Yanaka Ginza Shitamachi Route

What Yanaka is

Yanaka sits at the northern edge of Taito ward, the heart of the "Yanesen" district — Yanaka, Nezu and Sendagi. This area came through the Great Kanto Earthquake and the war relatively unscathed, and its old wooden houses, temple streets and narrow lanes remain. It is a quiet downtown where many people live and cats stroll at their ease. Its emblem is a flight of steps called "Yuyake Dandan" (sunset stairs); stand at the top and you see Yanaka Ginza, an old shopping street, running straight down the slope. With none of Asakusa's dazzle or Tsukiji's rush, it is a street made for walking slowly and nibbling as you go.

Downtown deli food, and an old kissaten

The heart of the Yanaka walk is the prepared food of Yanaka Ginza. Butchers and deli shops fry menchi-katsu and croquettes at the storefront and hand them over one by one. In front of Nippori station, a stand-and-eat soba topped with a squid-tentacle tempura that overflows the bowl gives your stomach a base. The sweets are rich too: shaved ice from natural ice, an ice-cream monaka from a sweet shop running since 1912, and a baked doughnut shaped like a cat's tail, all particular to this street. Finish in a kissaten set in an old house, over a fluffy thick-omelette sandwich. Fried food, sweets and coffee share one quiet downtown street.

How to walk this route

Start at Nippori station. Right by the north exit is Ichiyoshi Soba; eat its signature squid-tentacle tempura soba standing up to lay a base. A few steps on is Yuyake Dandan. Down the steps is Yanaka Ginza, where you eat Nikuno Sato's menchi-katsu and a deli croquette hot, one or two. Nibbling a Yanaka "cat's tail" baked doughnut, head south. In hot weather, Himitsudo's shaved ice is not to be missed. Turning toward Ueno-Sakuragi, pause over Imojin's ice-cream monaka and Kayaba Coffee's egg sandwich. About two hours on foot; with its slopes and steps, the street rewards a slow pace.

What to look for

First the fried food. Nikuno Sato makes its menchi-katsu with A5 wagyu, handed over fresh from the fryer one at a time. A deli croquette runs about a hundred yen, eaten standing beside the shop in downtown style. Nippori's Ichiyoshi Soba is famous for a giant squid-tentacle tempura that overflows the bowl. Among sweets, Himitsudo's shaved ice, astonishingly light off natural ice, and Imojin's ice-cream monaka, running since 1912. The "cat's tail" baked doughnut, in the spirit of this cat town, photographs well too. And to close, Kayaba Coffee — a fluffy egg sandwich and a coffee inside an old building.

Before you go

Yanaka is also a lived-in neighbourhood. Many Yanaka Ginza shops close on Mondays, and Himitsudo's shaved ice and the popular kissaten can draw long queues by season and time of day. To avoid the crowds, a weekday morning is best. With its slopes and steps (Yuyake Dandan), wear easy shoes. Homes and temples are close and it is quiet, so carry your food-walk rubbish out, don't stop in the middle of the lane, and spare a thought for the people who live here. Hours and closing days change, so confirm at each shop.