Restaurant in Tokyo, Japan
Book if wine matters as much as food.
Nogizaka Shin holds a Michelin 1 Star and is home to Japan's Star Wine List number-one sommelier, Yasuhide Tobita. The dinner-only kaiseki menu blends Japanese and Italian influences in an intimate, glass-kitchen setting in Akasaka. Book four to six weeks ahead minimum; the small scale and dual Michelin and OAD recognition make this one of Tokyo's harder tables to secure.
If you are weighing Nogizaka Shin against RyuGin for a kaiseki-style dinner in Tokyo, the two restaurants serve different needs. RyuGin is a multi-Michelin operation with a large, polished room and international name recognition. Nogizaka Shin, holding a Michelin 1 Star as of 2024 and ranked in Opinionated About Dining's Leading Restaurants in Japan, operates on a much more intimate scale, and that intimacy is precisely the point. The kitchen is glass-enclosed so you watch the preparation; the room draws from the aesthetic of a modern-day tearoom with concrete walls; and the entire experience is guided by a proprietor-sommelier duo who have both worked in Japanese restaurants in Paris. For a special occasion dinner where you want genuine interaction with the people making and pairing your food, Nogizaka Shin is the stronger choice.
The format at Nogizaka Shin is a kaiseki tasting menu that carries clear Italian influence, reflecting Chef Issei Yuasa's cross-cultural background. The room is visually spare: concrete walls, a glass-enclosed kitchen, a modern tearoom sensibility that signals precision rather than extravagance. There is nothing here designed to impress you with grandeur. The impression comes instead from watching the kitchen work and from the presence of sommelier Yasuhide Tobita, who holds the Star Wine List number-one ranking for Japan as of 2025. That pairing of one of the country's leading sommeliers with a highly personal kaiseki menu built around ingredients from the chef's native Tokushima prefecture, including regional seafood, citrus fruits, rice, and Awa bancha (a fermented tea), gives the meal a coherence you rarely find at this price tier.
The proprietor and sommelier both bring Paris experience to what is an otherwise deeply Japanese cooking framework. That background shows not in the food being Franco-Japanese fusion, but in a structural discipline and an approach to wine pairing that treats sake and wine as equally serious options. Nogizaka Shin hosts monthly tasting events featuring discussion on wine and Japanese sake pairings, which tells you something about the intellectual seriousness of the operation. If that kind of engagement appeals to you, this is a better dinner than a restaurant where the food alone is the spectacle.
For special occasions, the room's controlled, intimate atmosphere makes it more suitable for a focused dinner for two or a small group than for celebratory larger parties. The glass kitchen means conversation about what is being prepared happens naturally; the concrete-and-glass aesthetic is contemporary without being cold. Compared to L'Effervescence, which offers a more theatrical, design-forward room, Nogizaka Shin is quieter and more concentrated. That is a preference call, not a quality judgment.
Nogizaka Shin does not serve lunch. Hours run Monday through Saturday from 5:30 pm to 11 pm; the restaurant is closed on Sundays. This is a dinner-only operation, so the lunch-versus-dinner question resolves itself. What it means in practice: if you are planning around a Sunday in Tokyo, Nogizaka Shin is not available, and you should look at alternatives. For comparable kaiseki or tasting-menu options across the city, see our full Tokyo restaurants guide. For broader planning, our Tokyo hotels guide, bars guide, and experiences guide cover the full picture.
Within the dinner-only window, the optimal visit is on a weekday evening, particularly earlier in the week when booking competition is lower and the room is more likely to be at a pace where the sommelier's attention is distributed fully. The 5:30 pm opening slot is worth requesting if you want the meal to unfold without time pressure before the 11 pm close.
Booking is hard. With only 97 Google reviews suggesting a small-scale operation, demand relative to covers is high. The Michelin star, the OAD recognition, and the Star Wine List ranking together mean Nogizaka Shin is known to serious diners internationally. Plan at minimum four to six weeks ahead for a weekday booking; further in advance for weekends. There is no online booking link in the public record, which means you will need to contact the restaurant directly by phone or through a concierge. If you are staying at a hotel with a strong concierge service, use it; they will have contacts that make securing a reservation more reliable. For context on how other serious Tokyo restaurants compare on booking difficulty, see peers like Harutaka and Sézanne.
