It’s no secret that I love to eat, so when I travel, I always look for a cooking class or a food tour. It’s usually one of the most memorable parts of my holiday.
On my final day in Tokyo, I joined the Secret Food Tour of Tokyo. Ideally, I would have done this at the start of my trip so then I could have sampled more of the fabulous food as I explored Japan.
We met our guide Kunnie at the train station in Ueno. We started the tour at a sushi restaurant, sampling medium fatty tuna, red tuna, and salmon.
Then we walked through a local street market and tried 2 types of tea. We sampled ground beef cutlets named Menchi.
For lunch we ordered bento boxes in a local restaurant. Then it was time for a stroll though Uneo Park. The park grounds were originally part of the Kaneiji Temple which used to be one of the city’s wealthiest and largest temples. The park is home to many museums and Ueno zoo.
Ueno park is also famous for it’s cherry blossom trees with more than 1000 trees lining the paths. Late March and early April are usually perfect to see the spectacular trees in bloom.
These lanterns lined the paths in the park. Each one was different. It would have been gorgeous to see them lit up at night.
After the park, we visited an Izakaya (a Japanese style pub) and tried chicken yakitori.
After this we sampled Pan-fried dumplings named Gyoza. The staff at this restaurant gave us a cute origami souvenir which was a lovely gesture.
We finished the tour at the fruit stall with pineapple, strawberry or banana skewers. Trust me, you won’t need dinner after this food tour! We ate so much food!
As well as trying different food and learning more about Japanese culture, it was a great chance to meet other tourists visiting Japan.
Secret Food tours operate in cities all over the world. I highly recommend the Toyko tour.