Gesshinkyo
While there are many restaurants in Tokyo that serve Shojin Ryori, Buddhist vegetarian cuisine, Gesshinkyo may be the best of the lot. Gesshinkyo is located in a residential area of Tokyo and the restaurant looks and feels more like a private home; guests dine in one of two simple rooms, seated on the floor on tatami mats. Guests dine on vegetables and tofu only (meat, fish, fowl, dairy, eggs—even onions are barred from shojin ryori dishes), but despite these limitations the chefs at Gesshinkyo create sophisticated, subtle and awe-inspiring dishes.

Gesshinkyo, Harajuku Jingumae 4-24-12, Tokyo, 03 3796 657 presanth chanra
Felix
This Phillipe Starck-designed restaurant on the 28th floor of the Hong Kong Peninsula Hotel affords awesome views of the city and the harbor. But if you can turn your attention away from the views (and the very cool crowd) you’ll be rewarded with excellent Pan-Asian food. While Felix offers some Western standards for the not-so-adventurous traveler, they also serve a plentitude of other more interesting options, including honey tempura prawns, a Mongolian barbequed rack of lamb with a plum wine and cabernet sauce, and Thai basil sherbet.

Felix (in the Hong Kong Peninsula Hotel), Salisbury Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong, SAR, 852 2920 2888


Kozue
This thoughtful, beautiful restaurant just happens to be on the 40th floor of Tokyo’s Park Hyatt hotel. So much the better—on a clear day you can see Mount Fuji in the distance as you eat your sashimi off of tableware handcrafted by top Japanese artisans. For adventurous eaters, chef Kenichiro Ooe, a licensed handler of fugu, (aka blowfish), prepares a few dishes using this signature ingredient, which contains toxins that can kill a diner if improperly prepared.

Kozue (in the Park Hyatt Tokyo), 3-7-1-2 Nishi Shinjuku, Tokyo, 81-3 5322-1234, www.parkhyatttokyo.com