Tokyo 饺子 美食之旅

Great way to start your Japan experience! We were lucky, our group was just 2 persons (just us 😉) so we had the full attention of our guide Masa. He gave a lot of information on the area and its history, on how to order in a restaurant, on the food etc. Gets you started for the rest of your Japan experience. Thanks!

We enjoyed a food tour which started out with 2 Izakayas in/near Omoide Yokocho. At each Izakaya, the tour company has negotiated a pre-set menu of many dishes and drinks. Each customer can then choose up to 3 food items and 3 drinks. The selection was quite good, we had 2 people with seafood allergies and there were still many outstanding things to choose from. The menus also offer a good variety - plenty of things that everyone likes, and a few exotic things for more adventerous travelers! The quality of the dishes were all quite good - we feel we are pretty knowledgeable culinary travelers and we were more than happy with the quality of the food and drink. The evening ended with drinks at one of the small bars in Golden Gai, We got a great tour of the Golden Gai area where we got to see the tiny unique bars and vibrant nightlife. The place we went to had an amazing selection of Japanese Whiskeys and even a few house-made(?) whiskey which was quite good.  The tour company was very easy to deal with - my tour was somewhat customized, and they were kind enough to arrange for our guide to meet us at our hotel, saving us from having to search and locate the designated meeting place.  Our guide, Masa was outstanding and a delightful, fun travel companion. He pointed out other sights all along our walking route, including a Shinto shrine and the Godzilla head. Our group is on the older side, and Masa's enthusiasm gave the whole tour a fun vibe for everyone!!!

We had the best time eating ramen with Abram. He took us to two different restaurants, one very traditional that caters almost exclusively to locals and one more modern and innovative. Both were absolutely fantastic. We had told him ahead of time we liked spicy and he made sure our last stop had lots of heat. I tried “dry“ ramen which I had never even heard of before and became an instant fan. Not only was the food delicious but Abram is a fun guy to hang around with. I absolutely would recommend to anyone visiting Tokyo.