Japanese kitchen & café · 神保町 桜キッチン

A neighbourhood kitchen that follows the seasons

Eighteen seats, one open counter, and a menu that turns with the market — clay-pot rice in autumn, hand-cut udon when it rains, cold matcha in July. Everything cooked to order by a family of three.

Reserve a table See this season's menu

Checking today's hours…

1974Family kitchen since
18 seatsCounter & two tables
4 menusA year, by the season
A steaming bowl of tonkotsu ramen with sliced pork, soft eggs and greens, served at Sakura Kitchen
Sushi rolls cut to order on a wooden board
On the board today Akazu nigiri — 9 pieces ¥2,680 · rice milled this morning
The open kitchen at Sakura Kitchen during morning prep, steam rising over the counter
Morning prep · 6:40 am
Our kitchen · 台所のこと

Three cooks, one counter,
no printed menu on the wall

Sakura Kitchen began as a nine-square-metre breakfast counter behind a Jimbocho bookshop. Fifty years later we are still a kitchen first and a restaurant second: the dashi goes on at six, the rice is milled on Tuesdays, and the menu is chalked up only after Haruki has been to the market.

  • Dashi every morning. Kombu from Rishiri, katsuobushi shaved in-house — never a powder.
  • Rice from one farm. Koshihikari from Ibaraki, milled weekly and cooked in clay pots.
  • Nothing pre-made. Udon is cut, tempura is fried and matcha is whisked to order.
No smoking Cash & card Vegan ok — ask us Kids welcome English menu
6:00Dashi on the fire
52 kmFarm to kitchen
0 minHeld under a lamp
Chef Haruki Onodera in a dark apron, plating a dish at the counter under warm pendant lights
Hands finishing a plate with green garnish using fine tongs
Plating · 料理長
The chef · 料理長

Haruki Onodera

Haruki learned to cook in his mother's udon shop in Sendai, spent nine years in a Kyoto kaiseki kitchen, and came to Tokyo in 2011 to open a place where the counter is the whole restaurant. He still goes to the market himself three mornings a week — and still writes the menu in chalk at 7 am.

“I don't chase the seasons. I wait for the market to change, then cook whatever is best that week — and take it off the board the moment it stops being good.”
  • 1988First apron — his mother's udon shop, Sendai
  • 1997Nine years of kaiseki training in Kyoto, dashi and knife work
  • 2011Opens Sakura Kitchen behind the Jimbocho bookshops — 12 seats
  • 2019Shortlisted, Tokyo Shokudō of the Year (neighbourhood category)
  • 2023Brother and daughter join the counter; 18 seats, same kitchen
A plated course and wine glasses on a warmly lit restaurant table
Chef's counter Omakase counter set — seven small courses

Whatever the market gave us that morning, cooked in front of you. Two seatings, four seats each.

¥7,800 Book the counter
Visit · ご案内

Between the bookshops, one street back

Four minutes from Jimbocho Station on foot. Eighteen seats, one small room — reservations are recommended at dinner and not needed at lunch.

Sakura Kitchen

Checking today's hours…
2-11 Yasukuni-dōri, Kanda-Jimbocho
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0051, Japan

+81 3-3291-2378 · hello@sakurakitchen.jp

Opening hours

  • Monday11:30–15:00 · 17:00–21:30
  • Tuesday11:30–15:00 · 17:00–21:30
  • WednesdayClosed — kitchen rests
  • Thursday11:30–15:00 · 17:00–21:30
  • Friday11:30–15:00 · 17:00–22:30
  • Saturday08:30–15:30 · 17:00–22:30
  • Sunday08:30–15:30 · 17:00–21:00
Last order 30 min before close 18 seats · no groups over 8 Step-free entrance English menu
TrainJimbocho Station (Hanzomon, Toei Mita & Shinjuku lines) — 4 min walk from Exit A7.
BusTo-05 / 都03 to “Jimbocho Kōsaten” — 1 min on foot.
BicycleRacks at the front door. No private parking — coin lot on the next block.
Get directions Call the kitchen
2-11 Yasukuni-dōri, Kanda-Jimbocho, Chiyoda-ku 4 min from Jimbocho Station
Order online · ご注文

Take the season home in a warm box

Delivery inside Chiyoda, Chuo and Bunkyo within 35 minutes, counter pickup in 15, and family trays for the office or the long weekend.

30–40 min · Chiyoda · Chuo · Bunkyo

Delivery

Bowls packed in our own lacquer-look bento boxes, broth carried separately so nothing goes soft. Free over ¥3,500 — otherwise a flat ¥380 inside the three wards.

Order delivery
Ready in 15 min · skip the queue

Pickup at the counter

Order ahead and walk straight in. We hold your box for 30 minutes past the chosen time, and the tea is always brewed at pickup, not before.

Choose a time
48 hours' notice · from ¥2,400

Trays & catering

Seasonal trays of six, ten or twenty portions — chirashi, karaage, vegetable boxes and wagashi. Delivered to offices and venues across central Tokyo.

Plan a tray

Start an order — the kitchen is open now

Ordering runs through our own counter till and two delivery partners. Pickup orders are ready in fifteen minutes while the pots are on.

Order online Browse the menu

Get the new menu the morning it goes up on the board — four notes a year, nothing else.

Reservations · ご予約

Hold a seat at the counter

We take bookings up to eight weeks ahead, for parties of one to eight. The counter is the best seat in the room — you watch everything come off the fire.

“Book the counter, order the set, and let us feed you at our pace.”
  • Lunch bookings taken until 13:30 only — after that, walk in.
  • Dinner seatings at 17:30 and 19:45, two hours each.
  • We hold your table for 15 minutes past the time you book.
  • Wednesdays the kitchen rests — see the trip if you need us for a private hire.
  • Vegan, gluten-free and no-alcohol menus on request when you book.
Please tell us the name for the booking.
A phone number helps if we need to move your table.
That email address doesn't look right.
Choose a date — Wednesdays we are closed.
Pick a seating time.
Let us know how many are coming.
Allergies and dietary needs are best told to us here — we cook to order.
Please tick to confirm before sending.
We confirm by phone within one working day.

Wednesdays closed · last order 30 minutes before the kitchen shuts · parties over eight, please call +81 3-3291-2378.

Request sent — ありがとうございます

We have your table request. Someone from the kitchen will call to confirm within one working day.

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Reserve Order online