🇯🇵 Tokyo

The food of Tokyo's downtown

The Tokyo food walk begins in the "shitamachi," the downtown. In the Edo period, artisans and merchants lived packed onto the low land along the Sumida River, and what fed those common stomachs were cheap, quick plates: wagashi, tempura, soba, stews. There is no shortage of grand restaurants up in the "yamanote" hills, but the real body of Tokyo's food lies rather in the back lanes, shopping streets, markets and temple approaches — in the old houses that still sell what they sold a hundred years ago. Here, Tokyo is built from walking that downtown food: Asakusa, Tsukiji, Yanaka.

Three faces

Tokyo is split into three routes with distinct characters. First Asakusa — the temple-gate town of Sensoji, Tokyo's oldest temple, a pleasure quarter that keeps the downtown of Edo through Meiji intact, from dorayaki and tendon to a closing Denki Bran. Then Tsukiji — the Outer Market that stayed after the move to Toyosu, a "market breakfast" town of tamagoyaki, seafood bowls and offal bowls eaten early. And Yanaka — a corner of Yanesen spared by the war, where you nibble menchi-katsu, croquettes and natural-ice shaved ice in a quiet downtown where cats stroll. Temple gate, morning market, cat town: together the three show the breadth of Tokyo's downtown food.

"Edomae" and the downtown taste

The key to reading Tokyo's flavour is the word "Edomae." It first meant what was caught in the sea in front of Edo (Tokyo Bay), then became the umbrella term for the dishes perfected in Edo — tempura, sushi, soba, eel. The flavour leans on dashi and soy, finished sweet-savoury. The tendon glaze, the soba broth, the dorayaki filling — that "sweet-savoury" runs beneath them all like a bass note. Brusque on the surface, it is in fact a delicate, dashi-drawn taste. That is the food of Tokyo's downtown.

Old houses and queues — how to go

Tokyo's downtown is also a town of old houses and queues. Popular sweets and market bowls sell out or draw long lines by early morning, so aim for the morning, ideally right at opening. Each of the three routes starts at a metro or rail station, laid out so the plates fall within walking distance of the exit. Asakusa and Yanaka are close by train and a strong walker can join both in a day; Tsukiji, where morning is everything, is best done on its own on another morning. Some lanes (like Nakamise) ask you not to eat while walking, so eat what you buy at the shopfront or on a bench.

Plates that change with the season

Tokyo's downtown changes face with the season too. In spring, hanami dango while you look at the cherry blossoms (at Sensoji, or along the graves of Yanaka); in summer, natural-ice shaved ice like Yanaka's Himitsudo takes the lead. Autumn and winter bring a craving for Hoppy Street's beef nikomi and hot tendon and soba. The market's seafood, too, is fattest toward winter. If your season is set, build around the plate that is strong then, and the same route feels different.

More to come

For now, Tokyo starts with three routes — Asakusa, Tsukiji and Yanaka. In the downtown alone there is still Tsukishima's monja, the "sen-bero" cheap-drinking of Tateishi and Kita-senju, and the old houses of Kagurazaka and Ningyocho — plenty more to walk. Routes will be added over time. For now, take these three and walk the "Tokyo downtown plate" of temple gate, market and cat town, each in turn.