5 Places to Eat in Tokyo for $10 (NO Chains!)

5 Places to Eat in Tokyo for $10 (NO Chains!)

Today I’m on a mission to find out how much three coins or 10 USD will get you for a meal in Tokyo. I’m hitting up five local spots, each serving something different. From a hearty bowl of udon, this is quite a large bowl of udon. I’m predicting I’m going to get really full today. To a fluffy, voluminous plate of om rice. Maybe we got to try to maximize the rice. Are we going to go full volume today? But there are two rules today. Nothing can be over 1,500 yen. and there can be no chain restaurants. And make sure to stick around to the end for a surprise spot where you can have a fun night out on the cheap. Before we go, don’t forget to subscribe for more fun Japan adventures like this one. Now, let’s find out how far 10 bucks will really take you in Tokyo. Let’s go. My first stop of the day is a very small but popular udon shop called Tokyo Samurai Udon. It’s located in the most obscure building ever. There is absolutely no English on it. But one thing that could help it stand out for you if you’re Google mapping it, it is located between two real estate agencies. And apparently it has quickly become a fan favorite amongst Udon lovers. And it’s a very tiny restaurant with only 13 seats. But what makes the udon here particularly special is apparently the broth. The broth is filled with umami rich staples like bonito flakes and kelp. So, I’m excited to see what this udon tastes like and how much I can get for just three coins. Let’s go check it out. Wow, this is beautiful. It’s actually very fancy. So, I’m wondering the prices of the udon here are very affordable. Why is it so important to keep the prices affordable and accessible for your customers? [Music] It’s a very fancy restaurant. I’m really impressed. Is it only udong that you serve here? Oh, there’s another restaurant here in the evening. I’m also wondering how did this all begin? Thank you so much. That’s really interesting. So, now I’m thinking it’s about time for me to order one of the more popular menu items. There’s so many things that I would like to try, but I’m probably going to have to go with the most popular one for research purposes to see what it’s all about. [Music] Wow. Wow. It looks incredible. Also, look at the sizing of this. This is quite a large bowl of udon. It also smells very tantalizing. So, there’s bonito flakes on top and then there’s a lot of meat and onions and then also some crispy green onions on top. So, now let’s give it a taste. I’m predicting I’m going to get really full today. M. Oh. That is really, really good. Oh my goodness. The soup is fantastic. It is warm, hearty, flavorful. The meat is incredibly tender. It just falls into pieces into your mouth. The udon is so tender and chewy, bouncy. That’s what you want in a good quality udon noodle. And the soup and the the beef, it all melds together so wonderfully. And the fact that you get this much volume, that’s a hearty lunch. And I can’t believe I’m going to four other restaurants after this. I don’t know how to do this today. But yeah, this is really tasty. I’d say this is worth the price. Worth the 1300 yen. I’m going to finish up this bowl of udon and then let’s go see our next restaurant and see if three coins will get us this much food. All right, see you guys there. All right, next up on our $10 Tokyo food hunt is right in this building. The sign is there. It says otoono omurice egg bomb which actually translates to the man’s omelette rice egg bomb. Usually in Japan when they say something is manly they’re usually talking about volume. It’s a very popular way of marketing in Japan. So don’t be too surprised if you see this a lot here. And this particular shop is known for having a variety of toppings and the amount of volume that you want without spending too much money. So, let’s go inside and give it a try and see how much volume we can get without breaking the bank. Let’s go inside. Come on. All right. I’ve got a a quiet little nook in the side of the restaurant here. And what’s really cool is it has a very American diner kind of atmosphere, which I would not have expected at an omu rice restaurant. Okay. Well, let’s see what we have on the menu, though. It says, “Which one do you like? Hard or soft omelette?” And then in Japan, they really like the soft omelette. So apparently the soft one is more slightly more popular. It seems that you can change the amount of rice that you have very freely depending on your appetite. So between 200 g to 600 g of rice. And apparently that’s no additional cost. Let’s give this a try. And you’re going to order by QR code. Are we going to go full volume today? Maybe we got to try to maximize the rice today. I’m going to do the most that we can do for free. And I’m gonna get some toppings because it’s not expensive enough. The omelette rice is only 1,30 yen and the toppings are cheap. So, let’s add a couple toppings and we’ll see what we get. That’s a lot. This is 600 g of rice, demiglass sauce, additional cheese topping, and additional side of mashed potatoes. And it already comes with three fried chicken karag. So yeah, you’re gonna go home full after you eat this. That’s for sure. M. Oh. Wo. The rice tastes buttery. So the color is, I believe, a you would call it a tomato rice or ketchup rice, which is quite commonly paired with omelette rice in Japan. But somehow not only tomato flavor, it’s also buttery. And I love it. The sauce is also really rich. Got this really wonderful beefy sauce, but also it has this stewed tomato flavor. Very well balanced, I think. So, yeah, it’s not just the volume. The taste is delivering. Okay, let’s try some karag. M. That is not just crispy, it’s crunchy. Wow. It looks like it might have been a double fry. cuz you get this extra crunchy crisp layer on the outside. And the chicken is really juicy and it goes really nice with the demiglass sauce, too. Anyway, all in all, this plate is delicious. I’m going to finish this with my two other team members today because we have to hit five restaurants today and we have very limited time. So, we’re going to scarf this down and we’ll see