How and Where To Eat Sushi Like A Local In Shinjuku, Tokyo

This is a great place to visit if you want to try lots of different types of sushi, especially those like sea urchin, but you don’t want to pay the price tag which normally comes with them at high end sushi bars. Kizuna Sushi has an all-you-can-eat option, which has almost every type of sushi (except otoro tuna, the fattiest kind) on the menu making it great value for money. If you’re not feeling super hungry, you can also order from the usual menu, but I think the all-you-can-eat option is great for visitors, because it’s an opportunity to try sushi which you may not normally be tempted to order in case you don’t like it, you’re unsure exactly what it is or you’re put off by the price. It also happily just so happens to be some of the best sushi in Shinjuku, so whatever you choose you know it’s great quality!

If you like your sushi with a view, Misen is the place for you. It’s not quite the rooftop, but they’re sky high at fourteen floors up; by day you have sweeping views of Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden carpeting the city below, and by night the 180 degree view of bright city lights is really something to see. This restaurant originated in Kyoto, so their menu features a lot of traditional dishes you would normally associate with the Kansai region, including regional ramen, but the sushi is also really good! They’re really passionate about serving only the best quality produce, and use fish from their own fisheries and vegetables specially grown just for them. It’s a great example of how Japanese cuisine is respected as an art form, the base of which is painstakingly cultivated, chosen and prepared ingredients.

This is another kaitenzushi restaurant, aka sushi train or conveyor belt. It’s a great value conveyor belt restaurant, but the chefs are constantly preparing dishes to order too. The staff here speak English, so if you’ve just arrived in Tokyo or aren’t completely sure of yourself when ordering, or you want to know exactly what you are ordering, this place is a safe bet to get you acquainted with what to order, and what you like. If you're solo traveling in Tokyo, this can be a good place to start your sushi journey. But it’s always full of locals too, thanks to the quality of their dishes, the freshness of the fish and the light yet sticky rice. Just remember to bring cash, as they don’t take card.

This is my favorite sushi place in Shinjuku, and encompasses what’s so great about the city - high quality sushi, and highly advanced technology! As is the case in most Tokyo restaurants, not only sushi places, the chefs only speak Japanese - enter the touch panel! So as you know now, kaisen or kaiten-zushi means conveyor belt sushi, and Misakiko is the name of the harbor where their fish is sourced. At this sushi shop, you can use the tablet in front of you (which is in Japanese and English) to order dishes which you don’t see streaming past your seat. Even as a local who’s so used to eating in these kind of places, there’s still a certain kind of child-like joy in ordering on a tablet, then watching your sushi speeding towards you on the conveyor belt. They also make a good miso soup, which is the perfect palette cleanser (along with the pickled ginger - which is actually why we serve it with sushi) to sip on while you’re deciding what to choose next!

Zauo is a sushi restaurant with a twist: you catch your own fish! Not one for the purists among you, but it’s a really fun and unique experience, and I’m sure it will be the freshest sushi you’ll have ever eaten. You can also order from the menu, but it’s actually cheaper to catch your own fish! You can choose which species you’d like, and then you fish in the correct pool. Once caught, a chef will expertly prepare your fish however you’d like it, whether it’s as sushi, sashimi or cooked. It’s not exactly subtle what the theme is, there are tables aboard a wooden decking area that’s designed to look like a ship, surrounded on all sides by water. When you’re ready to go and get your fish, you go down to the ground level and dip a net into the water to catch whichever you have your eye on (there’s no fishing rods involved, it really is a lot easier than it may sound). It’s an entertaining way to eat sushi, and although not exactly traditional will make for a fun night out, or lunch time eat to remember with your family.