| Detail | Nogizaka Shin | RyuGin | L'Effervescence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price range | ¥¥¥¥ | ¥¥¥¥ | ¥¥¥¥ |
| Michelin stars | 1 (2024) | 3 | 1 |
| Lunch service | No | Yes | Yes |
| Sunday service | No | Check | Check |
| Booking difficulty | Hard | Hard | Moderate–Hard |
| Room style | Modern tearoom, intimate | Large, theatrical | Design-forward |
| Sommelier focus | Star Wine List #1 Japan (2025) | Strong | Strong |
Within Tokyo's four-symbol price tier, Nogizaka Shin occupies a specific niche: it is the right choice if an exceptional wine and sake program is as important to you as the food. Sommelier Yasuhide Tobita's Star Wine List number-one ranking in Japan for 2025 is a verifiable, named credential that few Tokyo restaurants at this level can match. If the food-only experience is your priority and you want more Michelin weight behind it, RyuGin's three-star kaiseki is the comparative benchmark, though it operates at a larger, less personal scale. For innovative French at the same price point, Crony offers a different format worth considering if the Japanese tasting menu structure is not your preference.
| Venue | Awards | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nogizaka Shin | If you would like to enjoy the best Japanese “Kaiseki” tasting menu, with the knowledge and creativity of one of the best sommeliers in the country, Yasuhide Tobita, Nogizaka Shin is your choice. This...; The look of the establishment is a ‘modern-day tearoom’, with concrete walls and glass-enclosed kitchen. The operation is run by the proprietor and the sommelier, both of whom have experience working in Japanese restaurants in Paris. From the proprietor’s native Tokushima come supplies of seafood, citrus fruits and rice. Another Tokushima influence is the use of Awa bancha, a fermented tea. Nogizaka Shin hosts tasting events every month, featuring discussions about pairings with wines and Japanese sake. The teamwork between chef and sommelier points to the future of kappo.; Star Wine List #1 (2025); Opinionated About Dining Top Restaurants in Japan Ranked #543 (2025); Michelin 1 Star (2024); Opinionated About Dining Top Restaurants in Japan Recommended (2023) | ¥¥¥¥ | — |
| Harutaka | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | ¥¥¥¥ | — |
| L'Effervescence | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | ¥¥¥¥ | — |
| RyuGin | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | ¥¥¥¥ | — |
| HOMMAGE | Michelin 2 Star, World's 50 Best | ¥¥¥¥ | — |
| Crony | Michelin 2 Star, World's 50 Best | ¥¥¥¥ | — |
A quick look at how Nogizaka Shin measures up.
There is no à la carte option — Nogizaka Shin runs a kaiseki tasting menu only, shaped by Chef Issei Yuasa's cross-cultural background and seasonal produce sourced from Tokushima. The wine and sake pairing, curated by sommelier Yasuhide Tobita (ranked #1 by Star Wine List Japan 2025), is worth adding: it is genuinely central to the experience here, not an afterthought. Skip the pairing only if you have a strong reason to.
Nogizaka Shin is a small-format, dinner-only restaurant in Akasaka open Monday through Saturday from 5:30 pm — Sundays are closed, so plan accordingly. The kitchen carries a Michelin star and OAD recognition, and the format is a tasting menu that blends kaiseki structure with Italian culinary thinking, including ingredients from the chef's native Tokushima. Securing a reservation takes planning; demand is high relative to the cover count, so book well in advance.
The room is described as a modern-day tearoom with concrete walls and a glass-enclosed kitchen — architecturally spare, not ornate. A Michelin-starred, ¥¥¥¥ tasting menu environment in Tokyo's Akasaka district typically calls for neat, considered dress: nothing formal required, but casual streetwear would feel out of place. Err toward business casual or a clean evening outfit.
Lunch is not an option — Nogizaka Shin serves dinner only, running 5:30 pm to 11 pm Monday through Saturday. There is no trade-off to weigh here.
At ¥¥¥¥, it is worth it if a serious wine and sake program is part of what you are paying for — sommelier Yasuhide Tobita holds the #1 ranking from Star Wine List Japan 2025, which makes this genuinely one of the strongest drink-led fine dining propositions in the city. If your priority is kaiseki craft alone with less emphasis on the pairing, the price-to-value case narrows compared to peers like Harutaka.
Yes, with a specific caveat: the tasting menu at Nogizaka Shin is designed around the interplay between food and drink, not just the food in isolation. The kitchen holds a Michelin star and OAD recognition, Chef Yuasa brings Italian technique into a kaiseki framework, and the sommelier program has been recognised as the best in Japan by Star Wine List 2025. If that convergence interests you, it is worth booking. If you want a more traditional kaiseki experience without the cross-cultural angle, RyuGin or Harutaka are more straightforward fits.
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