In late January of 2019, I had my first international travel experience of the year when I flew from my hometown of Miami to Tokyo, Japan! I spent twelve incredible days exploring the cities of Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka, as well as a few of the prefectures, or states, just outside of Tokyo. What I saw and experienced during my Japanese travels blew my mind and I cannot wait to share my epic experiences with you!
On my third day in Japan, I headed out on an authentic Japanese street food tour, this time of the Sunamachi Ginza area, were I tried lots of traditional Japanese foods with my new friend Hiro from Tokyo by Food! Come along with us as I eat my way through Sunamachi Ginza!
Sunamachi Ginza is a 670-meter-long shopping district that’s filled with lots of different types of street food and family-run businesses and is a fantastic place to go to experience a slice of local Japanese life, as many tourists don’t come here. It was established roughly 60 or 70 years ago and is known as a hidden gem for foodies. I couldn’t wait to eat!
First up, we headed straight to a stall selling a variety of tempura. I started with a fried tempura fritter that contained shrimp, onion, and other vegetables. It was crunchy and juicy and had a delicious sauce on it! It was also super sweet and was one of the best tempuras I’ve ever had! It only cost 120 Yen, or $1 U.S.
Next, we went to a famous shop for a dish called inarizushi, which is a ball of sushi rice that contains soy sauce and is stuffed into deep-fried tofu. This shop makes over 400 inarizushi by hand per day! It was very sweet on the outside and absolutely delicious. I wouldn’t have even known the outside was tofu, and it had a sort of honey flavor to it. They’re filling, so I suggest sharing them if you’re planning on eating more foods! You get three inarizushi for 150 Yen, or $1.35 U.S.
We passed by lots of secondhand shops and delicatessens on our way to a miso shop. Miso is a fermented soybean paste that is a very popular ingredient in Japanese cuisine. We tried a few kinds; they had the consistency of mashed potatoes, but had pure miso flavor. They were great! I loved the one that fermented for three years!
Next, we got a deep-fried tuna minced cutlet from another stall, which I drizzled with a delicious sauce. It was soft and kind of mushy on the inside and crunchy on the outside. I loved the texture, and it was a little sweet as well! The onions throughout with the soft, minced tuna, was fantastic.
After that, we got some oden, which is a traditional Japanese hot pot dish that contains lots of different items, including a spicy cod fish cake and daikon radish. It’s a very popular dish during the winter. The fish cake was moist and juicy and also contained carrots and onions. The daikon was so soft and had absorbed a lot of the broth it had been cooked in. It was almost like a miso soup!
At our next stop, we got some yakitori, or skewered and grilled meat. Of the seven varieties, I got the pork neck and chicken thigh with spring onion. The pork neck had a really nice, smoky flavor from the charcoal and was very juicy. It was my first time having pork neck and I loved it! The chicken thigh was also juicy with a nice, teriyaki-like sauce on it. The spring onion was crunchy and delicious as well!
Then, I moved on to sake, which was super dry and a little sweet. Drinking it on the street, surrounded by locals, was amazing!
Our next dish was taiyaki, which is a fish-shaped cake that’s stuffed with red bean paste. I tried the outer portion, which was super crunchy, as an appetizer, and then I moved on to the main dish. It was hot and crunchy on the outside, and tasted like a waffle. Delicious!
Our final stop was a tea shop that sells a variety of high-quality green tea. I made some myself. It was beautiful and delicious. It was very different from other green teas I’ve had in my life!
Wow, I loved everything on this food tour of Sunamachi! If you liked this video, please give it a thumbs up, leave me a comment, and subscribe to my channel!
Okay so here we have the tuna mince cutlet. Look at that. Wow so big. And then you put this sauce on top.
Oh my god. Right there.
What's up guys? David Hoffman here from David's Been Here in Tokyo, Japan. I'm here with Hiro
in partnership with Tokyo By Food and we're here on this very local street in some very
small neighborhood on the far end of Tokyo and we're going on a food tour. So what are we doing
today and what is this place? Oh this is Tsunamachi Ginza shopping street and this is a local shopping
street and it was originated from like 60, 70 years ago. Okay. Yes and there are many many
delicacies and food and food related shops. Yeah you will enjoy a lot of Japanese local food.
