I shall rank them in my preference..

DIE DIE MUST TRY!

1.  Hidemi Sugino ( I can tell you, this is going to be the best place on earth for cakes.. many pastry cooks and professionals overseas  tend to agree too) .  I remembered there was once i saw a lady enjoying her cakes and  her expression  was like a conductor enjoying a piece of Chopin music  performed in an orchestra.. AND IM NOT REALLY A CAKE PERSON? CAN U BELIVE IT?

2.  Napule ( Best pizza nothing like i have ever eaten before..)

3.  La Bettola Da Ochiai ( Coz im biased towards the waitress,hehe, the italian food here is not too bad)

4.  Ryugin ( Must go for those who are new to Tokyo’s dining scene )

5.  Toraya (  You can only find good WAGASHI in japan, and Toraya is the place   )

6.  Sushi Saito/Mizutani ( Tied for the moment, i didnt quite enjoy the atomosphere at Mizutani thou,  wasnt really convinced that the fishes was  THAT OMFG good, shall try again)

Places that are good enough to try

7.  Usagiya Dorayaki ( best dorayaki, but they only have 3 main hits, the dorayaki, the monaka and their manju)

8.  Pierre Herme ( Ok, their ispahan is quite OK, u can still taste what it is suppose to taste like the lycee, rose and everything, and not just sugar, vanilla macaron was quite good, so i suppose their patisseries are quite ok..)

9.   Firehouse Burger ( good burgers, but a tad out of place..the beef doesnt really taste deliciously beefy, but still beefy)

10.  Aroma Fresca ( For those who wan to know what japanese italian tastes like.. Overall all the dishes did not seem to dissapoint very much, and the portions are just nice)

11.  Quintessense? ( Abit more misses than Hits, eating here is like placing a bet, saving grace was the FISH, was ultimately was the best main course i ever had in japan.)

12.  Kondo Tempura ( The vegetables are really great, but im not really a tempura person..)

Places that do not warrant any more visits from me, unless i happen to passby and dun mind grabbing a thing or two. ( NOT IN order)

13. Sadaharu Aoki ( his degustation tastes too much of sugar and nothing else, almost Canele standards, his macarons are well quite good, but i didnt quite like his CHOCORON( macaron encased inside chocolate)

14.   Obana ( Maybe i do not eat unagi that often to tell a difference between a HIGH Grade unagi and a low grade one.  , the pickles and rice was quite good)

15.   Ponta Honke ( the tonkatsu was a tad thick for my tastes, also couldnt tell a great difference between this and Tonkichi, thou the corokke was very good, and rice as well..)

16.  Hirugao Ramen ( I can get my ramen fix at Menya Shinchan)

16.  Jean Paul Hevin ( His cakes are VERY CHOCOLATE based, and are all quite heavy, do not like them, maybe i chose the wrong ones? )

On my Radar after another round of detailed research

1.   Kyoaji ( Kappo Ryori, or kaiseki, apparently rejected michelin 3 star grading, and No 1 in tabelog for their category, given the fact that Ryugin now tries to do more traditional stuff, i would have chosen kyoaji instead of ryugin when i was there the last time if i had known..)

2.   Aronia De Takazawa ( Reports of very good meal here, coupled with the fact that the place only serves limited diners daily and the chef wife gives her personal service to diners)

3.    A tes souhaits ( Was suppose to go here during my last trip, but due to wrong get off at another station, i just headed to my next destination then, shall try their cakes and crossaints and galette)

4.   L’osier ( How does it compare to Quintessense, still not very convinced in French Food..)

5.   Okonomiyaki Kiji ( MISSED OUT THIS PLACE DUE TO TIME CONSTRAINT THE LAST TIME )

6.  Ristorante Aso ( Searching for a darn good italian place )

7.  Hirosaku ( Reports of good soba?)

8.  Toshi Yoroizuka ( only managed to get their financiers etc last time round, didnt have time for their desserts and cakes)

9.  Sukiyabashi Jiro ( Mentor to Mizutani, only drawback is i heard that the service is in da pits, which am still thinking if i should visit this place at all.)

10.  Chez Tomo ( very cheap prices for a 1 star michelin french… shall see)

Here are some stuff that i bought in tokyo..

Henri Le Roux Caramels,  Oriol Balaguer -My Obession  ,  Toshi Yoroizuka Madelines and Financiers,  La Maison Du Chocolat Champagne Truffles and his Assortment, Pierre Marcolini Choc Marshmallows and Assortment,  Salon Du Chocolat Assortment,  Toraya’s Yokan and  Baum Kuchen from Nenrinya( Queues outside the Ginza branch) ,

First had a Degustation at Sadaharu Aoki..   just so-so, taste heavily of sugar…. since i already sold my soul to Hidemi Sugino cakes…

Returned to La Bettola da Ochiai again…

Appetizer – Grilled Anago ( huge portions, could easily pass of as a main)

Pasta – Spaghetti al Bottarga ( got this since they ran out of the other one, which had crabmeat and stuff)

Main – Grilled pork with balsamico sauce

Dessert – Custard Pudding ( Flan)

Not bad, but i couldnt finish the pudding, too much food… also should have tried their lamb chops instead…looks better than my grilled pork!.. also my fav waitress gave me their restaurant stickers…  nice memories..

looking forward to my next trip there again! BEST PLACE TO EAT ON EARTH..

