Isetan Shinjuku’s annual Italy Exhibition fills the Main Building 6F event hall from 16 to 22 September 2026. This year the store is working two ideas at once: Italian cooking as UNESCO intangible heritage, and Italian cooking as it is actually cooked in Japan. More than 40 food brands and 14 wine houses sit in one hall. Eat-in last orders are 30 minutes before close. The last day shuts at 18:00.
Roman pizza, Hokkaido ingredients
Michael Toncini, from Italy’s Marche region, cooks at TONCINI in Tomakomai. In 2026 the restaurant landed on 50 Top Pizza Asia-Pacific. For Shinjuku he is working with PIZZA BRO'S (Tommaso Moretti) on Roman-style slices: thin, shatter-crisp dough, sold by the cut. The Isetan-only list is specific.
- Margherita, ¥864. San Marzano DOP tomato, fior di latte, 100% Ebetsu wheat from Hokkaido.
- Smoked mackerel marinara, ¥1,026. San Marzano, spring onion and anchovy paste, roasted cherry tomatoes, smoked mackerel from Oji Salmon in Tomakomai.
- Ezo deer sausage and porcini, ¥1,188.
- Mortadella and pistachio, ¥1,188, with BABBI 100% pistachio paste.
These are demonstration counters, not a sit-down pizzeria. Buy a slice, keep walking. That is the point of a depachika fair dressed up as a trip.
Two kitchens worth a queue
Federico Sisti opened Frangente Milano in 2021. Forbes put it on a 2022 "ten restaurants to visit" list within months. His eat-in plate here is mixed short pasta with white-bean cream, mussels, squid, and slow-cooked beef Achilles. ¥2,801, 50 plates a day. Yokohama’s RISPETTO (Ryo Inoue) is listed as a collaborating kitchen.
The other seat to hunt is Mio bar Coccinella d’Oro, a Shinjuku-only bacaro by Yuji Hayashi (Tantaroba) and Corrado Takeshi Motoyama (Da Babbo Renato, Tsukiji). A bacaro is a Venetian standing stop: wine in one hand, small plates in the other. The antipasto misto is ¥1,980, 20 plates a day. It is the closest this hall gets to a real pause. The standing BAR itself runs 11:00–19:45 (last order 19:30; last day 17:45 / 17:30). No reservations. Walk up.
Takeaway is not an afterthought. Ristorante Drammatico’s peposo-style beef shank in Chianti and pepper is ¥1,728, 20 packs a day. Olive Market’s Nocellara del Belice olives are ¥1,134 per 100g. Fromagerie Hisada is selling BluZin, a gin-washed blue that took Super Gold at the 2024 World Cheese Awards, at ¥2,311 per 100g. Some cheeses only arrive from 16 September.
Dolce, then get out before the last-day crush
Siciliamo’s Takafumi Ueki (five-year Michelin Bib Gourmand at his former trattoria) bakes pasta di mandorla, including a ravioli filled with homemade apricot paste, ¥580, 50 a day, 15–18 September only. Cheese shop Lanmas does a salt-caramel tiramisu with three cheeses at ¥1,501, also 50 a day. BABBI’s tre volte nocciola gelato is ¥880. REGINA’s Nutella roll is ¥580.
MI Card members get a private day on Tuesday 15 September. Public days are 16–22 September. Eat-in 10:15–20:00, last day until 18:00. Prices mix the 10% and 8% tax rates, all listed tax-in. Limited daily counts sell out. If you only have one afternoon, go for Toncini’s slice plus the bacaro, then leave. The 6F hall is not a place to linger on the 22nd.
Practical Details
- Dates: 16–22 September 2026 (MI Card preview 15 September)
- Time: Eat-in 10:15–20:00 (last day until 18:00). BAR 11:00–19:45 (last day 17:45)
- Venue: Isetan Shinjuku Main Building 6F event hall, 3-14-1 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
- Nearest station: Shinjuku Station east exit / Shinjuku-sanchome
- Price: Dishes from ¥864 (pizza) to about ¥2,801 (pasta). Tax in
- Website: Isetan Shinjuku Italy Exhibition 2026
