Orienting
An Extended Guide to Tokyo, Bangkok, and Beyond
Before my months-long trip to Asia last year, I spent the better part of 2024 maniacally researching where to eat and what to do. What follows is my long form answer to the question, “Any recs?”
~ FAQ ~
Q. What am I looking at?
A. A years-long research project compiling every credible restaurant recommendation (as well as sights to see and places to shop) across three countries: Japan, Thailand, and Taiwan. Seven cities are covered: Tokyo, Fukuoka, Kagoshima, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Taipei, and Tainan.
Q. This is 30+ pages long and contains hundreds, if not thousands, of restaurants. Are you fucking insane?
A. …next question, please.
Q. Why should I trust these? It looks like you just copied the phonebook.
A. I am a stickler when it comes to recommendation provenance. I put minimal trust into sources like Reddit, Google reviews, random online listicles etc. I barely even trust recommendations from most of the people I know, to be honest. Some of my friends love food as much (or more) than me, but some eat a bag of carrots for dinner. God bless.
My main source of recommendations are from people I meet at my job at The Four Horsemen. One of the perks of working at a nice restaurant is that you meet well-travelled people who have dedicated their lives to cultivating good taste, and, if you ask nicely, sometimes they’ll share their discoveries with you. Many chefs from Japan, for example, will come to The Four Horsemen, and you better believe I’m doing everything in my power to find out their favorite local haunts back home. I’ve compiled those back-of-the-receipt recommendations here.
Of course, there’s also some solid food info online, if you know where to look. I mostly try to read articles or reviews written by people who I think have good taste. Andy Ricker, for example, is the chef from Pok Pok (the much-lauded Thai restaurant group) and one of Chiang Mai's great food ambassadors for the English-speaking world. After living for many years in Thailand, he has been very generous in his interviews, and shared some favorites with the world. Those were massively helpful as I researched my trip. Other sources in this vein include The Pursuit of Food Perfection, Junghyun Park (chef at Atomix), Margaret Lam (indisputably the best Asia-based food influencer of all time) and many more.
Lastly, shoutout Tabelog. For those who don’t know, Tabelog is the Japanese equivalent to Beli or Yelp, but that’s like comparing the Shinkansen to Amtrak. Similar to most things, the Japanese are much more rigorous about rating food than Americans. Reviews on Tabelog are out of 5 stars, and any restaurant over 4 stars is universally considered to be very good, and is famous as a result. In all of Japan, there are scarcely 50 restaurants with a score above 4.5, and these are considered the best of the best. My list includes a number of highly-rated restaurants that I found on Tabelog for categories where there is a lot of variety and innovation, like ramen. While I am interested in a chef’s favorite ramen spot, I’m also aware that there are freaks in Japan who eat ramen every meal, and fight bitterly about the rankings online. I trust these people.
Q. Alright, maybe you trust your sources, but why would I trust you? Have you been to all these spots?
A. Honestly, no. Even eating out 3+ meals a day, you can only hit so many on a vacation. Plus there are many spots not worthy of a recommendation… For the sake of transparency, I’ve included a number of notation marks which separate the places that have come recommended vs. places I’ve actually been and tried and loved.
Q. Fair enough. I’d rather see a Tokyo chef’s recommendations than yours, anyways. But let’s go back to that phrase “impossible for a foreigner to get into” for a second…
A. Look, if you’re just looking to eat well, don’t worry, you’ll be fine. However, if you need to go to the absolute very best omakase or kaiseki or whatever, then yes, your work is just beginning. People who think that the NYC reservation game is crazy have never tried to get into any of the best restaurants in Tokyo. Many are invite only, and the ones that open up reservations online are absurdly competitive. Expect to start booking dates 3 months out on Omakase. Again, this only applies to the tippity-top tier of restaurants in Japan — fortunately there are thousands of good options besides.
A big part of this research project was to compile a semi-comprehensive list of the best non-introduction omakase spots in Tokyo. As far as I’m aware, such a list does not exist anywhere else! When I was first looking at sushiyas, I wasted so many hours researching places, only to later find out that they’d be impossible to get into, without knowing a regular. Brutal. But it worked out in the end, and we had some very, very memorable omakase experiences — maybe not at the absolute best of the best, but at a number of spots (if Tabelog is to be believed) in the top 10. I can live with that.
That being said, Taiwan and Thailand are much much much easier, and unless you’re trying to go to a 3* like Sorn, or brave an hours-long queue for the most Insta-famous street hawker of all time, you’ll have no problems eating anywhere in those countries.
Q. Perfect. Maybe I’ll splurge a few times, but generally I don’t care about eating at the most highly ranked spot or whatever — I just want good, casual food. So, practically speaking, it sounds like this list will be helpful for me?
A. If you are traveling to Tokyo, Fukuoka, Kagoshima, Taipei, Tainan, Bangkok, or Chiang Mai, then yes. The Tokyo list is especially extensive and has hundreds of solid recs. I think across Japan and Thailand, there’s a wide range of options for every city I mentioned, at every price point. Admittedly in Taiwan, it is skewed a bit more towards the cheap end, and more towards dining solo, because that was my circumstance.
Q. Gotcha. Looks like it’s more than just restaurants, too?
A. Occasionally I do things that don’t involve food. I’ve included recommendations if you want to see art, shop for clothes/ceramics, or dance to music.
Q. Cool, I like that kinda stuff too — I’m sold. Scrolling down as we speak! Wait… it’s paywalled???
A. Yeah. Sorry not sorry. This is probably the only post I will ever paywall, and it’s just because I truly put many months of work into this list. If you want my shortlist of faves for Taiwan, Thailand, or Japan, I’ve already posted about those, for all and sundry to read. But I think it’s fair to ask for a few bucks to access the whole shebang.
Q. How dare you? I refuse to pay and I hate you.
A. Fair enough. If we’re friends IRL just text me and I’ll send it to you for free.
Q. That’s what I like to hear. Ok I’m reading it now, it’s so helpful!
A. You’re welcome! Enjoy!
