A popular monja shop in a back alley off Monja Street (Tsukishima Nishinaka-dori), its storefront covered in photographs. I had a cabbage-and-pork monja topped with cheese, crunchy noodle snacks and green seaweed, then anko-maki for dessert on the same griddle. Handwritten menus line the wall: eggplant butter, onion butter and more.
3-8-10 Tsukishima, Chuo, Tokyo
Sources: gltjp.com
This moment in the journey
From Tsukishima at dusk to the shopping street
When I came out, the lanterns of the monja shop were lit, its storefront in the back alley plastered with photographs. Crates of beer were being unloaded from a liquor-store truck, and beside a utility pole hung the sign of Kishidaya, an old-style tavern.
Camellias bloomed against the evening sky. I passed a barber's pole turning in an alley and an old shop beneath a willow tree, heading for a shopping street with an arched sign. Time to shop for dinner on the way home.
Watch this scene on YouTube4:19
More notes from this journey
Chuo, Tokyo
A shitamachi breakfast: grilled salmon and tofu miso soup
Tsukudani was born in neighboring Tsukuda.
From: A downtown table in a Tokyo row house
Chuo, Tokyo
Omurice
One story has it that omurice was born in the mid-1920s at a Western-style restaurant in Osaka, where the owner wrapped ketchup rice in a thin omelet for a regu…
From: A downtown table in a Tokyo row house
Chuo, Tokyo
Tsukishima and Tsukuda
Tsukuda was built as a fishing village by fishermen from Tsukuda in Settsu Province, brought to Edo by Tokugawa Ieyasu, and is the birthplace of tsukudani.
From: A downtown table in a Tokyo row house
Chuo, Tokyo
Sumiyoshi Shrine, Tsukuda
Founded in 1646 with a spirit brought from Tamino Shrine in Tsukuda, Settsu Province, the home village of the fishermen who built Tsukudajima.
From: A downtown table in a Tokyo row house
Chuo, Tokyo
Tsukudani
A preserved food of small fish, shellfish or seaweed simmered down in soy sauce and sugar.
From: A downtown table in a Tokyo row house
Chuo, Tokyo
Monjayaki
A shitamachi specialty: a loose batter of flour and water cooked on a griddle with cabbage and other fillings.
From: A downtown table in a Tokyo row house
More notes from Kanto
Kamogawa, Chiba
Namero on rice
Namero is a Chiba specialty handed down along the coast of the Boso Peninsula.
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Kamogawa, Chiba
Sauce yakisoba
A staple of summer festival stalls.
From: Zero minutes to the sea: summer vacation in Kamogawa
Kamogawa, Chiba
Grilled seafood skewers
The taste of the festival stall, on a small charcoal grill on the veranda.
From: Zero minutes to the sea: summer vacation in Kamogawa
Kamakura, Kanagawa
A little Kamakura drinking set
At the farmers' market near Kamakura Station, growers from around Kamakura sell "Kamakura vegetables," many varieties in small quantities, grown with as little…
From: A hundred-year-old house in the town of the Enoden
Kamakura, Kanagawa
Kenchin-jiru
A soup of root vegetables and tofu, sautéed in oil before simmering.
From: A Kamakura-vegetable breakfast and a walk on Enoshima
Kamakura, Kanagawa
Kamakura morning set with grilled dried fish
Kenchin-jiru made with Kamakura vegetables, with dried fish from the market shop grilled alongside.
From: A Kamakura-vegetable breakfast and a walk on Enoshima