17 best things to do in Kagurazaka: temples, restaurants, bars, shops and more

The crêpes and galettes of Harajuku have somewhat skewed Tokyo’s idea of these thin French pancakes, but Le Bretagne serves the real deal for anyone with a yearning for something more authentic. The galettes, made with buckwheat, are a perfect meal at any hour of the day, especially when paired with a glass of apple cider from Brittany.

The galette selection offer combinations of melty cheese, ham, fried egg and mushrooms, whereas seasonal specials feature ingredients like crab with bechamel sauce and semi-dried tomatoes. Try to leave room for dessert, as the crêpes here are worth a special visit, too. Order the crêpes suzette if you’re in the mood for something classic, or take your crêpes with a scoop of ice cream on the terrace.

In 2011, Yusuke Miyashita opened his restaurant Fushikino, serving a banquet of Japanese dishes paired with craft sake, in the stone-cobbled neighbourhood of Kagurazaka. Miyashita is a licensed sake brewer, sommelier and Enshu-style tea-ceremony master who pairs seasonal sake with traditional multi-course kaiseki dishes created by renowned chef Yoshio Aramaki.

The Michelin-starred restaurant only seats nine people at a time, and as you settle down at the chestnut counter and eye the antique tableware, you know you're in for something special. Behind the counter, Miyashita warms a flask to reach a temperature of 85 degrees Celsius, ensuring the fats in the fish or meat of the dishes will melt in your mouth as you sip throughout your meal.

Every evening features at least one vintage sake, which has been aged over ten years, as well as a blend of two sake that Miyashita combines to match the food. The meal concludes with a bowl of rich matcha, which Miyashita whisks in front of you to revive you from the spell of the potent rice wine.

Local delicacies from a different island are served up every month at Rito Kitchen, a restaurant dedicated to promoting the edible treasures of Japan’s many far-flung isles. It occupies an old house in Kagurazaka; inside you’ll find names of the featured islands written all over on the ceiling of the ground-floor room.

All the Ama-cho seafood and other fresh ingredients served here are sourced on location and preserved with a technology called CAS (Cells Alive System) during transportation.This helps keep the food fresher than if frozen the old-fashioned way, making sure everything survives the trip in pristine condition.

The air of Kagurazaka is often thick with the rich scent of hojicha (roasted green tea) as it roasts in a churning drum at the storefront of this tea shop. If you’ve ever fancied the idea of having your own matcha tea set, this is the place to start – there’s an ample selection of ceramic tea bowl chawan cups to choose from and bamboo whisks as used in traditional tea ceremonies.

The shop assistants will explain all you need to know about different grades of tea to help you find one that best matches your preferred price point and how you intend to brew the tea. Before you take your tea home, why not sample some of the brews that the store has to offer? As you do, you can also read up on how long to boil and steep the different tea leaves.

Kyorakutei is a good place to get an education in soba. This old-school restaurant in the backstreets of Kagurazaka features a grinder in its storefront window, where the noodle master makes soba by hand. You’ll also get to compare the two different types of buckwheat noodles: the regular soba, which is made by cutting a small percentage of wheat flour, and the juwari soba that’s a craft by itself as it uses pure 100 percent buckwheat.

Darker in colour compared to the regular soba, the juwari soba at Kyorakutei is one of the best we’ve had. The texture is firm with a bit of give, and it has a beautiful nuttiness that makes it delicious even on its own. The best way to appreciate the texture and flavour is to eat it cold with a side of dipping broth.

Finding an affordable place for dinner in Kagurazaka can be a challenge, so we were more than happy to discover this casual kappo (counter-style cuisine) restaurant, located on the ground floor of a tastefully renovated traditional house. Find it just a short walk from Kagurazaka Station – look for the impressive wooden gate – and choose from a selection of seasonal specials for the full experience. Alternatively, you can stop at the standing-only bar by the entrance, where sake starts from ¥400 per cup and the appetiser menu includes rarities like deep-fried quail and round herring tsukudani, a kind of simmered and preserved food that’s been a capital staple since the Edo era.

With a door so small it could be mistaken for a window, you might walk past Lidemo without noticing it as you skip down the stone steps of the narrow alley outside. Duck through the entrance, though, and you’ll find a sleek, warmly lit hideaway serving some of the best drinks in the city. The bar is manned entirely by women who expertly crush fresh fruit into seasonal cocktails light enough that you could guzzle rather than sip. 

The fresh cocktail recipes rely on the natural sweetness from the fruit, so nothing you drink will be stirred in with artificial, sickly syrups. Even the bloody mary has a garden freshness to it, made with unprocessed fruit tomatoes that haven’t been muddled with the vinegary flavours of hot sauce. Prefer to drink your liquor neat? The bar is also known for its excellent selection of rum from just about every island in the Caribbean, from Martinique to Barbados. The ¥1,000 table charge comes with a small shot of the soup of the day – a savoury hit that amply prepares your palette for the drinks to come.

Shirokane Toritama makes something as simple as chicken on skewers into a work of art at this elegant restaurant tucked along the narrow streets of Kagurazaka. Stunning skewers of charcoal-grilled chicken are served alongside grated daikon and fresh quail egg to add a refreshingly light accompaniment to the meat.  

There are three omakase courses available, with seven, 12 or 15 skewers of yakitori favourites such as tsukune meatballs brushed lightly with a sweet savoury sauce or chochin (ovary) with its two rich orange egg yolks. The menu also features a selection of individual skewers as well as a number of modern izakaya side dishes that pair well with booze and yakitori. Add some green to your meal with a zesty salad of fresh coriander with mustard dressing and crispy potato chips or order the chicken liver mousse to dip with toast and enjoy with wine. 

When Kagurazaka Baikatei's founder, Shozo Inoue, was detained for a time in Siberia during the Second World War, all he could think about was the kakimochi (small rice crackers) his mother used to make when he was a child. Once he was released, he decided to open a sweets shop where he could make classic Japanese sweets and mimic the recipes his mother used. Today, the delicate cakes on offer include everything from elastic warabi-mochi (bracken starch jelly) flavoured with brown sugar to chewy daifuku rice cakes filled with sweet red bean paste, perfect with a freshly brewed cup of green tea.

This al fresco café provides an ideal setting for cherry blossom viewing as the canal across it is lined with sakura trees that bloom on either side in spring. The café makes a lovely lunch spot with its outdoor terrace and menu of wood-fired pizzas, but the real draw on sunnier days is the rowboats you can rent and take out on to the water. These pastel coloured boats cost ¥600 for a 40-minute session as you bask in the sun and bob serenely along the canal. After you return to the dock, it’s worth stopping at the gelato stand stationed by the terrace to cool off with seasonal flavours such as peach, pistachio, and yoghurt.