The only reservations are about letting you in.

The Most Secret Restaurant in Tokyo

You don’t have to be a tycoon or film star to eat at Nagatacho Ohka—whose 15 chefs will cook anything you desire—but it helps

By Mark Ellwood

I’m not sure, at first, whether I’m even in the right place. I clamber out of a taxi, somewhat jet-lagged, to find myself standing in front of a nondescript but elegant old Japanese building in Tokyo’s Chiyoda district. Then a smiling woman in a navy jacket appears out of nowhere to usher me inside, and I relax.

The building used to house a soba restaurant with an unusual pedigree: it was run by the family of director Akira Kurosawa and, thanks to its location next to the Japanese prime minister’s official residence, regularly played host to power-player powwows. That spot shuttered during the pandemic, and a new set of owners quickly snapped up the 100-year-old building. They resolved to create a restaurant with just as much cachet but with an entirely different approach: they called it Nagatacho Ohka.