Order online and these delivery services will bring food to your door, from sushi and soba to burgers and vegetarian meals
With the world on pause due to the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak, venues are temporarily closed and Tokyo might even be placed under lockdown if people don't start taking preventative measures, such as staying at home and self-isolate. If you're practising self-quarantine and working from home – good on you – food delivery services are the best way to 'eat out' while you stay in.
Aside from the pizza places which are now offering zero-contact deliveries to help with social distancing, here are the most convenient and easy-to-use food delivery services in Tokyo. We've included a few English-friendly websites and apps, plus a couple of Japanese-only options if you want to explore more food choices.
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Did you know Uber Eats is available in both English and Japanese in Japan? Just head to the website or download the app and input your address to find out which restaurants and cafés deliver to your area. There's a huge range of options, whether you’re craving that late-night burger, a proper bowl of ramen or a refreshing bubble tea. Once your order is on the way, you can even track it via GPS and see the estimated arrival time on the app.
Maishoku delivery service is another English-friendly option with a website and an app. The impressive list of places to order from can be filtered by categories including ‘bento’, ‘sushi’, ‘Korean’, ‘dessert’, ‘vegetarian’ and more. Best of all, there's no delivery charge with Maishoku, and you can pay for your order online via credit card or with cash on delivery.
For something a little more upscale, FineDine can deliver fancy and gourmet meals to your door. It serves all of Tokyo plus selected areas in Kanagawa and Saitama. Orders can be placed either over the phone, online or through the app. Food options range from fancy fugu (pufferfish) courses and fresh-off-the-teppanyaki dishes to quality kaisendon, tempura soba and more. FineDine frequently adds new restaurants to its list, so check the site regularly.
Rakuten Delivery is only in Japanese but if you can muddle through or get a friend to help, you'll be rewarded with a whopping 10,000 food and drink delivery options. The service has local restaurants, plus fast food chains like KFC and Pizza Hut. Rakuten also offers alcohol delivery, so you can plan an on-nomi online drinking party with your friends.
Demae-can is a Japanese-only website and app boasting delivery from over 20,000 restaurants. With so much choice, it can be hard to decide what to eat, but luckily Demae-can's categories and suggestions make it easy to narrow things down, whether you're in the mood for Italian, Japanese or even dim sum. It's worth checking out the coupon page for some deep discounts.
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