Restaurant in Tokyo, Japan
Tradition-first kappo with room to explore.
A Michelin Plate kappo counter in Akasaka where the set menu is intentionally short and à la carte additions let you direct the evening. The kitchen is serious about soba, charcoal-grilling, and Japan-raised ostrich — and at ¥¥¥, it delivers Michelin-recognised quality a clear tier below the city's starred rooms. Book a weekday evening for the best atmosphere.
If you have already done one kaiseki dinner in Tokyo and want to understand how a chef uses that tradition as a starting point rather than a ceiling, Akasaka Kappo Washi is the right next booking. This is a kappo restaurant in the older, more interactive sense: a counter-format kitchen where the chef works in front of you, the menu is partially structured and partially yours to direct, and the evening moves at a pace you help set. It works especially well for two people who want a proper conversation alongside serious food, and for anyone who found the more formal kaiseki rooms a little airless. The energy here is quieter and more focused than the buzzy izakayas lower in Akasaka's dining stack, but it never tips into ceremony for its own sake.
In terms of timing, a weekday evening is the call. The room is small and the experience benefits from that intimacy — weekend nights shift the mood slightly toward occasion dining rather than the more relaxed, regular-visitor rhythm that suits Washi leading. If you are visiting Tokyo between autumn and early spring, the kitchen's approach to slow-simmered and charcoal-grilled preparations lands with more logic when the weather is cool. That said, the soba, which the kitchen treats with particular seriousness, is worth coming for in any season.
The Michelin Plate recognition Washi holds for 2025 signals a kitchen that meets Michelin's technical standard without yet having the profile of the city's starred rooms. That is useful framing when you are deciding how to spend your dining budget across a Tokyo trip. At ¥¥¥, Washi sits a clear price tier below the ¥¥¥¥ rooms like RyuGin or L'Effervescence, and the Michelin Plate tells you that the quality gap is smaller than the price gap would suggest. For a second or third Tokyo dinner, this is one of the more efficient decisions you can make.
The kitchen's identity is built around a few deliberate choices. The name Washi references Japanese history and tradition, and the menu reflects that , classical technique treated as a foundation rather than a constraint. The set menu is intentionally short, stopping after a handful of structured courses, after which you can add à la carte dishes based on what interests you. That format gives you more agency than a strict omakase, and it means two people at the counter can end up eating slightly different evenings depending on what they choose to add. If you are returning after a first visit, that à la carte layer is where to focus: it is where the kitchen's more personal interests come through most clearly.
Two of those interests are worth knowing before you sit down. First, the kitchen has a clear affinity for Japan-raised ostrich meat, which appears in preparations including searing and slow simmering in soy and ginger. This is not a gimmick , ostrich is a serious protein with strong culinary precedent in Japanese farm-to-table contexts, and the kitchen's handling of it reflects genuine curiosity rather than novelty-seeking. Second, the soba preparation is treated with the kind of care you would expect from a specialist, not as an afterthought at the end of a kappo menu. If soba matters to you, this is a relevant credential. The charcoal-grilling work is the third thread worth following when you are choosing à la carte additions.
The room is on the sixth floor of an office building in Akasaka, which is a neighbourhood that rewards knowing where to look. The address puts you in a part of Tokyo that has serious dining at multiple price points, from accessible neighbourhood counters up to destination-level rooms. For the full picture of what is available in the area and across the city, our full Tokyo restaurants guide is the place to start. If you are also planning around hotels, bars, or experiences, those are covered in our Tokyo hotels guide, our Tokyo bars guide, and our Tokyo experiences guide.
For context on where Washi sits in the broader Tokyo kappo and kaiseki conversation, Kagurazaka Ishikawa and Azabu Kadowaki are two of the rooms that define the upper end of that category at the starred level. Myojaku and Ginza Fukuju are worth considering if you want to build out a broader picture of where serious Japanese cooking is happening across the city at different price points. Jingumae Higuchi is another reference point in the same quality conversation.
