Azabudai Hills Market is one of the components of the new Azabudai Hills complex which opened in Tokyo in late 2023. The huge commercial and residential complex near Roppongi occupies 81,000 ㎡ of land and has 860,000 ㎡ of floor space. There are offices, apartments, shops and restaurants, hotels, a museum and an international school. We decided to go to the Market in the basement to try the food stalls for lunch.
Premium Supermarket and Food Hall at Azabudai, Tokyo
Azabudai Hills Market is located in the basement of Azabudai Hills Garden Plaza C and a small section of level one. Here there is a supermarket which stocks routine everyday items to upmarket luxury items. Fresh produce, meat, fish, semi-prepared foods, side dishes, wine and sake can be found here. There is also a food hall which houses very small eateries and stalls selling ready made meals. These can be purchased for takeaway as well as for consumption on site at the public tables.
There are many ready to eat food choices at Azabudai Market Food Stalls. Classic Japanese food items like bento boxes containing mixed food, sushi, tempura and grilled meat items are available. Here are pictures of the shop list of Azabudai Hills Market Lunch box selections.
On this visit we only managed to try the food from three stalls selling gyoza, yakitori and glutinous rice with chestnuts (okowa).
Azabudai Hills Kameido Gyoza 亀戸ぎょうざ
Established in 1953, Kameido Gyoza has been making gyoza in Kameido (a downtown area of Tokyo). In the mall directory, the gyoza is said to be made with selected domestic vegetables and Tokiwa garlic (an Aomori garlic brand) and has a “.. taste that has been loved by locals and many celebrities alike”.
The gyoza is both available for sale as takeaway or to be enjoyed freshly made in the tiny five-seater counter restaurant.
This is a picture of the Azabudai Kameido Gyoza menu. One serving of gyoza (6 pieces) costs 495 yen.
This was the best food item that we ate that day at Azabudai Hills Market. Each serving of dumplings was accompanied by a glass of water and some stir fried vegetables (mostly bean sprouts), The taste of each gyoza was memorable. Light, tasty and very well balanced both in terms of flavour and the balance of skin and filling. This is a stall we would definitely return to on a future visit.
Kameido Gyoza 亀戸ぎょうざ
Dine-in: 11:00-20:00 (L.O. 19:30)
Takeaway: 10:00～20:00
Azabudai Hills Market Torishiki Yakitori 麻布台 鳥しき
According to the Azabudai Hill’s website, Torishikiis a famous yakitori restaurant in Meguro, Tokyo that is difficult to book. They use a technique to get as close to the charcoal fire as possible. The lineup of yakitori at Azabudai Hills Market is said to reproduce the taste of the Meguro main store as closely as possible.
At first the yakitori shelves were empty, apart from the sample sticks on display. A sign stated that yakitori sales start at 11.30am. A queue started forming at that time.
This was what the shelves look like after 11.30am – full of yakitori sticks. These included chicken thigh (591 yen per stick), chicken neck (551 yen), chicken liver (481 yen) and quails egg (391 yen). We bought a mixed selection.
They were packed for takeaway with a recommendation that they taste even better after heating up.
This is a picture of the Torishiki yakitori sticks that we bought. They were meaty, juicy and have a robust smokey taste. We had anticipated that they would be freshly made and warm. But unfortunately they were room temperature. I think they would be much better when reheated.
Azabudai Torishiki
Opening Hours: 10:00～20:00
Obusedo 小布施堂
Our last food item for lunch was chestnut okowa or kuri okowa (栗おこわ). It is a traditional Japanese dish of sticky glutinous rice steamed with sweet chestnuts. It is a seasonal dish available in autumn when the Japanese chestnuts are in season.
Obusedo is apparently a famous producer of chestnut products from the Nagano Prefecture of Japan.
It was hard to resist buying a box of the chestnut rice as it is something that is available in a few places in Singapore (such as Yonehachi in Takashimaya). It was packed in a beautiful takeaway bag.
The taste of the Obusedo chestnut rice was clean and gentle. The steamed chestnuts did not have the strong flavours that we experience from roasted chestnuts. But still enjoyable as it reflects the autumn season at the time of our visit. The chestnut flavoured glutinous rice would have been a perfect combination with the yakitori if the latter was served hot.
Overall, it was an interesting way to have lunch in Tokyo by experimenting with their food hall options. We will try other food combinations from the Azabudai Hills Market food stalls on a future visit.
Azabudai Hills Market
Azabudai Hills Garden Plaza C 1F, B1F
1 Chome-2-4 Azabudai, Minato City, Tokyo 106-0041, Japan
There are various subway lines serving Azabudai Hills. We think the easiest access is via the direct connections to these stations:
Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line “Kamiyacho Station” Exit 5
Tokyo Metro Namboku Line Roppongi-Itchome Station Exit 4
The Ordinary Patrons | Real Dining Experience of Ordinary People
an independent Singapore food blog
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