Okay perfect let's go eat. Our first stop is this place right here and we're gonna have
some fried tempura. Right when you come up here it looks like a small, it's not a bakery, it's more
just like fried stuff. Got a lot of rice dishes. Here we have tempura. There we have like some
beans, some vegetables. Look at all this. All this is fried. All tempura. Oh my god. Soy sauce a little
sweet and right here I mean it's basically all together just like one big thing. It's some
shrimp. Oh some tea. Still really hot but see it's just like look at that like a big fritter.
We have shrimp. We have some other vegetables. I don't even know. It looks like some onion as well.
Oh my god it looks amazing. So crunchy, juicy. The sauce is delicious. Oh super sweet.
Super sweet.
More, more, more.
I'm in love with it. This is one of the best tempuras of all time. Oh really? Yeah.
This is so good. It's so delicious. You guys have to try it by the way. Wow. So 120 for what I just
ate and that is basically one US dollar. A little more. My friend thank you so much. Thank you. Thank
you. That was so good. You're the man. You're the man. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you.
So good. So good. Oh really? Yeah. Good. I'm really glad. That was the best tempura ever.
Yeah I mean it feels very local. I mean I don't see not one tourist here.
Not like where we just were right now which is like tourist central. So we're gonna eat
Inari sushi. Yeah this is. We will eat one of this and this shop is very famous for grandma's taste
of Inari sushi. So they make the Inari sushi like 400 for a day. All handmade. Yes. And what is it
like a dough? It's like ginger. It's ginger. Ginger yes. So next up we're gonna try Inari sushi
which is basically sushi rice stuffed into deep fried tofu. Cold. Okay here we go.
Oh wow. Oh it's delicious. It's super sweet on the outside.
I wouldn't even notice that this is tofu but it's like a nice little batter.
Feels like almost honey right? Feels like almost honey. Very sweet. Very sweet. I love how the
This is just too good. It's too freaking delicious.
What a delicious sweet snack and it costs 150 yen for three. So $1.25, $1.50 for three of these.
Really filling. I'd suggest sharing it. Your turn buddy. Also this is very sweet. Yeah it's super
sweet. It almost feels like honey. They've been here for 65 years making these delicious Inari
sushi. So it's like almost like sushi but zushi. There are like over 100 shops lined up this street.
And you said they sell like secondhand shops. Yeah yeah a lot of like delicatessen, restaurants,
secondhand shops and well actually you know this is kind of it's very popular among the like
elderly. So like there are many shops you know related to the elderly fashions too.
If you don't come on this tour you might not find this place.
Yeah this is our stop. Next stop. Sano Miso shop and miso. Do you know miso? Miso is a
you know fermented soybean paste and we use to to add spice or garnish. Yes.
Miso is Japanese you know very important seasoning and look at it. There are so many
kind of miso from each district. Each district has different you know tastes. Lighter colors
that's a shorter fermentation and the darker color that's a like longer fermentation.
So taste is you know different. How many are we trying? So maybe two or three. Yeah it's perfect.
So that's because you know seasoning. Yeah yeah yeah yeah. It's delicious. This is so good. It
tastes like a like a miso pudding like mash. Like it's almost like mashed potatoes but that's just
straight miso. Delicious. This is the one they've fermented the longest. Three years. Look how dark
it is and they give it to you on a toothpick so you just try a little bit. Oh my god. How much does
that cost for like a pound? I'm joking. I'm not taking it. But it's so freaking good. It's really
good. What would you put this on? Like a cracker or something? Yeah yeah and it's really good if
you mix with a cream cheese. Okay. Half cream cheese half miso or half miso and mayonnaise.
Half mayonnaise. It will make a very good dip sauce. This one's a sweet one right? Sweet.
Very nice. I like the one that fermented. The black one. That's the best one. That's the best one.
And this shop is very famous for tuna mince cutlet and they have like piping hot one
right now so they will prepare for us the tuna. Tuna mince cutlet. Yeah. So it's like this like
super fried right? Uh-huh. Wow. Yeah. This looks all delicious. Like everything here looks delicious.
