Spending 100 dollars in Tokyo | From Street Eats to Bib Gourmand & Michelin Dining

It's no secret that Japan is incredibly affordable right now because of the week yen which is great for you guys. Basically people who are coming to Japan get to take advantage of the week yen which means budget travelers are taking advantage of going to Japanese chains which are great but I want to show you a different side of Japan which is cheap, affordable but also delicious and good bang for your buck. So I'm on a mission today to spend $100 to see what kind of food we can get so without any further ado let's go. So a hundred US dollars after the exchange rate is about 15,000 yen which wow I magically have right here. So we're going to explore Tokyo and see what we can get and what kind of delicious food and cheap food we can get with this money right here but don't forget to subscribe first for more foodie adventures like what we're doing right now today. Let's adventure, let's go find some food. Where is the food? I have the money. So it is 9 a.m early in the morning so you know what that means it's time for breakfast so we're here at Onigiri Bongo and as you can see this place is so popular with locals. Just barely opened and people have already lined up outside. Japanese breakfast usually consists of rice and miso soup so that's exactly what we're going to get. The venue is huge and it's all in Japanese so I think I'm going to have to practice my Japanese abilities and ask them for some recommendations because I definitely cannot read all of this. There's actually an English menu here and actually lots of different languages as well so if you come here you don't have to do it on hard mode. Super convenient. Onigiri set. Basically these up here are the recommendations. Maybe we'll try the number one which is I guess salmon so we'll try that and then I heard that the egg here is really good so I'm gonna ask for the tamago and see what happens there. Number one, salmon? Yes. And egg? Sometimes we can't eat it because it's raw. Arigatou gozaimasu. Looks so good. They're huge. So the first one we've got here is the egg. What they do is they use just the yolk and they freeze it and then they defrost it and then after that they cure it or like soak it in soy so I'm super excited and I saw it put three yolks in here which is huge. And then the next one is salmon and I think it's got some roe on top as well so extra salmony as well so I'm super keen for this so let's dig in. The egg is absolutely insane. It's so good. It's so creamy and salty. My favourite part about this is the egg yolk but also the mincemeat which is actually pork so it adds like a different kind of saltiness to it and different texture as well. Super delicious. All right let's try the second one before it falls apart too much. There is so much filling. The rice is nice and fluffy and the salmon, the flaky bits are like a little bit salty and then you get like the ikura so the salmon roe which has like little bursts of saltiness as well. Really really good. And I'm still astounded at how cheap this set is. It is 1450 yen which is roughly around 10 US dollars which is insane for how much food you get, how fresh it is. If you come to Japan you might notice a lot of places don't even open for before 10am so it's really nice that this place opens early in the morning to serve breakfast. So if you're looking for a quality breakfast place that's not a chain and you know homemade and absolutely great bang for your buck then you've got to come here. All right guys so that's it for this place. I'm going to finish this bowl off because it's so good. I can't waste any of it and then we're going to head off but I'm going to eat this first. Sorry, don't mind me. So we've arrived in the middle of Harajuku and Omotesando. Both of these areas are known for being expensive, offering really nice high-end shopping experiences. So you may be thinking what are we doing here? There's nothing really budget but there is. So even though they have a lot of amazing expensive cafes and restaurants, there's actually a hole-in-the-wall place that has bentos for under a thousand yen which is super cheap. So let's go. So we're finally here and this is the place. This is called Harajuku Gyozo-ro. It's basically a really famous gyoza place here in Harajuku. It's popular amongst locals and it's starting to get popular amongst foreigners as well. So this place has been making gyozas whether it's pan-fried or steamed for years and years and years now and they're super cheap and affordable. So let's get going. This place looks so cool. Look at the menu. It's super cheap for lunch. $7.90 for like a whole set. That's like I think like $5.50 US and extra bonus. English menu! Yay! I think today I'm going to get the pan-fried one with garlic and chives. This place has actually been here for a super long time like about 20 years and I'm about to find out why it's so popular. Looks like the food is coming. Oh my gosh this looks so good. All right now that we have this amazing delicious set, we're gonna just add one more thing which are the sauces. Of course you have to have sauces with your gyoza. So