I Found Japan's CHEAPEST Michelin Star BREAKFAST in Tokyo! You WON'T Believe the Price!

Hey guys, Mike Chen here in Tokyo, Japan. In this video, I am hitting up some of the greatest ramen shops in the city. And before all that, breakfast is gonna be at a one Michelin-star Japanese restaurant, and you absolutely will not believe the price. In the first place, I'm at—oh my gosh, this is so cool. This is a Michelin-star restaurant that has an amazing sardine dish. At lunchtime, they just opened, so not too bad. I hope it's not too bad of a line. I can't see inside that building. So the most famous dish is, well, sardines. They have a sardine sashimi set. There's deep-fried sardines. The most popular one, they told me, it's called a Yanagawa Nabe set. So deep-fried sardines simmered in stock. Give you some tea. Good tea. Pickled vegetables. I got two sets. Gosh, this is beautiful. Look at my sizzling plate of sardines. So this is fried sardines soaked in egg and soy sauce. A little sweet soy sauce, I think. Before that, some miso soup comes out. Oh my gosh, this is so good, too. This definitely has some sardines inside. Sardines are bonito. There's so much umami in here. So the first dish I got, this is the sardine sashimi. This thing is with a little bit of scallion, sesame. They give you some soy sauce to dip it in. Wow, that's so tender. Like, I eat sardines a lot, canned sardines. But yeah, that's definitely on a whole different level. This is so soft and delicate. A little bit of soy sauce, all you really need. Wow, it's so delicate, yet there's such an amazing umami flavor to the little sardines. By the way, I want to mention this right off the bat. This is a one Michelin-starred establishment. These lunch dishes are, at today's conversion, about $6.90. So less than $7 for a Michelin-starred meal. That's the cheapest Michelin-starred meal you can find in Tokyo, for sure. I would highly recommend it if you come here. Okay, I haven't tasted this yet, but as good as the sardine sashimi is, maybe get both. But look at this dish. Fried sardines, cooked in egg. Oh man, this is so crazy good. Look at eggs and onions. Like I said, it's some sort of—it's either soy sauce or sweet soy sauce. Oh my gosh, look at this. I should have got the fried sardines, too. I see the table across from me. Like, they got all three of the sets. Oh, get this. I would get the fried ones, too. I'm so jealous of the fried ones I see in front of me. It's like a little flavor missile. Oh my gosh, this is so amazing. A whole sardine, you can eat the whole thing. It's soft, it's delicate. The egg on the outside is so soft and so much flavor. This is a really rich dish. The batter on the outside of the sardines absolutely just soaked up all that delicious sauce. These sardines, I kid you not, the umami level is through the roof. This is one of the most uniquely delicious dishes I think I've had in Tokyo. I'm surprised it's not lying around the block. $7, are you kidding me? Michelin star lunch meal for $7. You get pickles, you get rice, you get a soup, you get this flavor bomb. What else you want in your food-loving life? Check this out. Get some onions, get some eggs, get the sardine. I see the table in front of me adding chili, so let's do that as well. Of course, that's going to be even better spicy. This is so worth it. Some bucks can't even get an extra value meal. Also, I forgot to mention one thing, and this is very important. Eat your rice because unlimited refills on your rice. Unlimited tea, unlimited rice. What other Michelin star experiences like this? Amazing. This is a nice, nice, feel-good rainy morning. You know what this calls for? Bowl of ramen. Let's go. So the next place I'm going to is this small ramen shop. This place just opened several months ago, I think, 2025. And the chef of this ramen shop trained with one of the legendary masters of ramen, I think, right down the street. But that shop is closed, so can't wait to give this place a try. And it's such a cute little, really simplistic little ramen shop. So you get here, first thing you want to do is go inside and order your ramen from the ramen vending machine. There's only two ramens available, one special and one regular. Kind of special. Super modern, super clean, tiny little ramen joint. The ramen bar is at Chicken Hattia's, and this place only serves 100 bowl of ramen a day, that's it. My first official bowl of ramen here in Japan. Itadakimasu. In front of you, there's chilies, there's peppers, and this is the ramen. How beautiful is this? Seaweed, mushrooms, beautiful, delicate-looking wontons, and super delicate thin slices of pork chashu. Like, borderline translucent pork chashu. This is so beautiful. The noodles are thin, straight, white noodles. Oh, they're so pretty. Oh, that is good broth. If you appreciate a very light, at the same time, just a flavor bomb bowl of ramen. Oh, this is it for you, my friend. Chicken broth that is just loaded with depth and umami. There's so much flavor here. It tastes exactly like chicken salt ramen. These are perfect, perfectly cooked noodles. And that's some peppercorn and some chilies. Just because I see everyone else doing it. This is definitely not your, like, typical bowl of Tokyo ramen. It's not overly aggressive at all, the flavors. This is more craft ramen for sure. Those are delicious. Try out these little wontons. They're so delicate-looking, huh? That's a meaty wonton. Chashu, very light, extremely tender. This is a very light bowl of ramen that, at the end of it all, it doesn't weigh you down, but at the same time, it has tons of flavor. All for around six bucks. Also, this is a ramen that not a lot of tourists know about. For sure, it's definitely a local place. If you want a delicious bowl of craft ramen, come here and give this a try. I will recommend. It's a pretty good lunch number two. Wow, it is coming down now. Holy moly. Even though it is a bit chaotic, there is something cozy about ringing in Tokyo. Oh, it's gonna make this next noodle place taste even better. Cherry blossom in the rain. Beautiful. And the place I'm going to is right on top of that building. Oh, my gosh. Oh, man, it's raining so hard. So glad so many of these ramen vending machines started