Culinary Backstreets Monzen-Nakacho

Again another recommendation of my travel sensei friends, we booked a Culinary Backstreets tour and chose the Monzen-Nakacho “Old Tokyo” experience. It was 6 fascinating hours of eating, drinking, and learning some history of the Edo period Tokyo. The food was hyper-local with shops that dated back generations, so not just a tour of sushi and ramen. One of the “fun facts” is that much of the growth in the noodle culture was post-WW II with the US wheat industry influence (and the breaded food like tempura was from the Portuguese influence).

Our first and favorite dish was a Fukagawa Meishi (clams in a miso broth over rice) made in a generations old shop by Mr. Oyama who is also the head guy at the neighboring Shinto shrine. Interesting that this neighborhood used to be at the waterline with mudflats (hence the clams) but now it is ~3-4km away due to decades of landfill. We visited his shrine next to ask for blessings and see a carriage so ornate and heavy that they had to build a smaller one so that they could actually use it!

Other hyper-local culinary treats were:
- rice/sake-based fermentation lesson from the cutest proprietor. We tasted Amazake (non-alcoholic sake) which reminded us of cold horchata and other fermented treats. Delicious and refreshing! He also served a sampling of fermented foods that let’s say must be an acquired taste lol
- Plum spirits shop (tiny!) had delicious Ume based spirits. My new favorite drink for summer is the Umeshu Soda (plum wine with club soda)
- Sake tasting with “old man” snacks of stingray fin, pickled stuff, and cream cheese cubes. Our favorite was the Macho brand that was a more down-market, cloudier sake. I find that my tastes definitely skew to “peasant food”!
- Matcha float served by a “Betty White-esque“ 85-year old proprietor. Perfect for a hot day!
- Maguro Standard was a newer shop with a modern take on all things tuna… raw, grilled+torched, pepper-breaded, and powdered tuna on fries. The aforementioned Umeshu Soda was the perfect accompaniment!
- Monjayaki was the weirdest. Like Teppanyaki or Korean BBQ, it is a super fun communal meal with the grill in the middle of the table. We had one that was roe-based. The technique is you first chop and grill a big mound of cabbage then form it into a ring (think the edges of a volcano). You then pour in a roux and cook it out a bit to thicken before adding the roe (or other protein) and mochi. Once thickened a bit, you mix in the veg to make a thin layer across the grill. Some grated cheese is sprinkled on top and then you wait for “crispy bits” to form at the edges. As it does, you use the tiny trowel/spatula to pick off pieces to eat. It looks a bit like yesterday’s lunch after a hard night, but it was pretty tasty! Judging by the crowds that were coming in, this is quite a popular meal experience with friends here!
- Mochi treat: we tasted a delicious one that was mixed with white chocolate
- Rice snacks from an artisan who makes them in house with great flavors and cute designs

Our guide Mairi was delightful and knowledgeable- an expat Kiwi of 30 years who had a lovely relationship with all the proprietors. We had a bonus “guide-in-training”, Chika who was native. We also enjoyed the company of fellow traveler Ishaan from Mumbai via Atlanta who was tagging along with his mom who was in Tokyo for a conference. And yes, as is the small world of sailing, we had an Atlanta Snipe acquaintance in common!

Highly recommend Culinary Backstreets- great tour at a good value.Læs mere