Tsukiji Honganji Cafe Tsumugi

Nowadays it is not unusual for temples to operate cafes, and one popular café is located on the grounds of Tsukiji Honganji Temple, a temple whose name every Japanese has heard. Tsukiji Honganji Cafe Tsumugi opened in 2017 inside the Tsukiji Honganji Information Center. The “18-item breakfast” here is very popular and attracts many customers on weekdays and weekends.

I woke up early one weekday morning and went to Tsukiji Honganji Cafe Tsumugi to try the morning breakfast at such a popular cafe inside the temple. But breakfast at this restaurant is actually quite hard to come by…

Although it is possible to eat without a reservation… on a certain weekday morning, here is how long the line is and how long it takes to wait in line at Tsukiji Honganji Cafe Tsumugi.

Tsukiji Honganji Cafe Tsumugi I’m going to introduce here basically requires reservations during breakfast hours (8:00-11:30). Reservations can be made online at a website named Toreta, starting at midnight 30 days in advance. If you are thinking of going to Tsukiji Honganji Cafe Tsumugi in the future, you should definitely try this site because you can make a reservation here really normally without being charged a reservation fee or being asked for something else.

The only trouble is that almost all the days up to a month in advance are already fully booked. It’s probably difficult to get a reservation for the time slot you want unless you are willing to make a reservation as soon as they start accepting reservations…. I was so stupid that I remembered about this café on the morning of the day I visited that I couldn’t even talk about it anymore. Fortunately, I was informed that breakfast was available without a reservation, so I felt like, “If I get in line, I can make it!” I was in a good mood….

So I arrived at Tsukiji Honganji Cafe Tsumugi at around 7:15 on a weekday. At this point, there were already two customers in line at the storefront…

At the entrance, there was a sign like this, indicating that those with reservations and those without reservations would stand in separate lines (as of December 2024, there does not seem to be a numbered ticket system). Looking at the line, I have the impression that customers start lining up around 7:30 a.m. for those without reservations and around 7:15 a.m. for those with reservations. On this day, at 8:00, the opening time, both lines were about 20 people long each. However, it seems that customers without reservations are allowed to enter the restaurant up to 10 people every 30 minutes from there, so please note that depending on the order of the lines, you may have to wait another 30 minutes or more from there…

People line up in the morning for this… How was the popular 18-course breakfast menu at Tsukiji Honganji Cafe Tsumugi when I tried it?

Let me introduce you to the popular 18-course breakfast menu (priced at 2,000 yen plus tax) at Tsukiji Honganji Cafe Tsumugi, which is the target of this article. Image here…

Like this, from top left to bottom right, in addition to porridge and miso soup…

• Nanko-Ume pickled plums
• Black soy beans from Tsukiji Edoichi
• Yuba Salmon roe
• Tsukiji Edo-ichi’s sweet kelp tsukudani
• Seasonal fruit (orange on this day)
• green tea jelly
• Tsukiji Matsuro’s egg omelet
• Deep-fried eggplant with soybean soboro
• Taro dengaku
• Tofu with yuzu bean paste
• Seasonal side dish
• Seaweed cod roe
• Octopus with salted malt
• Grilled duck with Japanese pepper
• Tsukiji Kibun’s Fish and Tofu Oboroage
• Tsukiji Yoshiokaya’s BETARAZUKE

Sixteen dishes of the following are included as side dishes. The porridge and miso soup make a total of 18 dishes. The number 18 has a meaning, and is said to be the 18th of 48 wishes that Amitabha Buddha had in the past, which he thought over for an immeasurably long time, and which he wished for all beings to be born equally into a world of true peace. This 18th wish is said to be the fundamental wish of Amida Buddha, or “Hongan”. That is why the name of the temple is “Honganji”. I had never heard of it before.

Now, this time, I will focus on this porridge. Japanese porridge is different from flavored Chinese porridge. For Japanese people, porridge is probably more like something they eat when they are sick, isn’t it? There must be many people who, when they were young, were served white porridge and thought, “I can’t eat this, it’s disgusting.”

However, this is only true when eating porridge by itself; the story changes drastically when it is accompanied by 16 side dishes. Sweet, sour, salty…no matter what side dish you choose to eat with porridge, the white rice porridge will take the flavors and transform them into a soft and gentle taste. In particular, the collaboration of the porridge with the yuzu bean paste and mentaiko (cod roe) on the tofu was, to say the least, excellent. What’s more, with white porridge, it’s nice to be able to change the flavor with each bite. Since the porridge is free of charge and refills are free, various flavor changes can be enjoyed until all 16 side dishes are consumed.

The popular 18-course breakfast morning menu at Tsukiji Honganji Cafe Tsumugi was an eye-opening experience for me personally, as I was able to rediscover something about Japanese porridge that had never given me a good impression. If breakfast like this could be served every day, as a Japanese, I think I would have nothing to complain about. If I were to mention one thing that bothered me, it was that even though it is a temple café, animal products are served… So it is not a vegetarian or vegan café, but even with that, this 18-course breakfast is highly recommended.

A book café and work area during lunch time… Access to Tsukiji Honganji Cafe Tsumugi is a one-minute walk from the nearest station, Tsukiji Station on the Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line.

Tsukiji Honganji Cafe Tsumugi has 48 books on display, selected by the current monks, The cafe can be used as a book cafe where you can relax while reading these books. In addition, the counter seats are equipped with power outlets, It can also be used as a workspace with a laptop computer. The spacious interior and the all-glass front of the store allow you to enjoy a large scale view of the majestic main hall in the background. It is a rare café in the middle of Tokyo that offers a sense of openness, so please try it regardless of whether you are in the mood for breakfast or not.

Now, here are the details of the restaurant…