Nakajima 新宿割烹 中嶋 has 1 Michelin star and serves 5 types of sardine lunch sets from 800 yen to 900 yen, including refillable rice, pickles, and miso soup:
Yanagawa Nabe 柳川鍋 : fried then cooked in a hot pot with flavorful watery sauce, onions & eggs 
½ order of sashimi |
◘ sashimi 刺身 ◘ fried フライ ◘ stewed 煮魚 ◘ grilled with salt 塩焼き ◘ yanagawa nabe 柳川鍋 Walk out of Shinjuku Station's East Exit with Lumine behind you and Adidas on your left & go down that shopping street until you hit BEAMS JAPAN, where you turn and will likely see a line outside this underground restaurant. I got there at 11:25 am, 5 minutes before it opened and there were already maybe 20 people ahead of me but everyone got seated. People who arrived after it opened had to wait at least 30 minutes. You can order one of the 5 sardine set lunches plus ½ orders of sashimi or fried fish for 350 yen each or add full orders for 600-700 yen if you want to try the other ways they cook sardines. Nakajima was my first Michelin star experience so no basis for comparison. Was the food amazing? The Yanagawa Nabe was pretty good although I'm not really a fan of the sashimi I tried. To be honest, I don't really know what "good" sardines should taste like since I normally don't eat sardines and have probably only had canned ones - pretty giddy to be in a Michelin star restaurant for the first time though. |
| other affordable Michelin-star restaurants in Tokyo |
 Michelin star ramen |
 Michelin star tantan noodles |