Deep fried chickpea. Oh my god. And this minced tuna cutlet became really popular
after introducing introduced in the tv program. Japanese tv program and called Kodoku no Gurume.
Okay so here we have the tuna mince cutlet. Look at that. Wow. So big. Dude they gave me a full one huh?
And then you put this sauce on top. Oh my god. Right there.
Very mushy on the inside. Very crunchy and love the texture on the outside. It's a little sweet.
Oh yeah. There might be a lot but it's a huge piece. Oh yeah. This never ends though. This is
you can eat. I know. I know. I can eat a lot.
Still piping hot though. That's good.
I don't want to burn my gums but oh so good. Feels like a really nice tuna mince patty. The onions
are like all throughout but you can't you can't really taste them. I mean you can taste the flavor
but you can't really taste it. I mean they're all just mixed in. You can see all throughout here.
This is so good. I'm gonna finish it. That's funny. People think it's all about sushi.
It's definitely not. I haven't had sushi yet. Not yet. Not yet.
Our next stop is here. Wow. Oden. Oden. Yes. Look at that. Oden hotpot.
This is my type of food. Look at this. Oh my god. The steam. Too hot.
So what do we get? A big mix of things? You love everything.
So my recommendation is one is for spicy fish cake. Perfect.
So what do we have here? So you have the spicy fish cake. Spicy fish cake. Yeah homemade. Yeah they
make here. Oh my god. It looks really spicy. It looks really red. A lot of herbs and I mean it is
steaming hot. So juicy. So moist. Right? What fish is this? It's cod. It's cod. Cod. Bacalao in
Spain. And a lot of like vegetables in it. Carrots and onions. Tasty carrots. Onions. Oh wow. Seem
simmered. It's simmered for a long time. And it's always very important when you cook oden you have
to simmer in low heat for a long time. Okay. You can't boil. Okay. It will you know lose the aroma.
Okay. Perfect. And so oden is basically a fishy hotpot that's very popular here in Japan during
winter. Oden. Oden. And then it's very different from the hotpot in China because the hotpot in
China is like usually a lot of peppers so they have like white and red and the red is like
boiling hot. But I love this. I mean I'm gonna have one more bite. Look at that. That way. I'm
sorry guys. I bit too much. Daikon radish. It almost feels like it's been boiled so long that it's so
soft. It's ridiculously soft. The same time it's absorbed all that soup. No? Oh my god. It's a
little too hot right now. It's not spicy. Just like boiling hot. It tastes like you're
having almost like a miso soup. You know? Mixed with this fish and mixed with this radish. Okay.
I'm done. You can have all of it. So daikon radish. Japanese radish is basically it's white.
Very white. But you simmer low heat for a long time and it will you know change the color. I love
how local this place is. Like you see no tourists. No westerners. It's really amazing and it's
basically just a mix between supermarkets, little restaurants, clothing shops, more markets here and
yeah we're gonna continue. I want to have some sake. I need something to warm up. The temperature
has dropped like 10 degrees since we've been here. My hands are starting to freeze. Yes our next stop
is yakitori. Skewered chicken. Skewered chicken? Yes but you might have the option for the pork too.
It's really good.
So you are getting the the kashira which is the pork neck with salt and you will you will eat
a negima which is chicken thigh with a spring onion. It looks amazing. How many different
varieties are there? Because it looks like each one of these is different. So one, two, three, four, five,
six, seven. Seven different varieties. I'm sure it's probably like liver in here. Maybe some intestines.
I mean it just looks so good. It smells amazing as you can see the guy here. He just keeps going. He
just doesn't stop and right now is their busiest time. People are buying right now to get them home
right? Yes. And so I've been bothering on all the customers here unfortunately. Chicken thigh with
spring onion. Pork neck. I'm gonna try the pork neck first because it looks freaking delicious.
Alright guys so I'm starting with the pork neck. You can taste the charcoal coming from
there. The smokiness to it. Super juicy. I got it. It's delicious. The pork neck. I haven't
had pork neck before. It's gonna be hard to beat that one. It's a lot. Just one skewer is a lot.
