Nihonbashi Kaisen Don Tsujihan - Ark Hills Branch — Restaurant in Tokyo

If you’re craving sashimi bowls, this spot is an absolute must. Tucked away in the Ark Hills office/residential complex near Azabudai Hills, it’s truly a hidden gem. Located within an office building, it seems to primarily cater to the workers there—but it’s worth the trip even if you’re coming from further afield.

When we arrived, there was a bit of a line, but after traveling all the way from Shinjuku, we weren’t about to turn back. Fortunately, the line moved quickly, and we only waited about 15–20 minutes.

At the front, the staff takes your order before seating you. They offer just four main sashimi bowls, but you can customize your meal with extra toppings and drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic). The restaurant has bar seating only, with chefs preparing everything right in front of you.

The portions are generous, and the highlight of the meal was the sea bream dashi broth poured over the last quarter of your bowl. It was a revelation—enhancing the flavors so perfectly that you can’t help but wonder why other places don’t do this.

I ordered the Matsu Course, which was more than enough food, but in hindsight, I should’ve splurged on the Tokujo (Supreme) Course. It comes with extra uni, ikura, and crab—three things you can never have too much of! I also added a side of tuna sashimi, which came in perfectly cut cubes and was excellent. The meal included four slices of madai (sea bream) sashimi as well—but follow the staff’s suggestion to save two pieces for the broth was a game-changer. The slightly cooked fish in the hot broth was absolutely delicious.

Overall, this was one of the best meals I had during my trip. I’d go back in...

Arrived at Ark Hills for a late lunch (to avoid the queue) at Tsujihan and was delighted to see just a short queue of less than 10 pax in the line outside the outlet ✨🐟✨

You will get their menu & also a how to eat instruction while waiting in the queue & within 15 minutes, I was shown to my counter seat in the petite 15 seats restaurant.

While I waited for my Ume course (1,250yen), you get to see how the busy chefs whipped up bowls of mountainous zeitaku dons in front of the counter. My tuna sashimi slices were quickly served and you are to mix a saucer of soy sauce & egg yolk to dissolve a dollop of wasabi inside while your zeitaku don gets prepared.

My own mountainous bowl of zeitaku don came & the chef poured out a generous scoop of ikura all over the rice bowl ... ✨😍✨What a sight!

You then poured the little saucer of wasabi mixed egg yolk soy sauce into the rice bowl & my first spoonful of the salty, wasabi infused seafood （bursting with ikura) mixed rice was amazing! ✨😋👍🐟✨

Every ingredients were fresh & the seafood rice combination was absolutely delicious 🤤

When you are three quarter through, place your bowl at the counter & the chef will come over (asking if you want to top up extra rice) before he poured hot simmering seabream soup in.

Next you add in the tuna sashimi slices before digging into part 2 of zeitaku don 🐟✨ The hot umami seabream soup is rich & flavourful 😋🍲🐟 The soupy version of the zeitaku don added another culinary taste to the don! 🤩 Simply oiishi！

I finished up everything and was so belly glad to have come by to Tsujihan for their amazing zeitaku don...

I came here based on TikTok recommendations. I went in a weekday around 1pm and it wasn’t busy. I heard other locations have long lines, but this location I only had to wait for maybe 10 minutes only.

You have to go up the escalators once you arrived inside arc hills.

This shop is pretty small and there’s limited seating. From all seats you can see the chefs preparing the food.

There’s no washrooms here, so you would have to use the ones outside (the washrooms are pretty clean and nice).

I opted for the Matsu Course (2,200 yen). It contains : Salmon Roe, Tuna, Nakaochi (rich flesh scraped from the bones), Shrimp, Whelk, Geoduck Clam, Squid, Herring Eggs, Cucumber, Green onion

Extra Crab + Extra Sea Urchin Extra Salmon Roe

This is pretty much the same as the most basic course but it just have uni and more salmon roe.

For this order, you have to eat a little of the rice and when your like 1/4 from finishing you can get soup broth added to your bowl.

I recommend saving the sashimi slices from the beginning to mix with the broth. The sashimi on its own it’s not that special. I prefer putting it in the broth as it cools the fish and it’s more tender that way.

The broth is pretty good too! I like how there’s mint leaves inside. I usually don’t drink broth or soup for my noodles, but I made an exception for this.

Overall the food was pretty good and I didn’t feel too full. I do think it’s highly overrated, and I’d only come here if...