Was expecting my last michelin dinner to be quite molecular, since i heard much about Seiji Yamamoto..2 stars michelin for this place. Service is ok.

Overall, all the dishes were very good.. no bad or normal dishes.. but all were more towards the traditional cooking side..  I will describe some dishes..

- Amuse bouche, Karasumi + Daikon &  Ankimo + Potato (1st pic) ( Best amuse in tokyo )

- Uni chawanmushi ( Best chawanmushi ever tasted)

- Sashimi Course ( Quite good, most of the sauces matches quite well with the sushi, also i think the squid was better than the rest i had at both sushi mizutani and saito.. )

- Wasanbon Icecream with some ancient curlded milk + matcha dusting. ( very good, im not really a fan of icecreams.. but this was good, tasted better than Henri LeRoux caramel icecream & Quintessense Salt water meringue ice cream.. )

- Sakura Ebi Gohan (  Comfort food and satisfying )

- Fish course ( Toasted rice on top of fish with silkscreened fish picture which is actually a sauce( abit weak in flavour) , Quintessense fish was better..

- Roasted Pigeon, overall was good, had apple and a pigeon hamburg.. , but didnt like the black truffle with mashed soybeans remainant..( taste abit like toilet leh)

Started my day by visiting akihabara to get to some IDORU event..Hehehe.. those kinda events that danny choo attends..

Walked to Hongo Sanchome to Firehouse to taste their Apple Burger..

geeky not bad looking waitress in the background serving the orders..

The apple burger is not bad, but the beef still lacks the really beefy taste.. but overall a good burger, american style.. clean and fresh!

Then proceeded to Ueno by foot, passing by University of Tokyo while walking there.. Hunted my next target which was Usagiya.. Asked for 1 dorayaki, shop attendant was suprised that i only asked for one..

I was a little bit underwhelmed on the first bite, but soon i discovered the subtleties in this dorayaki when i started to think abt other dorayaki i had before.. This dorayaki was indeed different, the filling(tsubu-an, non filtered red bean paste) and the cake(kasutera) binds together like one entity, a complete being instead of 2 seperate entities which is common in non artisanal dorayakis… So to say i began to like this very much and went back to the shop 5mins later if they had any more to offer.  Realised all the dorayakis were sold out! %#@! ..

So i got the Monaka..

Very good too… crisp light soft wafer with koshian(filtered red bean paste) ..I duno why japanese red bean tastes so nice, i dont really like those chinese red bean soup or dau sar pia… I think its because japanese use much more sugar than the chinese…

Had dinner at Ponta Honke, quite a famous tonkatsu restaurant. They fry their tonkatsu in pork lard in low temperatures.

Overall, quite a decent but not a life changing tonkatsu to me..Also quite expensive for tonkatsu (3000+ yen), their korokke is quite good thou.. very soft potatoes…

Some nice patisseries from Pierre Herme.. had some macarons and the famed Ispahan..

their macarons are fresh, still chewy in the insides, with generous amount of cream… but abit ex around 230-250yen per pop…

This place took me 2 trips to find it. AT first i thought they had closed down this and moved to some other place, and given the small lanes that the buildings had, i kept circling round and roun that freaking place, juz as i was about to give up to go to the train station(very near), i saw the landmark building that this restaurant was beside. So i found this small lane, which i wondered why i did not notice when i was walking pass like some freaking at least 10 times.

Before i went it , i said to myself, how good can a pizza get? thou i had some knowledge of neapolitan pizza, i figured it would be different from ur normal pizzas from spizza, valentino , or what else “pizzas” this places in singapore were creating.

Took a few pics before i started eating..Ordered the Magherita with bufala di mozzarella extra.. lunch set salad and coffee ( less than 2k yen, the salads are limpid thou)

Took my first bite, WTF! This is really nothing i had eaten before. This totally brought me to a new level that all the “pizzas” in Singapore are literally shit.  Thou the ingredients were good, but it did had some place for improvement, what really wowed me was the crust. This is NOTHING like the pizza u tasted anywhere, it was more remiscent of naan but much less greasy and it had a more crisp charred feel that could only be acheived by a very very hot oven.

The crust was very light, soft but had a very light crisp surface(just the surface not the entire crust) and easily digestable, almost every other seats could finish 1 whole pizza by themself .  You have to wait a while to get ur seats, this place is very packed.. u can see junichiro koizumi and some other pictures taken with the Head Pizzaiolo(Hisanori) .. Some more pics.. look its the man himself!

Please take a look at the videos and notice how he makes the pizza. Incredible speed and technique, not to mention the specially handmade neapolitan oven..