taking credit cards, which wasn't the case before. Oh, there's dandan skin. What? Ajitama. Skamegi. Okay, this looks cool. Okay, I'm just gonna go for this one. Go for a large. I'll go for the plate. Oh, this is one of the only skamen places I've been to that give you some protection against the noodles. I've never been to this place before. I think it's relatively new. It's a big ramen shop. Of course, it's located in Tourism Central, so I'll let you know how it is. Wow, okay, this is cool. So you get ice cream after this. Skamen, I contend, is the best form of ramen. Beautiful, thick strand of noodles. Dipping broth looks good. Go ahead and add in the pork and the mushrooms. So I did get a bit of the dandanmen broth to try, too. This is the normal broth, but they added in some chilies. Let's go ahead and give it a dunk. Oh, that's good, actually. So it's like the typical dipping broth. So you taste the pork, the anchovies, but also they added tons of sesame, and the chilies are no joke in there. It's really spicy. Wow. Let's try this. Okay, it's a solid skamen. I think it's just really up to what you like. If you like the dandan flavors more, meaning if you like sesame, you like chilies, that one is very nice. You taste the mala. This one, the typical dipping broth, you taste a lot of the pork. Of course, the bonito inside as well. Out of the two, I think I like the dandan more. Also, the ramen's amazing. I think if I rate it, ramen, I give 10 out of 10. The texture is perfect. Beautiful dipping ramen. I think the dandan broth, I say a solid eight and a half, borderline nine. I never really had dandan skamen before. I think the regular dipping broth, I'd say a solid eight. Chashu's not bad, a little on the leaner side. Every time I eat skamen, I am kind of comparing it to tomita, which is my favorite skamen in Japan. I wouldn't say the dipping broth is quite up to that standard, but it's super solid. Plus, this environment I really like. It's very casual. Like, you know, sometimes you go to some ramen restaurants, you just kind of go in, head down, slurp, get out. This place, like, I feel like you can talk to people. The workers here seem really nice, and they'll talk to you, too. If your dipping broth gets cold, they microwave it for you. Actually, I might need that right now. And it gets cold pretty quick because the noodles are so cold, you know? The egg looks beautiful. I did get some extra toppings to add to my broth. Okay, this is a solid place. I was worried it was going to be a little touristy, but it's good. Again, I will recommend the Dandan Skamen. But even the regular dipping broth, that's really solid as well. Yeah, this is a good place. I really like it. It's good. I'll be here again. Ooh, I just got my dipping broth heated. It's the first time I've ever done that in a skamen place. Gooey egg. You'll definitely do some nice slurping at this place. Probably the most chilled ramen place I've been to in all of Japan. There are sauces in front of you, so you can adjust the heat level. There's vinegar as well. And of course, don't finish all your dipping broth. Wow. After adding that, I'm able to taste the bonito flavor much more. Mmm. Oh, that's great. I think I'll up the broth score to 8.5. I forgot my seaweed. You know what? Toss it in there. Just gonna add some soup to it. Cannot waste a seaweed. Man, what was I thinking? Now that's such a rookie ramen move. That was awesome. Every time I come back to Japan, I always want to just go around and just eat ramen non-stop. One of them's gotta be a different ramen. If you've never tried skamen before, never tried different ramen, you've gotta give it a try. This place, I will recommend. And at the end, they give you a little... little yuzu sorbet. A little power cleanser. This is the other skamen place. Oh, there's like nobody in there! This place is amazing! Wait, what happened? Customers waiting in line. It's like nobody waiting in line. This place is usually jam-packed. And then, this is a Sichuan place I really like that makes incredible mapo tofu. Okay, this is a rare opportunity. I love this place. It's so good. I really like the strong taste of the ramen. There is just so much umami. The noodles are perfect. Perfect chew. This, to me, is not as perfect as it gets when it comes to skamen. I think this and tomato ramen, my favorite bowls of ramen in Tokyo. I could eat at this place every single day. It's so good. The umami is so strong. The mushrooms is crunchy. To me, one of the best bowls of ramen in all of Tokyo. That was just magical. I've never seen that place without a huge line before. I was just walking past. I was gonna head to another place tonight. But man, I'd much rather eat another bowl of ramen. I think compare that to like the first bowl of different ramen that I got. I think noodle-wise, about similar. Broth, this one just has so much more bonito flavor. So, to me, so much more umami. But yeah, this is like probably my top in my top three ramen of Japan. So, hard to beat. I think that's it. I was gonna go another place. Just gonna get some mapo tofu or something. Man, I really like their mapo tofu here. You know what? Yeah, I don't know when the next time we'll be back in Japan. Let's go for mapo tofu. Real quick. This is one of my favorite mapo tofu dishes anywhere. Sizzling mapo tofu. This place, I highly recommend if you ever come to Japan. If you like mapo tofu, this is one of the best I've had. Look at how beautiful it is. The color, the soft tofu, the meat inside, the sizzle. It's amazing. The earthy bean paste, the meat, the mala, the numbing peppercorn, the chilies. This is my favorite mapo tofu dish in all of Japan. It's so freaking good. You know what? I don't think I've had something this good even in the U.S. It's serious numbing. Serious heat. Tofu is perfect. So tender. The meat is awesome. Now I'm satisfied. Wow. What an awesome food day. Started out with a Michelin star sardines. Michelin star sardines. Only in Japan. I was lucky enough to find no line at Donji. And then, my favorite mapo tofu dish. My day is complete. That's complete. It's always a place I went to. It's down below for you guys. Thank you all so much for watching. Until we meet again, see you later.