food & Drink Diaries from Japan
My boyfriend and I visited Japan from Mid October to Early November in 2025 and it was the best experience and the most over-stimulating experience at the same time. I think we pretty much spent 90% of the time sleep deprived, trying to fit absolutely everything in. We visited Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima and Miyajima in three weeks, so every 4-5 days we were moving around which was incredibly tiring, but what we did get to do was have lots of incredible food and drink, so I thought I’d talk about some of our favourite spots.
Savor the Matcha - Ueno, Tokyo
This was the first matcha I had after landing in Tokyo. Luckily our flight got in late at night, so we went straight to sleep and got up on Japan time. Ueno is a really nice area in Tokyo where they have lots of art museums, their famous zoo and park. We wandered around on route to our main hotel in Ueno and this was a spot I had pinned to visit.
It really didn’t disappoint. I love my matcha quite bitter, so having it the way you’re supposed to was wonderful, because in the UK a lot of places will have it too sweet and it takes away from the earthy flavour. I went back here on our last day before flying home and didn’t realise it was shut, so I’m just glad I got to go on my first day. It certainly set the standard for the rest of the trip.
Sugoi Niboshi Ramen - Shinjuku Golden Gai, Tokyo
Me and Iain actually went here at around 2am because we had tried to get in at around 9pm and the line was down the street, so after we had gone to a variety of Izakayas for lighter bites, we stumbled across this place again that was still open.
We’re so glad we went in because this was probably the best ramen I had in the whole of Japan. You had two types of noodles - the traditional type and then these super thick ribbons which were delicious. The broth was perfect with a hint of spice, the eggs were jammy and the meat just fell apart. It was truly a treat to experience this. When we started to eat, the line started back up again even though it was super late. We really timed it to perfection, here.
Sushi Matsumoto - Shibuya, Tokyo
We really wanted to try a Michelin star restaurant and we saw this one had great reviews, so we went for it. It was super reasonable at around £50 each for lunch time. I opted to do that because in the evenings, we liked to try different things at various food markets for a more casual experience, so coming here at 1pm was perfect.
The service was amazing and the food matched the vibe too. I really enjoyed the experience and I’m just glad they didn’t wrap tonnes of wasabi in their sushi before serving it, because in Japan they tend to like it on the stronger side.
Ramen Hayashida - Asakusa, Tokyo
We decided to head out to Asakusa for the evening on one of our first few days in Tokyo and we kind of burnt the candle at both ends and ended up doing around 30k steps, so once everything started to quiet down, we went in their little market areas where all the ramen spots were.
This was a beautiful spicy ramen whereas my boyfriend had the creamier one. For me, I need spice in my Ramen otherwise it doesn’t really hit the spot. This place was quite busy but even if there is a line outside, people don’t stay in for long, so you end up getting seated quite quickly. In the UK you can stay somewhere for 2 hours but in Japan, people go in, eat and then leave straight away. It’s all about getting that after work Ramen and then heading home.
In The Coffee - Kyoto
This is my far the best coffee we had in Japan. We had travelled to Kyoto from Tokyo and luckily had our bags shipped to our hotel the day before, so we didn’t need to lug our cases round, meaning we had time to just walk around Kyoto when we had arrived.
I had pinned this place because it had only opened in September and I had a feeling it would get popular, so I told my boyfriend that we should try the coffee there.
The had the best menu I’ve even seen. They had coffee “mocktails” and had a cocktail that was made from a coffee by Lilo & Co that had notes of orange and apricot, which they then poured over orange juice and a bit of tonic. I had the matcha which was also delicious but the shining star was the coffee. It was a 10/10.