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Tokyo’s best takeout: Compare the taste of one legendary and one new trending restaurant at home!

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Countless delicious restaurants serving dishes of all kinds are lining the busy streets of Tokyo, making it a city for foodies. Right now, it may be difficult to dine inside restaurants, but luckily, more and more restaurants offer takeaway options allowing you to enjoy an authentic restaurant meal from the comfort of your own four walls! This time, we would like to introduce a long-established Western-style restaurant as well as a trending mapo tofu specialty restaurant.

Luncheon Beer Hall: A long-established restaurant founded in 1909

Luncheon in Jimbocho. At the time of opening, it was a Western-style restaurant without even a name. Later, students from a nearby music college gave the restaurant its name.

Luncheon is a long-established restaurant in Jimbocho. Founded in 1909, it is a beer hall that also serves great Western-style meals that have been adapted to the Japanese taste.

This cute beer-shaped board has the name of the restaurant written in an old-fashioned font on it.

At the time of its establishment, Luncheon was located near a factory of Dainippon Beer, the predecessor of the current Asahi Breweries. At that time, fresh beer, which was still seen as a fashionable beverage from abroad, was very popular.

Since that time, the restaurant has been serving Western-style – or at least what Japanese then imagined as Western –, such as Neapolitan spaghetti with ham and tomatoes, omelet rice, hamburger steaks, pork cutlets, and fried minced meat cutlets.

The takeout menu in Japanese. If you can’t read Japanese, just take a picture of the food sample outside and show it to the staff when ordering.
Don’t these food samples already look delicious?
During the state of emergency, the restaurant closes at 20:00.
This is the entrance. The restaurant is on the second floor, from where you can overlook the bookstores at Jimbocho.
Retro vibes!

I ordered omelet rice and a pork cutlet sandwich for takeout. Both dishes are very voluminous. You’d have to be really hungry if you weren’t satisfied with this feast!

Omelet rice

Made with lots of butter and using fresh eggs, this omelet rice smells like heaven. The omelet is wrapped around tomato rice with ham, onions, and mushrooms – all standard ingredients for Japan’s traditional omelet rice! The cabbage that comes as a side dish is covered with Luncheon’s homemade fruity tomato dressing.

Katsusando, or cutlet sandwich in English

Look at the super-thick pork cutlets! This is definitely a dish that would be the perfect match for their delicious beer. It hurt that I couldn’t dine inside the restaurant, but on the other hand, it’s still a very tasty experience to enjoy this classic dish at your home. There is a reason why this restaurant has been loved for over 100 years. Visit the restaurant to find it out!

Luncheon Beer Hall

http://www.luncheon.jp
1-6 Kanda Jimbocho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/hZvZhiH7cmb5iGhB6
Nearest stations: Jimbocho Station, Shin-Ochanomizu Station, Ochanomizu Station, Suidobashi Station

Mabo Dofu TOKYO Kanda Main Store: 4 types of mapo tofu to choose from!

Mabo Dofu TOKYO Kanda Main Store

Opened in December 2019, Mabo-Dofu TOKYO Kanda Main Store has become a popular restaurant that has everyone has been talking about. As the name suggests, the restaurant is specialized in mabo-dofu in Japanese, or mapo tofu in Chinese. It’s a popular Chinese dish from Sichuan province that is also a favorite in many Japanese homes. The restaurant offers four different varieties for takeout. The most standard mapo tofu is simply called “Tokyo mabo-dofu”. All four types have a different level of spiciness, so be careful to choose the right spiciness for you!

From the left, standard “Tokyo mabo-dofu” (medium spicy), salty “Uma-shio mabo-dofu” (not spicy), hot and sour “Sula mabo-dofu” (medium spicy), “Cheese curry mabo-dofu” (a little spicy).

“Tokyo mabo-dofu”

I went for the restaurant’s favorite “Tokyo mabo-dofu”. Two kinds of Sichuan pepper were used in this variety, giving it an aromatic flavor with a hint of fresh spiciness – irresistible! What a wonderful dish with a rich taste!

The benefit of eating takeaway food at home is that you can use your own favorite dishes to serve the food. Doesn’t this look fabulous?

When ordering at “Mabo Dofu TOKYO Kanda Main Store”, don’t forget to order the popular dessert annin-dofu, almond tofu with white sesame. The milky, creamy pudding is just what you need after a hot dish!

Rich almond tofu using white sesame and brown sugar

Takeouts can be ordered inside the store or by phone in advance. The restaurant also offers deliveries through Uber Eats. In just half a year since its opening, the restaurant sold over 10,000 meals in total! If you like spicy food, you have to try this popular restaurant for yourself!

Mabo Dofu TOKYO Kanda Main Store

Menu: https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1310/A131002/13241374/
2-4-2 Kanda Tsukasamachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Google Maps: https://g.page/mabodofutokyo?share
Nearest stations: Awajicho Station, Ogawamachi Station, Kanda Station

We hope you all have a great time trying Tokyo’s delicious takeout meals at home!

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