The Tokyo Restaurants an Award-Winning Japanese Chef Actually Goes To (And You Can Book Them)

This is the first she's ever sharing her favorite places like this

This week on The Relisher, we’re in Tokyo with award-winning chef Nao Motohashi of Restaurant Julia.

Chef Nao is a major up-and-coming talent and one of the very few female chefs in Japan to be recognized on the global culinary stage. She has already received international recognition, with selection in the Michelin Guide Tokyo for multiple years and being spotlighted in both Gault & Millau (the leading French restaurant guide) and The Best Chef World Selection (one of the most respected global chef rankings).

Below, she shares her favorite sushi restaurants in Tokyo, the must-visit restaurants she recommends to first-time travelers, the one experience you can’t have anywhere else in the world except Tokyo — and more.

I loved this edition because so often, when chefs share their favorite places in Tokyo, the recommendations are filled with impossible-to-book two- and three-star counters that require six to nine months, sometimes even a year, of advance reservations.

With Chef Nao, it was completely different. This is the first time she has ever shared her favorite places like this, and she chose spots that locals go to, places you can realistically book, and places that still give you an incredibly authentic experience of the city. It’s how an award-winning Japanese chef really eats in Tokyo, and now you can too.

A Google Map with all of the locations is provided at the end of the interview.