18 best restaurants, cafés, shops and things to do in Jimbocho

Sandwiched between two of Jimbocho’s more than a hundred secondhand bookshops, Yon is a four-floor hideout where food, art and music intersect. The name itself nods to the owner’s lucky number, four, while the kanji 肆 above the front door conveys both ‘store’ and a relaxed sense of ‘doing as you please’.

The first-floor bar is where you’ll find the restaurant’s signature dishes, including its standout mackerel curry – a contender in the 2025 Kanda Curry Grand Prix happening this autumn. The curry draws inspiration from West Indian cooking but is uniquely Tokyo, flavoured with seafood dashi, miso and mackerel. Lunchtime sees hearty set meals, while dinner leans more toward shareable plates such as spicy vegetable and meat dishes and mackerel rillettes. Coffee is served throughout the day, making it just as easy to drop by for a quiet afternoon break.

The drinks list also includes Japanese craft beers, including Yona Yona Ale and one more rotating domestic brew. After dark, head down to the music-focused jikkenba (experimental lab) on the basement floor, where selectors regularly host listening events on large, dual-firing hi-fi Avant-Garde speakers. The sound system was designed by DJ Moodman, a key figure in Tokyo’s underground scene since the late ’80s, and all components of the sound system, including the turntables and amps, were hand-picked by the DJ and the owner. 

The listening room, as well as the art gallery on the second floor with frequent exhibitions, make Yon an intimate gathering spot for art and audiophiles alike. With its blend of curry culture and constant rotation of local DJs and artists, it’s the place to be if you’re looking to immerse yourself in local music and arts.

Music charge applies in the listening room: ¥1,000-¥2,000 during events, ¥500 at regular times after 5pm.

This long-established Chinese restaurant in Jimbocho is credited as the birthplace of hiyashi chuka (cold ramen noodles) in Japan. Its signature dish is the year-round classic ‘gomoku hiyashi soba’ – chilled soba noodles topped with a colourful array of ingredients arranged around the pile of noodles to resemble Mt Fuji. Each element represents one of the four seasons – from slices of roasted pork to cucumbers, bamboo shoots and chilled agar (ika kanten) – though it’s left to diners to guess which season is which.

To complete the snow-capped peak, the noodles are crowned with shredded egg, while shrimp, shiitake mushrooms, quail eggs and chicken meatballs surround the mountain. The dish comes with a sweet sauce, but you can adjust the flavour to your liking with vinegar or mustard provided at every table.

Curry Bondy was the winner of the inaugural Kanda Curry Grand Prix in 2011 and has been a local favourite ever since. Despite being hard to find on the second floor above a bookstore, the restaurant attracts hungry Tokyoites daily and always has queues during lunch hours. The menu offers a dozen curries, but first timers should go for the popular beef curry (¥1,700) featuring a deep brown roux made with a mixture of spices and fruits.

All curries come with rice topped with cheese, kappa zuke pickles and umeboshi, with a side of boiled potatoes. You can choose amakuchi (sweet), chukara (medium spicy) or karakuchi (spicy) depending on your preference, and make it into a large portion for an additional ¥200. The melty cheese adds just the right sweetness to balance the kick of the roux.

This casual restaurant in Jimbocho specialises in dim sum and Cantonese-style roast meat. You know you’re getting the real deal here – you’ll spot whole roast duck, crispy slabs of pork and char siu hanging in front of the kitchen window like a proper Chinese restaurant.

If you’re coming for the dim sum, the menu consists of classics like char siu bao (barbecue pork buns), sticky rice steamed in bamboo leaves, dumplings, chicken feet, and black bean spareribs. You can order larger plates of roast meat, or get smaller serves from an affordable ¥595. Going for the smaller size will leave you more room to sample the full meat range, including char siu covered in a glossy barbecue sauce, crispy roast pork, as well as roast chicken and duck.

Saboru is one of Jimbocho’s most iconic kissaten, a retro coffee shop that has been a neighbourhood fixture since 1955. The café is instantly recognisable for its eccentric tiki-inspired interior, where eclectic crafts and trinkets gifted by regular customers fill every corner. Even the walls tell stories, layered with decades of scribbles and graffiti left behind by visitors. 

