Great food not necessarily Michelin starred in Tokyo and Kyoto

Hi all,

going to Japan 1-12 May (tokyo 5 nights, fuji ryokan 1 night, kyoto 4 nights and 1 night in Osaka) with my husband. I’ve been to japan before (went to Kobe uni for 1 year), for him it will be the first time. Almost narrowed down the itinerary and hotels and now I’ve gone down this terrible rabbit hole called FOOD!
Help please!
– I am not looking to go to the most hip places if that means queuing more than 20 mins (my husband will drag us to a sandwich place rather than starve waiting) 😂
– i will go to maybe one or two michelin starred places in Tokyo and Kyoto but I know the food in japan is amazing without it needing to be in a starred restaurant

With that in mind, could i please get people’s recommendations of 1-2 restaurants you’ve been to that you absolutely loved for lunch or dinner (great food, great atmosphere) in Tokyo and Kyoto: can be any of: Sushi, Kaiseki, Tempura, Soba, Izakaya, yakiniku, ramen. Focusing on Japanese food only

And for a michelin starred experience – in which cuisine would we feel the biggest difference with a non starred place? (Ie kaiseki, sushi, tempura etc etc)
I am ready to go to a 2or3stars place of course if the food and experience will be “blow ones mind” like 🙂

I know it might look like i’m being lazy and trying to not do my own research (i have all the tabelog, omakase, pocket concierge, my concierge, tableall, and an exhaustive list of michelin starred restaurants from the hotel concierge and from multiple reddit threads) i’d just like to see some options of genuinely tasty food without it necessarily being the holy grail of must go to.

Also, a good ole funky japanese izakaya (robot is closed, alladdin and the lock up as well, what is there left to one night surprise my husband with some lols 😂)

Also(last one I promise!) thoughts on: Sowaka, Yoshida Sanso, Hiiragiya (tawaraya i somehow am not excited by, kanaemon nishinomiya is booked) – is it a unique experience in the city as well or we’re better off staying at the four seasons? worth staying in a ryokan in the middle of kyoto or it’s only truly nice outside of the city? I don’t have any more days to do Kinosaki or some other rural ryokan plentiful area so have to work with the above. (I’ve also already read the very comprehensive ruokan post that someone put on flyerralk before someone mentions that one

Thank you!!

by ioanajj