If your Japan trip extends beyond Tokyo, the same combination of classical grounding and personal expression shows up at Gion Sasaki in Kyoto and Isshisoden Nakamura in Kyoto, both of which operate in a similar register of serious but not stiff. In Osaka, Kashiwaya Osaka Senriyama and HAJIME represent the range from traditional to progressive. akordu in Nara and Goh in Fukuoka are worth adding if you are spending time outside the main cities. Further afield, 1000 in Yokohama and 6 in Okinawa round out the national picture.
Google reviews sit at 4.9 across 65 ratings, which is a high score on a small sample , useful as a directional signal but not a large enough base to draw firm conclusions from. What it does confirm is that the people who find their way here tend to leave satisfied, which is consistent with the Michelin Plate recognition and the kitchen's focused approach. There is no official website listed, so booking requires direct contact or a reservation platform; plan around that accordingly, and aim to secure your table at least one to two weeks ahead on weekday evenings.
No specific drinks list data is available for Washi. In a kappo context, the expectation is sake and Japanese whisky alongside the food, with the kitchen's pairing instincts usually running toward producers that complement the soy, ginger, and charcoal notes in the cooking. If you have a preferred sake style or want guidance on what works with the ostrich preparations specifically, that is a reasonable question to raise when booking. Kappo counters in this format typically have more flexibility on drinks than fixed omakase rooms, so it is worth engaging rather than assuming a fixed pairing is the only route.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Akasaka Kappo Washi | Japanese | ¥¥¥ | The name Washi, meaning ‘Japanese history’, embodies the chef’s desire to weave together the rich traditions of Japanese cuisine. He defends the fundamentals of Japanese cuisine while making the menu his own. The house has a particular fondness for Japan-raised ostrich meat and exploring new flavours through preparations such as searing, slow simmering in soy and ginger, and charcoal-grilling. The restaurant prepares soba with reverence for tradition. The set menu stops after just a few items, leaving diners free to add à la carte dishes according to their preferences.; Michelin Plate (2025) | Easy | — |
| Harutaka | Sushi | ¥¥¥¥ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| L'Effervescence | French | ¥¥¥¥ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| RyuGin | Kaiseki, Japanese | ¥¥¥¥ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| HOMMAGE | Innovtive French, French | ¥¥¥¥ | Michelin 2 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Crony | Innovative, French | ¥¥¥¥ | Michelin 2 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
What to weigh when choosing between Akasaka Kappo Washi and alternatives.
Book at least two to three weeks in advance for a standard weeknight visit; weekend slots at Michelin-recognised kappo counters in Akasaka fill faster. Washi's format — a short set menu that then opens to à la carte — means the kitchen can pace a limited number of covers, so last-minute walk-ins carry real risk. If you're pairing this with a broader Tokyo itinerary, lock it in before you land.
Kappo-format restaurants generally offer more flexibility than kaiseki or strict omakase, since the à la carte extension at Washi means the kitchen isn't locked into a single fixed sequence. That said, the menu leans into Japan-raised ostrich and traditional soba, so pure vegetarian or shellfish-allergy requests should be flagged clearly at booking, not on arrival. check the venue's official channels with specific requirements before confirming your reservation.
The format here is a short set menu followed by optional à la carte additions — which is more relaxed than a locked kaiseki progression and lets you control the final bill within the ¥¥¥ price range. Washi's kitchen has a stated focus on Japan-raised ostrich alongside classical soba, so expect something outside the standard Tokyo fine-dining script. The restaurant is on the sixth floor of a commercial building in Akasaka; look for the building address rather than street-level signage.
Yes, particularly for two people who want a counter dinner with genuine culinary intent rather than a formal banquet setting. The 2025 Michelin Plate signals technical credibility without the theatre or price ceiling of a starred room, which makes it a considered choice when you want the occasion to feel earned rather than performed. For larger groups wanting private dining, a more traditional kaiseki venue like RyuGin would give you more structural support for the format.
At ¥¥¥ pricing, the short set menu functions as an entry point rather than a full meal commitment — the à la carte extension is where the kitchen's focus on ostrich preparations and soba tradition becomes most apparent. If you want a fixed, fully-choreographed progression, look at RyuGin or Harutaka instead. Washi earns its Michelin Plate through technical grounding and an individual point of view, not through sheer length of menu.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
