In Japanese yoshoku restaurants, there’s a popular dish called Hayashi Rice. While going on a deep dive, I randomly came across Hayashi Rice’s origin, nestled in my favorite Tokyo neighborhood of Nihonbashi.
You may have heard Momofuku’s David Chang wax poetic about convenience store fried chicken in Japan and I’d have to wholeheartedly agree. If you haven’t tried fried chicken at a convenience store in Japan, you’re seriously missing out. In this post, I’ll not only list my favorites, but I’ll have some info about when to go, along with some tips on selecting a good branch.
If you’re planning out your first trip, or even if you’ve been to Tokyo many times. There’s a small neighborhood not recommended in any guidebook that you should definitely look into, the old downtown Edo neighborhood of Ningyocho.
It’s been almost 20 years since the original Iron Chef series was televised on the Food Network. Since then, trying the cuisine from each of those chefs has been on my bucket list. Just last month, I went to finish my personal “Iron Chef Grand Slam” at Masahiko Kobe’s Ristorante Massa located in Ebisu. Allez Cuisine!
If you’re traveling to Japan and planning to eat ramen, Hong Kong to eat dim sum, or Taiwan to eat some beef noodle, don’t start your research with an English-language publication or review website (like Yelp). These article writers and travelers most likely had the regional food just a handful of times in their lifetime. Instead, crowdsource millions of people that eat that type of food every day by simply using their country’s version of ‘Yelp’.
In early 2018, the food documentary Ramen Heads (ラーメンヘッズ) was released in Japan and the US. Being the over-prepared travel planner that I am, I decided to map out all of the locations from the documentary so I could potentially hit up a couple of these locations the next time I’m jonesing for some good ramen in the Tokyo Area. Listed below are the names and addresses of the places shown in the movie, with a google map at the end so you can easily find your way to these places as well.
In March 2017, a food-centric show from Japan called Samurai Gourmet (Nobushi no Gurume 野武士のグルメ) appeared on Netflix in the US. It’s an easy-going show full of heart that I would recommend for anyone interested in Japanese food, but I was noticing as I was watching that they were filming at real places, not sets. So listed below are the names and addresses of the places eaten in Samurai Gourmet Season 1, with a google map at the end so you can easily find your way to these places as well.
One of the greatest things about Tokyo is the amount of green space they have all over the city. Just a short walk from the bustling shopping district of Ginza is one of these green spaces, a serene spot called Hibiya Park.