3 Best Restaurants in Fukagawa, Tokyo

This small, friendly roastery and café in a repurposed warehouse across from Ando Gallery serves excellent espresso, flat whites, and cappuccinos, plus simple snacks like cookies and toasted sandwiches. There are some seats inside, but if the weather is nice get a drink to go and walk a few minutes east to Kiba Park; a lovely green spot to while away an hour.

Kamasho serves the signature dish of the old Fukagawa area, Fukagawa-meshi: short-neck clams and green onion cooked in a miso broth and poured over a bowl of rice. You can order just a bowl of Fukagawa-meshi or opt for a set with a side serving of pickles and miso soup. If you are really hungry, the largest set also comes with some sushi. There’s beer and sake on the menu if you want something to wash it all down with.

This classic izakaya epitomizes the casual yet lively nights out of a down-to-earth district like Fukagawa. Opened in the 1950s, the four floors here include counter-only seats on the first and second floors that are ideal for watching and chatting with the chefs, and then tables for larger groups on the third and fourth floors. Wherever you sit, the focus is mostly on seafood, with the fresh cuts of sashimi (of whatever fish is sourced that day), especially good when paired with one of the sakes on the menu. The only challenge is ordering if your Japanese isn’t up to scratch, as the menu is handwritten in Japanese on the walls. However, this being Fukagawa, the friendly staff will find a way to get you well fed, even if that means pointing at other diners' dishes. Or you could ask for what they recommend (osusume wa nan desu ka?) and go with the flow.