let's get it started. We're gonna grab some soy sauce and add it in and vinegar. And if you want an extra kick like I usually do, you've got to try the chili oil. Let's dig in. It's got like a nice warmth to it. It's so juicy on the inside. The chives add like a freshness to it and oh the chili oil is building. It's building. Let's try some of the side dishes. This looks so good and so healthy as well. Green sprouts are nice and fresh and the meat is kind of like almost sweet as well. Everything was so good. I can see why they've been open for over 20 years now. It's absolutely delicious. We're gonna head off to the next place but another cool tip about this place is that they actually offer bento. So you can go get it to go if you don't have time to sit down and enjoy it like I did here. But I'm so hungry and it was so good I had to get another. I'm gonna finish this and I'm gonna take this and we're gonna go. So now we're here in Ginza. Ginza is a district filled with luxury shopping, high-end brands and fancy pants meals. So you may be thinking what are we doing here if we're on a budget? So we're finally here. This is a restaurant called Ginza Furuta. They specialize in traditional Japanese cuisine which I'm so excited to share with you guys today. Wow this room is so nice. Wow everything looks so beautiful and each part has like intricate details about it. They have a special menu and it has my name on it! Stiff body! And then they were saying that you know depending on your own mother tongue or your native language they'll translate the menu for you as well. I was really hot outside and very thirsty so I got some sake. It's not included in our $100 budget but shh I won't tell if you don't. Alright let's dig in. So we're gonna have the tamagoyaki first. That's so silky smooth but then I can also feel the textures before the layer and it's actually not too sweet, perfectly balanced with the dashi inside. And the next one I'm so excited to try. It's a sea bream jelly. What they did was take the head of the fish and the bones and infuse it into this jelly. It was so soft. The paste on the top is super like fresh and aromatic whereas the jelly itself is very like umami and creamy. Here we have something that's also super unique. Have you ever had tofu but made from potatoes? Because I have it and this is exactly what we have here. The potato itself is like tofu and mashed potatoes had a baby and it was beautiful. And of course to match it all together I have my sneaky sake over here which is the recommendation. It's also a bit sweet so I'm excited to try it. Whoa this is so easy to drink. It almost tastes like juice but it's got that slight acidity to the end of it. It's glistening. It looks so fresh. Of course we have to add wasabi. Whoa the wasabi is wasabi-ing. Oh very fresh but very delicious as well. And here you are. Chef's original little prize of the day. Absolutely beautiful. The baby corn and the fish paste and then the individual kernels of the corn to make an image of a beautiful sliced adult corn. It's so sweet. The fish taste isn't that strong because of the sweetness of the kernels. They're actually super juicy which I was not expecting at all. So when you bite in it's like juice and sweetness all in one. Hi, excuse me. The premium grade fish. Japanese nodoguro. This fish here is not your ordinary fish. 90% of the people that come for this restaurant come for this dish. It's said to be one of the tastiest fish in all of Japan so of course we have to try it. It's so tender and sweet but also it has lime which just cuts through the sweetness to give it a little bit of acidity. The texture itself is so soft and tender like you guys saw me pick it up. It was so easy but I'm gonna finish this little guy off and then next thing is dessert. Absolutely adorable. The nashi is so smooth but I can still feel the texture as if I was biting into the pear and then you have the blueberries and I can feel like the skin when I eat into it it like bursts with flavor. I think we're moving on to something a little bit heavier. This looks so intricate. Wow that's insane. It's so smooth but then the dark chocolate just cuts through that sweet potato. I want to try the little watermelon that looks so cute. It really tastes like watermelon and the zunda which is made from edamame is actually super sweet as well and then the little texture you get like as if you were eating a real watermelon with the seeds. So much detail and thought that went into this. It's incredible. All right guys so that is it. I can't believe we had that much food for less than a hundred dollars especially eating at like a such a nice fine dining experience. It was about 12,000 yen which is roughly around 83 US dollars. Do we have any money left? We do! We did it! So we have 860 yen left. I can go get dessert at konbini but that's it for the video guys. Thank you so much for tuning in. Let me know what I should go to the konbini and get and also let us know what other challenges we should do. It was so fun today but yes don't forget to hit that subscribe button for food adventures. All right bye guys. I'm going to the konbini now. Where is it?