Ishibekouji Mamecha: Tokyo 2017

After exploring the autumn foliage at Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, we walked to the nearby Shinjuku Marui Annex for some much needed nourishment. That’s where we found Mamecha – located on the 8th floor of this department store.

Ippudo Takadanobaba: Tokyo 2017

On our first visit to Japan back in 2016, I recall dining at a ramen shop called Ippudo. It’s a fairly well known chain (perhaps not as popular as Ichiran) that serves up tonkotsu ramen. We found ourselves in Takadanobaba (an area on the northern outskirts of Shinjuku and the hometown of Astro Boy) when we came across this Ippudo location.

Toradyu Okonomiyaki Restaurant (Tokyo 2016): Grill It Yourself

One of the types of food that we were looking forward to trying while we visited Japan this year was okonomiyaki. These Japanese-style savory pancakes are grilled up with various ingredients and kind of resembles an omelette or pizza.

Fukuhachi Yakitori Restaurant (Tokyo 2016): Yakitori Alley Memory Lane

One dining experience that you should really plan on trying if you find yourself in Japan is the yokocho or alleyway restaurants that are crammed full of tiny yakitori restaurants. Most of these restaurants only have a dozen or so seats and are only open at night. One such alleyway located in Shinjuku is called Omoide Yokocho and is located on the west side of Shinjuku station.

Katsuya Shinjuku Nishiguchi (Tokyo 2016): Ordering Katsu by Vending Machine

Back in November, we finally made a trip to Tokyo and I have to say that it was an experience that will be well remembered. After our 10-hour direct flight from Vancouver and subsequent hour-long, 3-train ride to our hotel, we headed out in search of food. The good thing about Tokyo is that there’s food aplenty here. The bad thing is that there is so much choices to pick from.