Tokyo Local (Caryn Liew & Brendan Liew)

This gorgeous cookbook captures the vibrant heartbeat of a city obsessed with food.

It’s the chicken-skin yakitori you eat at 2 a.m. in a bar the size of a cupboard. It’s the pork curry you devour after having to line up for 45 minutes with a bunch of excited teenagers. It’s the yuzu ramen you slurp after ordering it from a vending machine. It’s the tonkatsu you buy in a vast shopping-center basement. And it’s the oden that’s served to you by a laid-back surfer from Okinawa.

Tokyo is an explorer’s dream and a food lover’s paradise. Featuring a gorgeous combination of studio and street photography, Tokyo Local brings you seventy recipes for the dishes that define the city. The book is divided into chapters “Early”, “Mid”, and “Late,” to create a sense of the city and the food that drives it at all times of the day. The focus of the recipes is on delicious but approachable food designed to be enjoyed with friends, so you can capture the magic of Tokyo at home.