Next up we have the chicken thigh and this guy has a nice sauce on top.
It's almost like a teriyaki sauce.
Super nice and juicy. A little crunchy because it's been burnt a little bit.
I'm gonna jump over to the back. Sorry guys I'm gonna have to grab this guy.
The spring onion is delicious. Very crunchy. Nice texture. So we're having takatori with sake.
Delicious rice. Oh this one's super dry. It's actually a little sweet as well.
I mean having the yakitori with the sake out here in the cold is such an experience
and it's really amazing to be out here with locals. I mean like for real this is super super local
and as you can see the food here is ridiculous. The pork neck. I think that was fantastic. Chicken
thigh. Really nice as well. You guys enjoying it? It's really delicious. Delicious? Yes.
You don't... that's my sake. It's part of my tour. Okay so we will eat a taiyaki for dessert.
Yes. What's taiyaki? Taiyaki is like outside it's a fish shape and then inside filling is
like a red bean paste in it. It's like a waffle shaped as a fish with red bean paste inside. It's
delicious. I've had it before. Hello how are you doing? Yeah I'll try one. So this shop is famous
for this. Basically he makes like a appetizer. The original ones, the real ones are like this
but like on steroids this is just like an outer base. Here we go. Oh my god.
Oh too hot. I love the shape of the fish. I destroyed it before I took a photo but it's
okay. In the inside you can see all red beans and you got custard right? Yeah. Custard is better
I'm sure. Very nice crunchy dough and I love how soft it is but at the same time it's a little
hard on the outside and I love how the scales look at them it's like little pores. It actually
tastes like a waffle. Really good especially in this in this cold weather. It really warms you up.
Oh one more bite. Okay maybe a few more bites. What the heck? Yeah it's funny.
You want it? What do you want? It's like hot fish.
Really good. A little hot though. Like a little too hot. Yeah red bean paste can be very hot.
Yeah perfect for this weather. I like the red bean paste. Oh yeah why not.
I highly recommend when you get it wait like 5-10 minutes until it cools down.
I think I burned my gums a little bit but it's fine. I love it yeah and next time I'm going to
try the custard.
So our last stop tonight is a tea shop. This tea shop looks amazing. A lot of green so a lot of
green tea right? And specialize they have a variety of high quality green tea and he is the owner and
he's very nice. He knows everybody. Neighborhood. So I'm gonna make my own green tea. Is that what I'm
doing? Yeah. Okay. Open. Okay. Perfect. Yeah. Take this out. Okay. And the rest in. Yeah.
Okay for high quality tea you don't use pipe and hot water. You let the water cool down
and then once it's cooled down in a few minutes then we'll put it in and then we'll drink. Okay
Okay so this is the proper way to hold it right? See pour. Oh look at that green tea.
Beautiful. Okay Hiro here we go. Yeah.
Green tea. Delicious green tea. I haven't had green tea like this before. Oh really? Yeah it tastes
very different. I mean it's super high quality. This is like the Ferrari of green tea right here.
It's right here in this shop. You know my name? Now you know the tea I like.
Well guys we had an amazing food tour. We started with some tempura. We made our way all the way
down to the yakitori. Had some sake down there. I think the oden, the fish cake. I also loved
the cutlet, the tuna mince cutlet. Tempura was phenomenal. Starting with that was just so good.
Yeah the yakitori, the sake and we ended here. I mean I'm sure how many places did we go to?
Like six? Seven? And then we tried the miso too. The miso was phenomenal. But guys yeah if you guys
want to do this tour definitely go to Tokyo Buy Food. Check them out. This tour is something very
unique. I mean you can't come to Tokyo and not experience something like locals. I mean this is
what I love about this place is like I'm looking down the street and all I see is local people
in a far corner in Tokyo. You were saying there's no one in here right? It's like
ghost town for foreigners. Which is great. But guys if you love this video give me a thumbs up.
Leave me a comment below and subscribe to my channel and thank you Hiro. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Now we go for some more sake. She loves sake.