you guys in the next one. Hey, I am here now at Guyoya Shimbashi. As you can see, we’re on the B1 floor of this business building in Shimashi, and they have a lot of very local restaurants and izakayas here. So, this is really the local retro vibes that the workers in this district are coming to eat and drink at every single day, whether it be at lunchtime or after work with their clients and whatnot. And at lunchtime, this particular place is quite popular for their very affordable lunch sets and their very affordable all you can drink menu. So, this is the menu, the lunch menu. So, basically, you can get a very affordable lunch set for only 850 yen, and it comes with um gyoza. There’s a lot of different options that are not gyoza. And what’s really cool is it comes with rice and miso soup, and those are free refill. So, that sounds like pretty good bang for your buck here. I think this is a really good deal. So, if you want to experience living like a salary man or a Japanese office worker, this is the place to hit up. So, let’s go give it a try. So, for the tishaku lunch set with the yaki, you can actually choose from six types of gyoza, which is really cool. So, that means that I’m going to choose um the one I had my eye on was the pill leaf cheese yaki, shiso cheese gyoza in Japanese. Um so, I’ll get one of those. And to mix it up, I’m going to get an additional plate since we still have a lot of budget left. So, I’m going to get the boiled gyoza called sui gyoza. And let’s mix up the flavor and do the pork bok choy boiled gyoza. All right, we have our food. This tray on its own is only 850 yen. And these prices are quite common in the business district areas. There there’s a lot of older shops that are willing to supply lunches for a really affordable price for workers who want a quick lunch. It really looks like a traditional Japanese lunch meal. So, it might not look that exciting, but I feel like it’s well balanced, and that’s how things usually are in tisha facets. Okay, here we go. Let’s try m that is so garlicky. I love that garlic flavor. And what really stands out is the soft doughiness of the dough. And the skin is actually handmade in shop. So that’s what makes this particular shop very special. Really tasty. Lots of meat filling inside as well. But surprisingly, I don’t notice the taste of the cheese that much. That’s the only thing that I will say. It’s very meaty, garlicky. There’s some pill leaves in there. Not that much cheese. I could have expected a little bit more, but it’s still very tasty. All right, now let’s try the sui. It’s pork with bok choy. I think No, sorry, not bok choy. I think it’s Chinese cabbage pakai. M. That’s really crunchy. Wow. The dough is really, really chewy and doughy. The filling, it’s got the pork, which is really tasty, but it also has the Chinese cabbage and it’s not boiled. It’s super crispy. Like you bite into it and you get the crunch. So, if you like the chewy contrasted with the crunchy texture, this is a fun one to try. I think this is a really wonderful standard Japanese classic lunch. And I think if you’ve never done it before, it’s worth a try. It’s affordable. It’s well balanced. And if it’s not enough volume for you, I mean, you can get more volume with as much rice as you want and as much miso soup. We still have more very affordable foods to try. So, I’ll see you guys in the next one. All right, I am here now at Sumi Naki Mapo Dofu, which actually translates to Mabo Dofu without sin. Very interesting name, and you’d wonder why. The reason is because it is 100% plant-based, which is, I think, kind of one of a kind really in Japan. It’s actually a very new shop. It’s about a 10-minute walk away from Tonanamon Hill Station. So, they started out as a pop-up shop in June of 2024. So, they’ve been open in total for about a year now. And apparently the reason for the names naki without sin, it refers to two things. One of them is that it’s very healthy. Being plant-based, it’s very light and healthy. The other thing, of course, is that there is an element of not having committed sin against animals. The owner of the restaurant actually heard that a lot of vegans and vegetarians would be forced to cook for themselves while they visit Japan, which he thought, I think we need a space for vegans, vegetarians to be able to eat when they visit the country. So, I think that’s a really nice story and I cannot wait to go inside and see how it tastes. So, come on inside. So, what’s really cool about this restaurant, as I mentioned, is that it’s all plant-based and everything’s very affordable. Everything here is a set and they’re all about 1,200 yen including tax, but at lunchtime they have a lunch menu. Basically, you can get a two color mapfu lunch set. So, you can get a white mapu and a red mapu. So, I’m really excited to try both of these because look at this price. The price is just right. It’s 1,490 yen. And what’s really amazing about this is included in the price only at lunchtime, you can choose the amount of rice for free. But keep in mind that if it’s in the evening time, you will need to pay for the extra L size or the manga size. But for lunch, great deal. You know, I’m looking at this manga size and I’m thinking we should get it for the video, but do any of us have room for this right now? cameraman says no. I also don’t have room. So, I think we’re going to go for the L size. Just more than average, but still not crazy. Here it is. It looks wonderful. It actually It’s larger than I thought it was. But there’s quite a lot of white malo tofu and a little bit of the red muo tofu, which I hear is spicy. Uh the white one is considered to be mild. They use a um ground sesame, white sesame paste. And then this one add they add chili pepper of course to make it red. All right, let’s start with the white mafo tofu. Okay, I’m going to try it just as it is first without the rice. M. That’s very nice. Very gentle but present sesame flavor. That’s the best way I can explain it. It almost tastes a little bit like tahini. It’s really creamy and the tofu is really silky. It melts in your mouth. It goes really well with the sesame. Oh, even better