The upstairs tatami rooms at Akasaka Kikunoi

Why it is on the list

Akasaka Kikunoi has held two Michelin stars in every Tokyo guide from 2021 to 2026.¹ It is the Tokyo house of Kikunoi, the Kyoto kaiseki restaurant where Yoshihiro Murata is the third generation of his family to cook; he opened Akasaka in 2004 and divides each month between Kyoto and Tokyo.² The building is Kyoto-style sukiya, reached by a stone path through bamboo off the street.³ Downstairs are the counters, tables and a sunken-floor area; upstairs are four tatami rooms, one of them a tea room, for groups of 3 to 20.³

It is the wrong choice for lunch or for two: the upstairs rooms take dinner only, and from three guests. For a Western dinner, take the Versailles salon at Joël Robuchon or the private salon at L'Osier; for a room of six, the private room at Sazenka.

How to get it

Book with the restaurant directly, by telephone on +81 3 3568 6055 between 10:00 and 22:00, or by email to akasaka@kikunoi.co.jp.⁴ Ask for one of the upstairs tatami rooms (ozashiki) for dinner and give the number of guests.³ Guests arrive between 17:00 and 19:00, and the house closes at 22:00.³ It is closed on Sundays and Mondays, and for a summer break and over the New Year.³²

The kaiseki courses are ¥22,000, ¥33,000, ¥55,000 and ¥77,000 including tax, with a seasonal special course on request; the upstairs rooms start from the ¥22,000 course.³ Service is 15% in the downstairs rooms and 20% in a private room.³

Discretion

The house sits back from the street at the end of a bamboo-lined stone path, five minutes on foot from Akasaka station on the Chiyoda line.³ The restaurant has no parking of its own.³