On the menu, kissaten classics reign supreme. The vibrant cream soda, offered in a rainbow of seven colours, is a perennial favourite, while the signature pizza toast – twice-baked for extra crunch and topped with a generous layer of melted cheese – remains a must-try. If you’re looking for something a bit more substantial, head next door to Saboru 2, the café’s dedicated teishoku restaurant where you can dine on heartier dishes like Napolitan spaghetti, pork ginger stirfry, curry and more.

Japan’s first outpost of Taipei’s Pharos Coffee, this sleek café is a destination for discerning coffee lovers, celebrated for its expertly brewed light roasts. 

The interior is minimalist yet warm, blending clean lines with natural textures to create a relaxing environment. One side of the space doubles as an art gallery, showcasing rotating exhibitions. An original soundtrack by Taiwanese ambient artists enhances the serene setting, creating a calming atmosphere that makes the café ideal for lingering. Jimbocho proved the ideal location, perfectly matching the owner’s passions for art, jazz and coffee – qualities the neighbourhood itself is renowned for. 

The menu is refreshingly simple, with around five beans available as hand-drip, cold brew or cold brew latte. For something special, try the café’s music series, where each coffee bean’s flavours are inspired by the melodies of great composers such as Mozart.

Book Bar Lilliput is a hidden gem tucked within Jimbocho’s Book House Cafe, accessible through a discreet door at the back of the main building. Open exclusively on weekdays, this intimate drinking den offers a rarified retreat from the city’s busy streets. Nestled among shelves of picture books and jazz records, it’s the perfect spot to relax with a drink and soak up the cosy, literary atmosphere. 

The menu complements the laid-back vibe with comforting, nostalgic dishes such as hearty curry and classic Napolitan pasta. Pair your meal with a tipple from the carefully curated selection of craft beers, whisky, wine and refreshing fruit sours to complete the experience.

Opened in December 2024, Walkabout is a welcome addition to Jimbocho’s café scene, offering an Australian-inspired space with specialty coffee at its core. The café is produced by Hiroaki Yura, a film and video game producer known for titles such as Mobile Suit Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance, with the aim of bringing Australia’s world-class coffee culture to Japan.

Named after the rite of passage in Australian Aboriginal cultures where young boys undertake a solo journey into the wilderness to connect with their ancestral land, the café sources its beans directly from Sydney-based Stitch Coffee, featuring both original blends and single-origin offerings. Baristas here are trained to match the skill and expertise of Stitch’s Sydney team, ensuring roasting techniques and brewing standards that are second to none.

One highlight on the menu is the signature Magic, a Melbourne-born specialty made with a double-shot ristretto and silky steamed milk – rich, smooth and packed with flavour. Pair it with avocado toast or banana bread for a satisfying meal.

Walkabout adapts its atmosphere from morning to night: it opens early on weekdays for commuters and stays open until 10pm on Thursdays and Fridays, when the café’s warm evening glow lures nearby salarymen in for a pint of Australian craft beer from Coopers Brewery. With its airy interior, floor-to-ceiling windows, and an ambient soundtrack by video game composer Vincent Diamante playing through high-quality speakers, it’s the perfect stop during a stroll around the Imperial Palace, Akihabara or Jimbocho – an urban oasis for coffee lovers.

At Glitch you get more than just a simple cup of coffee – you get a vision of speciality coffee with deep roots. Kiyokazu Suzuki’s shop in Jimbocho sits among secondhand bookstores and is close to Yasukuni Shrine. While the exterior is understated, inside Suzuki (former chief barista and head roaster at Paul Bassett, and independent since 2015) treats every coffee with care. His goal is simple: highlight the best notes in each single-origin bean via impeccable in-house roasting and pour-overs.

Their roasts lean light, and the staff are more than happy to help you pick something if you’re having a hard time deciding. In the minimalist interior you’ll spot nods to old-school kissaten like vintage lighting, subtle details and a calm atmosphere. If you’re hungry, there’s usually a selection of pastries on offer like the café’s flaky almond croissants. 

Glitch has since expanded beyond Jimbocho, with a sister café in Shinjuku and upscale outposts in Ginza and Nihonbashi.

This cocktail bar in the bookstore neighbourhood of Jimbocho is helmed by Eiji Miyazawa, a well-known figure in the local cocktail scene who has seemingly won every industry gong going. Go check out its 160-strong international craft gin collection – of which 25 are Japanese labels, including Ki No Bi from Kyoto and Alchemiae from Gifu.