with the rice. That’s wonderful. The rice just really melds beautifully with the creaminess of the sesame mapo. I like that this particular mapu is not actually trying to replicate meat. So, I’ll try the red one. Now, this one also has a lot of mushrooms and then quite a generous dusting of red chili spice on top. That’s a little bit spicier than I thought it was going to be. For a level two, if it is level two, it’s pretty strong. It’s like it’s very here. It’s very nice though. I like it cuz I like spice. I don’t know what it is, but mapu needs rice. I’ve never been able to like it always feels like it’s missing something if there’s no rice. All in all, this is such a wonderful hearty meal. I love the balance of the two flavors. I think it’s nice to be able to actually have a bite of this, have a bite of this, and then kind of balance it out. So, I really like that about this set, and I think that whether you are vegan or not, I think this is the type of dish that you could um enjoy it very equally. So, anyway, this is what you can get for under $10 USD. But since I’ve had plenty to eat today, I think it’s time to grab some drinks to wrap up the day. So, I’ll see you guys for some drinks. Nestled in the heart of Ginsa is a bar unlike any other because all of the drinks here are just 300 yen. Hence the name of the bar, the 300 bar. And it’s actually very special because it is the first ever standing bar in Japan. And it first opened in the year 1992. And it also has no cover charge whatsoever, no table charge. So, this is actually quite rare, I would say, in Tokyo. I would say most bars have some sort of table charge. And the drinks are not that cheap. So, literally all you’re paying for a drink is just 300 yen. It’s a ticket based system, so you have to buy at least three tickets, but that’s not too much. Let’s go inside and see how much bang for our buck we can get here. Oh, very fun. Yay! I’ve got five tickets to spend today. Let’s go order some drinks and maybe one little snack to eat. Actually, there’s a wide selection of drinks for only one ticket. So, that means I could buy three drinks today, I think, is my goal. One for each of our team members. And then I might be able to get a food. So, the food ranges between one ticket to two tickets. Of course, the smaller dishes are only one ticket, but you can get a bigger dish like a sandwich or a small pizza. So, I think I might try this Cuban sandwich. They have a few different sandwiches here. I don’t see a lot of Cuban sandwiches in Japan. So, yeah, I think we might as well give that a try. So, I’ve been wondering a little bit about this bar. Why does the owner of the bar value providing drinks and food at such an affordable price? So for this particular first bar, uh what kind of customers tend to come here? Oh. Oh, interesting. So, it sounds like a very fun atmosphere where everyone kind of mixes and hangs out together. Oh, that sounds like so much fun. So, DJ events, dancing, drinking. That sounds like a great time. Okay. All right. So, this is the whole spread. We have the Cuban sandwich and then we have the Japanese mojito with the shito leaves instead of the mint. We also have the hard lemonade. And then we got the tropical highball, which has a really cute little tropical umbrella and a lemon on it. So, I’m going to try my Japanese mojito now. Come by. M. Oh, that is really refreshingly summery. Oh, the pill leaves are really leaving their mark on this. If you don’t know what this tastes like, you may have had it before at a sushi restaurant. So, if you’ve ever eaten it before, it’s almost like in between basil and mint, but it has a really unique taste. A nice uh citrusy yuzu flavor. It’s a great mojito. I really like this. Okay. Um now, let’s do a compai al together. No kai. Yay. Kai. Let’s try this Cuban sandwich. It smells tantalizing. M. Yeah, that’s really nice. I don’t know what the sauce is. The sauce is a little bit cheesy and tangy. There’s also some crunchy purple onions and a little bit of crunch from the pickle. And the chicken is really juicy and crispy, toasty sandwich. Nice and warm. I don’t know. I can’t ask for much more from a a bar snack. I think it’s lovely. All in all, um wonderful bar. I think what’s great about this place is that even though it is such an expensive town like Ginsa, you get quite a lot of value for your money here. If you choose the standard drinks, you can get a solid three drinks and a very solid snack with a good amount of volume. So yeah, I think if you’re in the Ginsa area, definitely pop by. It’s fun atmosphere. The staff are all really, really friendly and they know how to make a good cocktail. Well, there you have it. This has been five spots where you can get a meal for just three 500 yen coins or 10 USD. And I am very impressed with what we found today. I think the volume was incredible. But not only the volume, the quality of the ingredients and the flavor was just so good at each and every restaurant and there’s such a different atmosphere to each location that we found today. And I think that was one of the really fun aspects. So these are all places that I think you could definitely check out in Tokyo if you’re looking to not break the bank. And if you’re crazy like me, you could eat all of them in the day. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and a bar for drinks at night. I hope you guys enjoyed watching this video, and I hope you learned something new about the affordable food scene here in Tokyo. And I’d love to know in the comments down below what 10 USD would get you in your country or 1,500 yen, about would you get this amount of quality, this amount of volume? Let me know. I’m really curious about how it is in other parts of the world. And thank you so much for watching. If you enjoyed this video, please give us a thumbs up or a heart. I don’t think you can do that, but thumbs up and uh leave a comment. Don’t forget to subscribe and we’ll see you guys very soon in another video. Bye. If you enjoyed this video, click the photos on the left for more and click the one on the right to learn more about buy food and book your own Japan adventures. [Music]