Note, they also have a branch at Midtown Tokyo, but of course not made by Hisanori, thou they still use the same equipments..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxwHDybbZi4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNiDsgb78T4

Sushi Saito, very well known sushi restaurant among foodies in japan.  This year they also rose up to 2 michelin stars. People come here because the chef is very friendly and the sushi is also very good. Located at Tameike-sanno infront of the American Embassay. It is inside another building so u have to look hard for it.

The chef uses akazu(red vinegar) in his sushi rice and his dinner omakase(20k yen) is abit more expensive than Mizutani.

The fishes are all quite good i would say, the aji(the aoba combo dressing complemented it very well, not overkilling it but subtly enhancing the fish) and the kuruma ebi was i think better than mizutani’s, saito’s prawn had the prawn cake attached . The rice is more to the traditional type but firm nonetheless.  The otsumami are also very nice, the ankimo and the octopus tentacles(nikiri, thick soy sauce and sweet) .  Also i think i missed out a picture or 2, i was served 2 Uni instead of just one, it was another type of Uni, the one above is the murasaki uni, the other was a bahun uni(resembles the uni nigiri from nogawa, the square and dainty nigiri) . The uni was very good, but a touch less firm than mizutani.. The tamagoyaki was a letdown actually, it was already chilled and didnt quite make it for me. Mizutani’s tamagoyaki is the best i’ve eaten.

I would say the experience would be very good, since it was very relaxed and the place is very small, around 6 seats just directly infront of the counter no corners or anything.
Saito san also speaks a little english, disciple of Kanesaka(Ex Kyubei) when both were at Kyubei. Saito san actually says Kyubei now has no nice fish since it overexpanded, he says one shop is the best.

It might be a better value for lunch, I think omakase might be around 10k+ yen for lunch..

I guess the owner must really be a ramen fanatic.. read the reviews on sinjiro and saw the pictures.. 1st reaction was that, the ramen looks like the one from RAMEN JIRO!

Ramen Jiro is a cult ramen stall in tokyo with many branches.. They are famous for their huge servings and the shoyu , garlic, tonkotsu broth and the standard toppings include cabbage, beansprouts and chashuu.. so the Sinjiro Ramen($13) is actually a Jiro style ramen.

They have a Madame Jiro for those who want a lesser portion.. hahaha.. this really is Ramen Jiro portion… will head back to try their other ramen.. They also have some spicy sauce and extra garlic on the table.. I actually had the Sinjiro with extra bonito flakes topping..

Located at Roberston Quay beside Ryoriya Sangokushi.

These place is dead hard to book, exact 2 months in advance reservation. The chef was once sous chef at L’Astrance, apparently became an instant icon after it was awarded 3 star michelin status. I called many times to ensure that i could get a reservation.. U will be very lucky if u manage to call thru the phone booking system at the required time.

http://www.quintessence.jp

There will only be 1 menu,  13 dishes , you cant decide what you eat, but you can tell them what u do not like.

Overall some hits and misses in this meal. I felt that the portions were quite huge for the mains, the desserts were also not to my taste, i felt the whole meal was quite on the heavy side(maybe im not really a french meal person).. I managed to sample most of their famed dishes. I will highlight some dishes that are worth mentioning here.  I actually thought this was the best and worst restaurant meal in japan.. hehe.. But thinking back it might be worth returning, because they do change the saucing and condiments for most of their dishes while retaining the main focus of the ingredient.

Maybe the night that i went the dishes were not to my taste, like the condiments of the duck main course, i thought the fried peanuts made the whole dish too heavy since the duck was already fatty, and before that i already had the boudin noir with foie gras and the fish ). And the mains portions are somehow quite huge.. If their portions are 2/3 or maybe 1/2 the size, it would be very good and not too heavy.. I was literally stuffed when i got to the desserts stage.. the desserts are also not to my liking.. The biscuit(some kind of cake) with coconut cream( didnt like it) , the sorbet(i think it was a digestif, since it was very alcholic). And the sea water meringue ice cream was just ok for me( some people like it thou) Also the starters were a tad too normal tasting for me, no particular standout starter dishes..

Also no picture taking is allowed in the restaurant, but i will post some pictures i found on the net..sourced from here

http://r.tabelog.com/tokyo/A1316/A131602/13022541/

Goat milk bavarois with shaved macadamia nuts and olive oil.( good but lack an amazing touch)

Boudin Noir with Foie Gras ( Very good, base was an apricot kind of tart , but portion was abit too much, 2/3 would be very good.)

Duck (specially procured and according to the waiter the best duck in the world)  that was cooked in repeated process in the oven.

Fish main course ( this is dead good, i think its  kinmeidai, absolutely juicy, the best main course i had in japan, no.. the best fish dish i had in my life!)

Biscuit de Bis Cuit ( twice cooked or something), didnt make it for me..

These pictures are not mine so they are not exactly the same as what i ate, as i mentioned before, they change the condiments and saucing for most of their dishes.. Like the fish course, what i had was a basil, or dill combo sort of green sauce(i might have remembered wrongly..) ..  This place is recommended for couples, take it slow while eating everything.. i might be a tad fast in my dinner, took me around 2 hrs + ..

The service was very good, the waiter spoke good english by japanese standards.. The chef even came out to send me off and asking me if everything was alright..