03-6380-9540

Shop website: Cafe Triomphe