History

Salt-grilled fish has been Japan's breakfast staple since the Edo era, when Tokyo's wholesale fish trade at Nihonbashi (1603) and later Tsukiji (1935) put fresh catch on the city's counters before dawn. The teishoku (set meal) form was codified by the 1930s, and Tsukiji's outer-market eateries opened breakfast counters serving auction workers from 5am. After Tsukiji's wholesale operations moved to Toyosu in 2018, the outer market kept the grilled-fish-breakfast tradition alive for tourists and locals; Toyosu's market-side restaurants run the same form.

Common allergens: Fish, Soy

Make it at home

Yield 2Hands-on 15 minTotal 45 minDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 2 fillets mackerel, salmon or saury, 150g each, skin on
  • 10g fine sea salt
  • 1 tbsp grated daikon, to serve
  • 1 lemon wedge per portion
  • Steamed Japanese short-grain rice, miso soup and pickles, to plate

Method

  1. Pat the fish fillets dry. Sprinkle salt evenly over both sides; rest skin-side up on a rack 20 minutes (the salt draws out surface moisture; pat dry again).
  2. Heat the grill (oven setting) or a fish-grill pan to high, 250C.
  3. Place the fish skin-side up on a wire rack over a foil-lined tray. Grill 6 to 8 minutes until the skin blisters and the thickest point flakes at the touch of a chopstick.
  4. Do not flip. The skin protects the flesh from drying.
  5. Plate the fish skin-up next to a bowl of hot rice, a bowl of miso soup, and a small heap of pickles. Add a mound of grated daikon and a wedge of lemon to the fish plate.
  6. Squeeze the lemon over the fish at the table just before eating.

Tip from the editors. Saba (mackerel) is the cheapest and most forgiving; the skin crisps fast and the oil keeps it juicy. Ask the fishmonger to scale and pin-bone whole fillets.

Where to eat yakizakana (grilled fish breakfast)

Yakizakana (grilled fish breakfast) in Tokyo

Tsukiji Outer Market standing counters ★ 4.5

Street food¥Tue-Sun 05:00-14:00, closed Wednesdays

Tsukiji Outer Market in Tokyo's Chuo ward keeps 400 standing-counter food stalls running each morning. Tamagoyaki sticks, uni-don, scallop skewers.

Try: Tamagoyaki sticks, uni-don, grilled scallops

Tip: Yamacho's tamagoyaki sticks and the standing-sushi counters at Sushizanmai are the canonical sequence; arrive before 09:00.

Tokyo 104-0045, Japan

Tsukiji Outer Market breakfast stalls ★ 4.5

Brunch¥

Tsukiji Outer Market in Tokyo serves the city's best-value sushi breakfast: standing-counter nigiri at 1,500 yen, tamagoyaki at 200, fish skewers at 400.

Try: Standing sushi, tamagoyaki sticks, uni don

Tip: Closed Wednesdays and Sundays. Start at the Namiyoke shrine corner; the standing-sushi counters thin out after 10:00.

Tokyo 104-0045, Japan

Toyosu Fish Market ★ 4.6

Market¥Tue-Sat 05:00-17:00, closed Wed and Sun (some weeks)

Toyosu Fish Market in Tokyo's Koto ward replaced Tsukiji's wholesale auctions in 2018. Visitor decks above the tuna trade plus sushi and seafood restaurants.

Tip: Apply via lottery for a lower-deck auction view; the upper free deck takes walk-ups. Sushi Dai and Daiwa Sushi are the breakfast queues.

Tokyo 135-0061, Japan

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