As a melting pot of cultures, cuisines, and also the center of Japanese culture, Tokyo doesn’t have many things that it can uniquely call its own. When it comes to cuisine, the one dish that is often thought of as “Tokyo’s” is called Monjayaki (もんじゃ焼き). A dish well-known amongst the Japanese, but not so amongst foreigners, Monjayaki (or Monja for short) is so popular in the Tsukishima area, that an entire street has been nicknamed the Tsukishima Monja Street. As you walk down the street, you will find yourself flanked with over 70 different shops specializing in the dish, each with a bustling izakaya-like atmosphere of people sharing the meal over a hotplate while indulging in a round of drinks.
So, what is monja? Disclaimer upfront that as a flour and paste-like dish, it looks extremely unappetizing at first glance. The key, though, is in its taste. Made using flour and dashi, the batter is usually mixed with a variety of ingredients including cabbage, mochi (餅, Rice cake), seafood and more. The batter is then poured as a thin layer onto the hotplate until it eventually cooks through and solidifies. You then use a small spatula to scrape up the ends of it, and eat it directly off the spatula. Towards the end, the solidified bits would become crispy over the hotplate, resulting in a completely different texture. On paper, it sounds completely unappealing, but you have to eat it to believe it.
There’s no batter place (pun totally intended) to try monja than at the Tsukishima Monja Street, and apart from Monja, people often get okonomiyaki (お好み焼き), an Osaka-specialty of chopped vegetables and flour cooked in a pancake shape and topped with a savory sweet sauce, as well as yakisoba (焼きそば, Stir-Fried Noodles) to go with it.
