Restaurant in Tokyo, Japan
Seasonal Japanese done earnestly, priced accessibly.
A seasonally driven washoku room in Shinjuku run by an owner-chef with chakaiseki roots — awarded a Michelin Plate in both 2024 and 2025. At ¥¥¥ pricing, it is one of the more accessible serious Japanese options in Tokyo, with a quieter, intimate atmosphere and a 4.8 Google rating. Easier to book than the city's starred kaiseki rooms and more personal in feel.
Washoku Ebihara is a strong choice for a seasonally driven Japanese meal in Shinjuku at ¥¥¥ pricing — more accessible than the ¥¥¥¥ kaiseki tier (Kagurazaka Ishikawa being the obvious benchmark), yet serious enough to carry a Michelin Plate in both 2024 and 2025. If you want deeply considered washoku from an owner-chef cooking with chakaiseki discipline — without the reservation gauntlet or four-figure bill of Tokyo's top-tier rooms , book here.
The signage at the shopfront says it plainly: 'Enjoy the season.' That is not marketing copy , it is the operating philosophy. The owner-chef draws on a background in chakaiseki, the refined cuisine rooted in Kyoto's tea ceremony tradition, and applies that sensibility to every course: seasonings are chosen for nutritional logic as much as flavour, garnishes are inventive rather than decorative, and pickled vegetables do real work on the palate. The result is cooking that rewards attention. This is not the place for a quick business dinner; it is the place for a meal you'll think about afterwards.
The room is run as a couple's operation , the chef in the kitchen, his wife front-of-house , and the atmosphere reflects that. Expect a quieter, more intimate energy than Tokyo's larger kaiseki institutions. The ambient feel leans calm and considered: conversation carries, the pace is unhurried, and the welcome from the proprietress gives the room a warmth that larger restaurants struggle to replicate. For food and travel enthusiasts who find the formality of a three-Michelin-star room oppressive, Ebihara offers genuine depth without the ceremony.
Chakaiseki lineage matters when thinking about the drinks question. Tea ceremony cuisine was designed around the rhythm and restraint of the tea service itself , flavours are built in subtle layers, and the seasoning philosophy actively avoids anything that overwhelms. That makes this kitchen unusually receptive to delicate pairing: light-bodied sake, aged junmai, or a restrained white wine will work far better here than a bold red or a heavily oaked expression. If you are planning a sake pairing , or asking the proprietress for a recommendation , lean toward junmai or junmai ginjo styles. The subtlety of the cooking is the frame; what you drink should fit inside it, not compete with it. Visitors interested in how Japanese regional producers approach food-friendly sake would find this kitchen a useful reference point, much as Ginza Fukuju provides a different but equally instructive lens on the pairing question.
Michelin Plate , awarded consecutively in 2024 and 2025 , signals cooking that inspires confidence without inflating expectations to starred-restaurant level. It is the right calibration for what Ebihara is: a focused, owner-operated room producing food that is genuinely accomplished. Comparable owner-chef washoku operations in Tokyo include Myojaku and Jingumae Higuchi, both of which share the same attentive, small-team character. If you are building a Tokyo itinerary around serious Japanese cooking at different price points, Ebihara slots naturally into a broader Tokyo restaurant programme alongside starred options like Azabu Kadowaki.
Address , Iwatocho, Shinjuku City , puts the restaurant in a quieter residential pocket of Shinjuku, away from the main drag. This is not a destination in a busy dining corridor; plan your evening around the meal itself rather than pre-dinner drinks nearby. For those combining a Tokyo trip with wider Japan travel, Ebihara's chakaiseki roots sit in interesting contrast to Kyoto-origin institutions like Isshisoden Nakamura or Gion Sasaki , seeing both cities' interpretations of the same tradition is genuinely instructive. You might also compare against Osaka's approach at Kashiwaya Osaka Senriyama.
See the full comparison below.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washoku Ebihara | Japanese | ¥¥¥ | The shopfront lettering sums up this couple’s approach: ‘Enjoy the season’. The proof is in the earnest cooking of the owner-chef and the cheerful disposition of the welcoming proprietress, his wife. Taking a page from his experience as a caterer of chakaiseki (tea ceremony cuisine with its roots in Kyoto), seasonings are both delicious and nutritious. Garnishes and pickled vegetables are inventive, teaching us that true flavour is found in the subtler notes.; Michelin Plate (2025); Michelin Plate (2024) | Easy | — |
| Harutaka | Sushi | ¥¥¥¥ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| RyuGin | Kaiseki, Japanese | ¥¥¥¥ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| L'Effervescence | French | ¥¥¥¥ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| HOMMAGE | Innovtive French, French | ¥¥¥¥ | Michelin 2 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Florilège | French | ¥¥¥ | Michelin 2 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
Side-by-side comparison to help you decide where to book.
This is a small, owner-operated room in Shinjuku's Iwatocho neighbourhood, run by the chef and his wife. The format is rooted in chakaiseki — tea ceremony cuisine with Kyoto origins — so expect restrained, seasonal cooking rather than a showpiece omakase. Michelin Plate recognition in both 2024 and 2025 signals consistent execution. Come with patience for quiet, deliberate hospitality rather than a high-energy dining room.
Specific dishes are not documented, so ordering à la carte is difficult to advise on from the outside. The kitchen's identity is built around seasonal produce, inventive pickled vegetables, and garnishes that carry real flavour — so follow the chef's selection rather than trying to direct it. At ¥¥¥, a set course is almost certainly the right format here.
At ¥¥¥ pricing, Washoku Ebihara sits well below the ¥¥¥¥ kaiseki tier — venues like RyuGin charge significantly more for a comparable seasonal philosophy. Two consecutive Michelin Plate awards confirm the kitchen delivers on its promise. If chakaiseki-influenced, seasonally led cooking is what you are after, the price-to-quality ratio here is hard to argue with.
Seating configuration is not documented in available venue data. Given the small, owner-operated scale of the restaurant, counter seating is plausible — but confirm directly before booking with that expectation.
Yes, for what it offers. At ¥¥¥, you are getting Michelin Plate-recognised cooking with a clear, coherent philosophy — seasonally driven, nutritionally considered, and rooted in chakaiseki tradition. For the same spend, alternatives like HOMMAGE or Florilège offer French-influenced tasting menus; Washoku Ebihara is the call if you specifically want traditional Japanese cooking without paying kaiseki-tier prices.
This is a small owner-operated venue, which typically limits group capacity. Parties larger than four should check the venue's official channels before assuming availability — private dining options are not confirmed in the venue record. For larger groups, a venue with a documented private room would be a safer choice.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
