Japan Travel Guide | Best 5 Destinations for STREET FOOD in Tokyo
When you travel Asia, you are probably looking for trying out street food. Surprisingly, in Tokyo, it could be hard to find street food especially in a busy city area.
Food wagons are usually open only during festivals and they are not even that good to be honest. (Trust me, I have been eating it since I was a kid.)
So in this blog, I will give you the best 5 Street Food spot in Tokyo area to visit!
- Cat Town - Yanaka Ginza Shotengai
- The longest shopping street -Togoshi Ginza
- Kawaii & Trendy - Harajuku
- Feel the history - Nakamise Dori, Asakusa
- Ameya Yokocho, Ueno
Best 5 Destinations for STREET FOOD in Tokyo
1. Yanaka Ginza Shotengai (谷中銀座商店街）
Highlight
This shopping street is so nostalgic and was known for cute street cats. Sadly, most of cats are taken care of by animal control and volunteer groups, but you can see cat statues everywhere in the street.
At the entrance of the street, you will see a stairs called 'Yuyake Dandan'. You can see beautiful sunset on this stairs and that's how it got the name. (Yuyake means sunset.)
Here, you must eat Menchi Katsu from Niku no Suzuki. Menchi Katsu is fried minced meat. Fresh made Menchi Katsu is extremely juicy and you can taste sweetness from meat.
Also, if you are down for a cup of sake or beer fresh from the tab, check out Echigoya Honten. It's an alcohol store and have a open bar area outside.
Info
Adress: Yanaka, Taito-ku, Tokyo
Access: 5 minutes from JR Nippori Station (West Exit)
Business Hours: Approximately 10:00-18:00 *It may differ stores to stores.
Official Website: http://www.yanakaginza.com/ (ONLY JAPANESE)
2. Togoshi Ginza Shotengai（戸越銀座商店街）
http://www.togoshiginza.jp/en/
Highlights
Togoshi Ginza Shotengai is the longest shopping street. This 1.3 km long shotengai contains more than 400 shops and always filled with local shoppers.
This Shopping street is known for Croquette Stores. There are SO MANY of them. One of the best ones is Katabami Senikuten which is butcher store.
http://blog.goo.ne.jp/negokunta/
http://blog.goo.ne.jp/negokunta/
If you are into Okonomiyaki, you might like Okonomi Taiyaki at Omedetaiyaki which is like Taiyaki filled with Okonomiyaki. It's crispy outside and juicy inside. How can that go wrong?
https://liginc.co.jp/271935
At solco, you can try all kinds of salt if you purchase onigiri (rice ball). The store looks really fashionable and salt bottles looks almost like cosmetics or something.
Trying out brown salt
There are a lot more shop to explore!
Read more details in Tokyo Street Food Tour | top10 at Togoshi Ginza Shopping Street!.
Info
Adress: Togoshi, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo
Access: 0 minutes from Tokyu Ikegami Line Togoshi Ginza Station
Business Hours: Aproximately 11:00-21:00 *It may differ stores to stores.
Official Website: http://www.togoshiginza.jp/en/
3. Harajuku（原宿）
Highlights
As you may all know, Harajuku is the city known for young pop culture. If you are into fun and new stuff, this is the place for you.
Croquant Chou ZAKUZAKU is located in the middle of Takeshita Dori. This extra crispy cream puff is SUPER GOOD. As creamy custard melts, crispy outer layer dance in your mouth. If you are not a custard fan, try ZAKUZAKU ice cream. It's also divine.
If you are looking for something instagramy, check out TOTTI CANDY FACTORY. Rainbow cotton candy will make you happy for sure!
When you walk around in Harajuku, you will find many crape stores for some reasons. I hear the reason behind it is because long time ago, sweets used to be considered fashionable in Japan and the first crape wagon was first opened in this are... Anyways, check out MOMI&TOY'S for its perfectly done crape.
Read more details in Harajuku Sweets TOP 10 | TOKYO STREET FOOD.
Info
Adress: Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Access: JR Harajuku Station
Business Hours: N/A *It differs stores to stores.
Official Website: N/A
Highlights
Many of you already have Asakusa in your to-go list. Nakamise Dori is a long street sitting right in front of Sensoji Temple. You find old fashion Japanese sweets there. Asakusa is also known as one of the major tourist traps, but you have nothing to worry if you are just having a street food.
First, you should try Kokonoe (九重) 's deep fried red bean cake (agemanju). It's my favorite. It's freshly made so always nice and hot.
Asakusa Kibi Dango Azuma (浅草きびだんご あずま) offers sweets called kibi dango which is millet rice cakes on cute little skewers coated with soybean flour. It has been a popular dessert in Nakamise since the Edo period. It goes perfectly with a bitter matcha!
Info
Adress: 1-36 Asakusa, Taito-ku, Tokyo
Access: 3 minutes from Asakusa Station
Business Hours: Approximately between 9:00-19:00 *It differs stores to stores.
Official Website: http://www.asakusa.gr.jp/english
5. Ameya Yokocho （アメヤ横丁）
Highlights
Ameya Yokocho is a flea market runs for 500m right under underneath the elevated railway tracks between Ueno and Okachimachi Station. Here, you can enjoy not only Japanese food but also international food like Chinese, Turkish, Korean and Thai. many places opens late so you can go there for dinner and drink outside!
If you are in Ameya Yokocho, you have got to try New Fruit. You can enjoy their fresh fruit sticks starts from ¥100 ($1.00) and walk around to look for the next stop.
If you are into green tea, check out this tea shop Kiminoen. Of course, you can buy tea leaves and bring it back as a souvenir, but try their Macha Vanilla Mix Ice Cream.
If you are down for Chinese food, juicy Sho Rom Pao dumplings from Saiko Shun Shan Hai Shou Rom Pou (西湖春上海小龍包) . Their Yaki Sho Rom Pao is super juicy and crispy outside.
Info
Adress: Ueno, Taito-ku, Tokyo
Access: 3 minutes from JR Ueno Station or JR Okachimachi Station
Business Hours: Approximately between 8:00-20:00 *It differs stores to stores.
Official Website:
Alright. I hope you like the list and get to try them. Let me know if you have any questions.
-Maiko