While purists will insist on tasting the gin on its own, the bar’s many cocktails (from ¥1,550) are worth coming down off your high horse for. We particularly love the Matcha Chai Latte that’s infused with cinnamon, star anise and Ki No Bi gin. Like chai, it can be served hot or cold. But whatever your choice of cocktail is, you can expect it to be beautifully presented.

Walking into the Extinct Media Museum feels like stepping into a time capsule for anyone who grew up in the analogue age – and like a crash course for those who didn’t. Tucked away on the first and basement floors of an office complex, the museum showcases around 1,500 items in its permanent collection, from typewriters and floppy disks to vintage cameras, old cellphones, PDAs, early Macintosh laptops and Walkmans. What makes it unique isn’t just the breadth of the displays, or that most of the items are donations, but the invitation to touch, hold and explore. Visitors are encouraged to pick up the devices and feel the evolution of technology first hand.

The exhibits are arranged roughly by era, moving from vintage film cameras and typewriters to home video formats and early digital devices. Space is limited and the displays are densely packed, but that only adds to the excitement of stumbling upon oddities and forgotten relics. Labels can be small, so it’s worth taking your time to look closely.

Opened in 2023, the museum is built on the idea that all media except paper and stone are eventually rendered obsolete. Admission (¥2,000) includes the opportunity to interact, photograph and even try out some of the objects. Highlights include rarities like the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh and Apple’s QuickTake 200 digital camera. For tech enthusiasts, film buffs or anyone curious about the history of communication, this museum is a hidden gem worth seeking out.

The museum is generally open year-round from 11am to 7pm. As it also functions as a recording studio, it may close in 2-hour blocks. Check the latest schedule before visiting.

When wandering the streets of Jimbocho it’s hard to miss this striking building, which stands out vividly against the district’s retro, bookstore-lined streets. Owned and operated by the publishing house Shogakukan, Jimbocho Theater is a compact cultural hub that combines a cinema, a shinkigeki comedy theatre and rehearsal spaces for aspiring performers. Its futuristic exterior, which is reminiscent of the segmented shell of an armadillo, earned a Good Design Award in 2008, and the dramatic design continues inside, where angular walls and creative use of light give the space a bold, modern edge.

The 99-seat cinema specialises in classic Japanese films, from golden-age samurai dramas to Showa-era comedies, while sprinkling in select international arthouse imports for adventurous viewers. The programming often includes retrospectives, themed series, and special events such as silent films with live accompaniment, giving cinephiles and casual visitors alike a reason to return regularly. The theatre hosts shinkigeki productions by entertainment powerhouse Yoshimoto Kogyo, experimental plays, and readings, offering a platform for both established and emerging performers.

Beyond its programming, Jimbocho Theater functions as a rehearsal and creative hub, supporting local artists and performers. Its central location, just a short walk from Jimbocho Station, makes it an accessible escape into Tokyo’s cultural side. Whether you’re stopping by for a classic film, catching a live comedy show or simply admiring the architecture, the theatre is a vivid testament to the city’s mix of tradition and innovation.

This artsy accommodation facility in Jimbocho is a dream come true for book lovers. A sister property to the Manga Art Hotel (also in Jimbocho), its standout feature is the pair of Manga Art Rooms on the 12th floor, each covered floor to ceiling in manga-inspired design. These rooms host a rotating line-up of exhibitions from today’s most popular series, including past collaborations with Shonen Jump’s Dandadan by Tatsuyuki Shin. Both spaces reflect the current exhibition, with artwork from the featured manga, and are lined with shelves of manga to read. To top things off, each room is outfitted with a private sauna that fits up to two people.

For those more interested in romance novels, non-fiction memoirs or even self-help titles, the first eleven floors offer standard guest rooms – though ‘standard’ hardly does them justice. Each floor is dedicated to a different genre, with shelves in the hallways and rooms stocked accordingly. It’s an ideal way to step outside your comfort zone and discover a new favourite book.

The hotel also houses a cosy bar on the first floor, inviting you to unwind with a drink in hand as you lose yourself in the world of books.

These two neighbouring ’hoods are packed with cute cafés, cosy eateries and plenty of charm

Just one train stop from Shinjuku, this chilled neighbourhood is famous for anime stores, cosy cafés and casual restaurants