Great Value Dining Awaits! Recommended Places to Visit and Eat in Gotanda

Spring is the best season to visit Gotanda.
The Meguro River, famous for its cherry blossoms, also flows through Gotanda, and with a short walk you can enjoy a stroll along the rows of cherry trees by the river.
Visit in spring, when the weather is comfortable and you can enjoy both eating your way around town and walking beneath the cherry blossoms.

Below is a summary of how to get to Gotanda Station and the travel time from major stations in Tokyo.
Since it can be reached within 30 minutes from all of these major stations, it is well worth a visit.

This strolling-style appreciation park opened in 1985 on the former site of the Ikeda family residence of the Okayama Domain in Bizen Province from the early Edo period, redeveloped as a municipal park.
It features a traditional Japanese garden with a pond designed to make use of the area’s varied terrain, and from the gazebo on the hill you can look out over the garden’s beautiful scenery.
The garden also includes wooded areas and waterfalls, and in recent years it has drawn attention as a spiritual spot.

When you exit JR Gotanda Station from the west exit, you will see the Meguro River, famous for the rows of cherry trees along both banks.
That area, dotted with around 50 restaurants and around 20 shops, is Gotanda Shopping Street. From trendy new cafes to shops renovated from liquor stores founded in the Taisho era, the mix of old and new gives the area a nostalgic atmosphere.

Tucked away in a residential area beyond the office buildings of Shinagawa, Nemu no Ki Garden is a municipal park with ties to the Imperial family.
The park opened in 2004 on the former site of the Shoda residence, the childhood home of Empress Emerita Michiko, and its name comes from “Nemu no Ki no Komoriuta,” a lullaby she wrote when she was in high school.

WARAYAKI funsista, which opened in December 2023, is a place where you can enjoy wara-yaki, a traditional Kochi Prefecture cooking method, in a stylish interior with a handcrafted feel.
Located a 5-minute walk from JR Gotanda Station, the restaurant’s concept is “Trad and change,” valuing both tradition and change.
The menu includes starters such as seared bonito and main dishes such as roast beef made with domestic beef sirloin.

A 3-minute walk from Gotanda Station on any line, Chinzasai Gotanda is a popular restaurant known for authentic Sichuan cuisine.
Even in Gotanda, an area packed with restaurants, it stands out as a famous spot that has been featured in many media outlets.
In addition to course meals, the menu offers many a la carte dishes. Among them, the restaurant’s signature dish is “Top of the World Stone Pot Mapo Tofu,” and you can choose from four levels of spiciness to suit your taste.

Originally opened in Takadanobaba as “Japan’s only café specializing in café au lait,” this stylish café surrounded by antique furniture moved to its current location in 2021.
Here you can enjoy café au lait made with freshly ground coffee beans and carefully selected milk, available only here.
Each cup is carefully hand-dripped one by one after you order.

A steak and hamburger steak specialty restaurant directly operated by the meat wholesaler Yazawa Meat.
Its pride and joy is juicy hamburger steak made with the finest Japanese black wagyu, carefully selected from around the country by skilled meat experts.
The most popular item, the 100% fresh Japanese black wagyu hamburger steak (single from 1,800 yen), is especially recommended when enjoyed slightly rare.

A Gotanda restaurant where you can enjoy traditional Taiwanese breakfast dishes, including freshly made soy milk prepared in-house.
It opened in 2019 with the hope of spreading Taiwan’s culture of serving hearty breakfasts from early morning in Japan as well.
The signature item is soy milk made every morning in the shop using soybeans from Miyagi Prefecture. In addition to the plain “doujiang,” the lineup also includes sweeter versions with original syrup or sesame added.

Walk for around 3 minutes through the backstreets near Gotanda Station, and once you catch the mouthwatering aroma, you have arrived. This is Monster Grill, a steak & hamburger restaurant marked by a pop-style sign and an eye-catching cow object sticking out from a brick wall.
Its popular steaks are made with the top grade of the “Wakahime Beef” brand, known for its tender texture, letting you directly enjoy the meat’s rich flavor and sweetness.

Oniyanma Gotanda Main Store stands in front of the station, within 100 meters of Gotanda Station, marked by its noren curtain.
What is served here is authentic Sanuki udon.
The specialty is “Cold Bukkake Udon with Chicken Tempura,” topped with three pieces of crispy fried chicken tempura.

Yakiton Sakaba Kanesho is a popular casual izakaya with a red sign as its landmark, located within 200 meters of Gotanda Station, and has been in business for more than 40 years.
Its specialty is yakiton, also featured in the shop’s name, and it is popular for its generous, thick-cut skewers at reasonable prices starting from 150 yen each.
Not only office workers on their way home, but also students come looking for this flavor, and the restaurant is always full of people.

A long-established Western-style restaurant founded in 1950, in a prime location within 100 meters of Gotanda Station.
Its pride is the jet-black demi-glace sauce that has been added to continuously since the restaurant first opened, and dishes made with it, such as tongue stew, beef stew, and omurice, are must-order items.
If you are in the mood for Western-style food in Gotanda, this is definitely a place to visit.