Thirteen Dishes Between Memory Lane and Golden Gai

Thirteen dishes at four places in three hours, with twelve people at most, meeting outside the AOKI clothing shop by the west exit of Shinjuku station.

The four are deliberately different kinds of room. A stall in Omoide Yokocho, the alley of tiny counters left over from the black-market stalls that stood here after the war, where six seats is a full house and the smoke from the yakitori grills has soaked into the wood. An izakaya, which is the Japanese pub: you order in rounds, everything is shared, and the drinking and the eating happen at the same speed. A traditional restaurant in Kabukicho. And a gastrobar.

Kabukicho is Tokyo's best-known entertainment district and your guide explains what the various establishments actually are, which saves a certain amount of guessing.

Golden Gai comes at the end: six narrow lanes holding more than two hundred bars, most of them big enough for five or six people, and one of the very few blocks of post-war Tokyo that was never redeveloped.

Two complimentary drinks are included, alcoholic or not.

The tour ends near the southeast exit of Shinjuku station, and your guide will walk you back to the meeting point if you would rather.

English-speaking guide. Tell them about allergies or dietary restrictions in advance. Some venues are in basements or on upper floors with no lift, so wheelchair users should ask before booking; guides cannot help physically. Download WhatsApp so the guide can reach you.