*Can you believe how far US$10 could go for good food in Tokyo?!* In this video, Shizuka is on the quest to hit up FIVE local spots (NO chains!) where each serves something different from udon to fluffy omurice. Everything has to be priced under ¥1,500 or US$10 as proof of how good food in Tokyo can be cheap – if you know where to look 😉

Curious how to discover more cheap eats around Tokyo? Check out this blog post on byFood! 🍚➡️ http://bit.ly/41m9bjT

*Locations*
Tokyo Udon Samurai
〒104-0061 Tokyo, Chuo City, Ginza, 8 Chome−5−13

Otoko No Omurice Egg Bomb
〒105-0004 Tokyo, Minato City, Shinbashi, 2 Chome−15−8

Gyozaya
〒105-0004 Tokyo, Minato City, Shinbashi, 2 Chome−16−1

Tsuminaki Mapo Tofu
〒105-0003 Tokyo, Minato City, Nishishinbashi, 2 Chome-13-9

Ginza 300 Bar
〒104-0061 Tokyo, Chuo City, Ginza, 5 Chome−9−11

TIMELINE
00:00 – Intro
00:48 – Tokyo Udon Samurai
04:49 – Otoko No Omurice Egg Bomb
08:03 – Gyozaya
11:54 – Tsuminaki Mapo Tofu
16:25 – Ginza 300 Bar

*About byFood*
ByFood is a platform that connects foodies with food experiences in Japan, from bustling food markets to serene countryside tastings. Besides exploring Japanese food culture in an authentic way, your booking fuels positive change! For every booking, we donate 10 meals to children in need through our Food for Happiness program. Ready for your next food adventure?

Browse trending restaurants and award-winning menus ➡️ https://bit.ly/3IBQ7Et
Find and book food experiences in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and beyond ➡️ https://bit.ly/4agznyx
Want a tailor-made Japan experience? Let our travel experts craft culinary experiences just for you ➡️ https://bit.ly/48NU6dm

*Follow byFood online for more food and travel tips from Japan!*
Japan byFood on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/japanbyfood
Japan byFood on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/japanbyfood
Japan byFood on X: https://twitter.com/japanbyfood