Last Updated on October 21, 2023

Food and fun on the menu in Tokyo

When I think of food and fun in Tokyo I smile while recalling the great times I had eating very simple food in a relaxed atmosphere where we laughed and chatted away. Of course, there is a place too for fine dining. I ate some memorable meals served to me by chefs with several Michelin stars. These restaurants were stylish and the food exquisite. But don’t pass up the opportunity to eat in tiny restaurants too. 

They say that when one door closes another opens. So it was on a rainy day in Tokyo. Accompanied by Junko Takahashi, a wonderfully engaging interpreter (assigned by the Tokyo Convention and Visitor’s Bureau), I had spent hours in the enormous Tokyo National Museum and was very hungry. We took a cab to a back street of Asakusa where I had hoped to eat onigiri at Onigiri Asakusa Yadoroku, recommended in the Michelin Bib Gourmand guide. Onigiri are ubiquitous in Japan and often eaten as a snack. They are far more delicious than the translation suggests – a rice ball wrapped in seaweed – and are often stuffed with an array of fillings, my favourites ranging from tuna mayo to mouth-puckering umeboshi (salted Japanese plum). We piled out of the taxi only to find that we had arrived too late and the place was shut. I was on the verge of hangry – that hungry and moody feeling that needs attending to with immediate effect.

Junko suggested we find something else. I wasn’t holding out much hope as we walked down an unprepossessing street. She stopped outside a tiny door, slid it open, disappeared briefly and then beckoned for us to join her. Inside this tiny eatery called Ponchan, were tables each of which contained a tepan grill. Family groups sat around their tables cooking. My pulse quickened as I realised we would be making our own lunch. Junko needed no introduction to perfecting a marvellous okonomiyaki – she was clearly a pro, grilling the bacon before mixing and adding the shredded cabbage, ginger, flour, water, dashi, tempura crumbs, tiny shrimp, and cheese.

Okonomiyaki is a hotly contested savoury pancake that became very popular in Japan after WWll when the population faced severe food shortages.  Those from Osaka and Hiroshima disagree about whose version is the most authentic. Hiroshima style is made with noodles, Osaka without. Either way, whichever style you choose, it is always drizzled with okonomiyaki sauce, a sweet-savoury concoction made from fruit, veg, soy, kelp, sugar and vinegar.

Once our okonomiyaki was on the go – it takes a while to cook – the chef brought us another bowl of ingredients. I discovered that he was going to show us how to make a start on a monjayaki. This was a dish I had never heard of and it turned out to be an okonomiyaki local to Tokyo. I asked him how Tokyo came to have its own version of this dish. He explained that after WWll, there was so little food available in Tokyo that people had to adapt and made okonomiyaki without eggs. The Tokyo version contains no eggs but does contain cabbage, dried shrimp, dashi, and okonomiyaki sauce. Holding two cleaver-type implements, I had a go at chopping the large pile of cabbage that we were to cook, but the chef quickly realised that I lacked the requisite skills and good-humouredly took over. If you think you are adept at chopping veg, wait until you see it done in Japan.

Monjayaki is too wet and unformed to lift onto a plate and is eaten straight off the griddle using tiny metal spatulas. It was very flavoursome and we ate every last morsel while chatting to the group of teenagers who had crowded onto the next table. They were having a spicy time with a lot of chilli and laughter. I inquired what they were cooking that had such an enticing aroma. Junko provided the translation for ‘cow guts’. The lunch was quick, filling, tasty, cheap, full of local culinary flavour and as untouristy a place as you could hope for.

One night I ventured forth without Junko and wanted to try an Oden restaurant. Oden is a kind of hotpot where a variety of foods – fishcakes, boiled eggs, vegetables, tofu and so on – are simmered in soy sauce flavoured dashi (a form of Japanese stock with umami flavour).  Eventually, I reached the front of the queue outside Otako Honten – waiting at least half an hour outside a chosen eatery is a regular pastime in Japan even on a cold night, and it reassured me that it was popular with local people.  When my turn came, I was shown to the fourth floor and was impressed to find that three lower floors were packed. Noticing the full shoe rack at the entrance to each floor, I removed my shoes and slid onto the only open table left. Heads did turn on my entrance as I appeared to be the only tourist in the restaurant. For me this was a bonus.

I discovered that my Japanese phrases were insufficient for the task of ordering without an English menu. Having been in Tokyo for a few days by now, I knew that I enjoyed plum wine with soda – highballs of all sorts are very popular in Japan – so that part was easy.  I made use of a combination of Google translate and looking at what the neighbouring diners were eating (I often do that in restaurants back home when I spot a dish on a nearby table that looks good). This sorted out my starter of chicken skewers. While in the queue I had a chat with a man standing behind me who spoke English and asked what the most popular dish was. He told me it was toumeshi which is a bowl of rice cooked in tea topped with a block of silky bean curd. The bean curd is cooked in the oden style, simmered in broth. When I looked around I noticed this dish on many tables so I felt confident that I was ordering one of the restaurant’s signature dishes. There was a moment of mutual non-comprehension when the server asked me a question. I couldn’t answer but I had the sense she was offering me something. On leaving the restaurant, I noticed a large oden tray – many sorts of vegetables that had been simmered in the broth. I realised – too late – that the server had wanted to bring me some of these and wished to know which I had selected. As it was I was quite satisfied with my dish of rice and bean curd. In Japan, a meal usually comes accompanied by side dishes and in this case there was a plate of sashimi, a bowl of miso soup made with cockles, and a salad of julienned daikon radish along with a bowl of Japanese pickles.

In Tokyo, I advise pushing out of your comfort zone and taking a risk by ordering food even when you are not quite sure what will be delivered to the table while trusting that you are going to have a new culinary experience. This, for me, is the joy of eating in Japan. Yes, you can stick to sushi and ramen; these must be eaten too. But so much fun is to be had trying out new foods and new drinks – try the shochu (distilled alcohol), plum wine and other beverages, raise your glass and say kampai.

If you are visiting Tokyo yourself, you’ll find Ponchan about 5 minutes from Akasuka station – directions are on their website here

For more about Otako Honten, you can check here for more information or find them at 2-2-3 Otako Bldg., Nihonbashi, Chuo 103-0027 Tokyo Prefecture

This is a three-part feature – you’ll find my first feature on eating in Tokyo here