Fourteen Plates Across Three Izakayas, Three Drinks

Three and a half hours, three or four izakayas, more than fourteen tastings, ten people at most. It amounts to a full dinner rather than a series of samples.

An izakaya is not a restaurant and not a bar: you order in rounds as the evening goes, everything is shared from the middle of the table, and the drinking and the eating keep pace with each other. Working through three of them in one night is the fastest way to understand how Japanese people actually eat out.

The plates run through grilled skewers, sashimi and the local comfort food that does not travel, and the menu changes with the season and the kitchen. Three drinks are included and you choose them: sake, local beer, or something soft.

The route covers Nishi-Shinjuku, then Kabukicho, where the neon is the point, and Omoide Yokocho, the surviving alley of tiny counters from the post-war years. It finishes around Golden Gai. About one to two kilometres of walking in total.

Your guide is bilingual, which matters in rooms where nothing is in English, and works in Japanese and English.

A separate sake tasting runs at 3:30pm beforehand as an optional add-on.

Tell them about food restrictions at least a week before the date; last-minute requests cannot be handled, and vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options are limited. The starting point can move, and they email a week ahead to confirm.