Showing the world the current state of Tokyo's cuisine

"Tokyo's Best Specialty Cuisine Restaurant Week 2026" will be held for approximately one month from Monday, January 19th to Tuesday, February 17th.

The event is sponsored by the 25th edition of the restaurant guide book "Tokyo's Best Restaurants" (published by Pia).

117 popular restaurants in Tokyo will be participating with their signature dishes, making this a rare opportunity to enjoy the charms of the world's number one gourmet city.

The theme of this year's event is "Famous dishes that weave together the past, present and future."

"I've been involved in the food and beverage industry for a long time, and I had a strong desire to give back to the industry."

That's what Atsuo Oki, who has served as editor-in-chief since the magazine's launch in 2001, said.

There are other reasons why he wanted to hold the event.

"Many cities around the world, such as New York and Paris, have Restaurant Weeks. I wondered why Tokyo, which has the richest food scene of any city in the world, doesn't have one.

"We felt that Tokyo's Best Restaurants, which has been showcasing famous restaurants for 25 years, had a mission to fulfill that role and show the world the current state and potential of Tokyo's food scene."

Passing on flavors "from Edo to the future"

The first event held last year was based on the concept of "going to eat Tokyo's specialty dishes," and over 100 famous restaurants participated.

"This year, the number of participating establishments has increased slightly to 117. In addition, the event has been selected for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's 'Tokyo Promotion Project,' so in addition to promoting the fine cuisine that represents Tokyo today, we will also be shedding light on the city's food history, which dates back to the Edo period and dates back to over 400 years ago," says Oki.

In fact, if you go to the event's homepage, you can make reservations at restaurants from a variety of genres, including Italian, French, Chinese, Japanese, sushi, meat dishes, yakitori, and more, but what's interesting is the "Choose from special events" section.

・A cooking course that lets you enjoy the flavors of the Edo and Meiji periods

・Future specialty cuisine experience course

・Experience-based courses (nigiri sushi experience, staff meal experience, etc.)

・Reproduction course of famous dishes that can no longer be enjoyed

・Aim to be a top chef! Support course for young chefs

・Restaurant Week special course

There are a number of interesting courses.

"According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, which is sponsoring the event, the word 'Edo' itself is still not well known around the world. Therefore, they have established a broad theme of 'From Edo to the Future' and made the concept and content much clearer than last year. Many restaurants will be creating special menus for the event." (ibid.)

This time, reservations will be made through TableCheck, and the restaurant has created an English menu, making it easy for foreigners to make reservations.

Special menu at "Sushi Karaku"

We spoke to Togawa Motonari, the master of the famous Sushi Karaku restaurant, who came up with the special menu item, "Edo Period Nigiri Sushi."

The restaurant is located almost in the heart of Ginza, and at the entrance there is a sign reading "Edomae Sushi Research Institute." The chef is not only an expert on Edomae sushi, but also holds a British sommelier license and is world-renowned for his wine pairings.

"When I heard about this idea from Mr. Oki, and heard about the Edo concept, I decided to try recreating Edo-style sushi."

Sushi was once an unattainable item only available to samurai, but Edomae sushi, eaten at food stalls, was created when common people wanted to eat it too.

"Normally, one piece of sushi has 15 grams of rice, but in the Edo period, it was about three times that amount, at 50 grams per piece."

The top image is a reproduction of sushi, and it certainly looks like a small rice ball. The more rice there is, the more important the vinegared rice becomes.

"The vinegared rice has to be delicious. During the Edo period, red vinegar was used for sushi. It is an unrefined vinegar, so it has a strong umami flavor. Our rice looks white, but it is actually made with red vinegar. We get special red vinegar, and if we use just the topping, it becomes white rice."

The sharp vinegar matches perfectly with each of the carefully crafted Edomae toppings. Each piece is large, so it's difficult to eat in one bite, so half a piece is just right.

So, what will the story be like?

"During the Edo period, we basically only used ingredients caught in Tokyo Bay. Because the ingredients were exposed to the air at food stalls and there were no refrigerators, we couldn't use raw ingredients.

Tuna rots from the belly, so the fatty tuna was thrown away. The lean meat was pickled to remove the fishy smell. Eggs were scarce, so tamagoyaki (rolled eggs) were the most expensive.

The main dishes include blue fish marinated in vinegar, white fish marinated in kelp, simmered conger eel and clams, and pickled fish."

What wine goes best with sushi?

Our specialty is pairings, and this is backed by 20 years of experience in trying a vast number of wines.

"As we serve each piece of sushi, we pair it with a wine, and serve a little bit of about six to eight different types. Eighty percent of the wine is wine, but we always include sake. We serve both white and red wine, but the wine that actually goes best with our Edomae sushi is rosé wine.

The reason is that rosé has elements of both white and red, so it has a wide range of flavors. The reason why the French drink a lot of rosé when pairing is because they don't have to worry too much.

For our special menu during Restaurant Week, we are considering serving "Small Forest," made with Australian Shiraz. This goes extremely well with soy sauce."

Indeed, the rosé paired beautifully with both the white fish and the tuna. The Burgundy red wine "Beaune-du-Château," which we were allowed to sample with the marinated tuna, was an amazing pairing.

The pairing that the chef achieved was exceptional, and we highly recommend you try it when you visit Sushi Karaku.

A wide variety of special menu items

Some of the special menus at other restaurants include the "Enjoy the Tastes of Edo and Meiji" course, which will offer special menu items such as Hanamaki Soba at Asakusa Hirayama, Negima Konabe at Onryori Horiuchi, a special course with mapo tofu from the Edo period (1862) at Sichuan Cuisine Bashu, and Pheasant Zoni at Nogizaka Shin.

The "Future Specialty Cuisine Experience Course" will offer dishes such as "Unused Fish and Wild Herb Lactic Acid Fermented Sauce" from "Siamo noi" and "Vegan Tiramisu" from "Filemone."

A press conference was held on January 14th at the Yaesu restaurant "8go," so I would like to report on it.

The food tasting featured specialties from the Edo period and the future. Seven dishes from the future specialties eight years from now were served as "Specialty Dishes of the Future" by "7go (Ego)." Particularly impressive was the "Sustainable Wagyu," a grilled beef made from a Wagyu cow approximately 100 months old. It was incredibly tender and had a deep flavor. It was a magnificent piece of meat that showed it had been carefully raised.

Seven dishes from Edo Period Cuisine were served by Edomae Shibahama and Namiroya. Chef Kaihara Dai of Edomae Shibahama is well versed in Edo cuisine. Incidentally, the Edo Onai Banzuke Course he will be serving during Restaurant Week is a special course inspired by the Edo Onai Banzuke, which ranks popular side dishes among the common people during the Edo period in a similar way to sumo wrestling.

What made a strong impression was the "Negima Nabe" (offered on the regular menu and not included in this special course). Though the broth was made solely from bonito, the flavor extracted from the tuna and green onions was fantastic.

Just experiencing these two stores was enough to move me. I definitely want to take advantage of this opportunity to visit many other famous stores.

Overview of "Tokyo's Best Specialty Cuisine Restaurant Week 2026"

Event period: January 19th to February 17th, 2026
Reservation reception:Official WebsiteCurrently accepting applications at