Are you questioning in the event you ought to be part of a Shinjuku meals tour? Meals excursions might be a good way to orientate your self in a brand new metropolis, you’ll discover some hidden meals spots and be taught extra concerning the meals tradition however like all tour they are often pricy so that you wish to be certain it’s one thing you’ll take pleasure in. On this evaluation we take a more in-depth have a look at the Magical Journey Shinjuku Meals Tour, with out making a gift of the actual spoilers, so you possibly can resolve if this tour is for you.
We’ve achieved fairly just a few meals excursions in Tokyo at this level. Whereas this was our first time with Magical journey in Tokyo, we’ve had a good time on our earlier excursions with them together with my favorite Kyoto meals tour via Gion at night time. Once we had the prospect to affix Megumi on the Shinjuku Meals Tour on our latest spring journey we couldn’t wait.
Magical Journey Shinjuku Foodie Tour
We’d travelled again from relative calm of Matsumoto that afternoon into the guts of Shinjuku on a Saturday night, we had been feeling the overwhelm. Another person choosing the dinner spots was going to be an enormous aid. Truthfully, I wasn’t certain the place to begin as we had been carried alongside by the surging night crowds after we headed out from the resort at round 5pm to orient ourselves across the station space.
In sharing our expertise on the Shinjuku meals tour, please word that the locations we visited and the guides main the tour will fluctuate over time, we’re seeking to give a glimpse into the expertise right here and our ideas on it.
At 6pm we met our information, Megami and the opposite couple who had been becoming a member of the night tour on the northwest facet of Shinjuku station. From there we headed off to discover Kabukicho, the neon lit leisure district on the ‘east facet’ of Shinjuku station.
The night is run as a sort of progressive meal the place you’ve a course at every of three stops. As a slower eater I discovered this labored rather well for me giving time to eat and benefit from the environment at every place. In between eating places we bought to stroll off a little bit little bit of the total feeling earlier than we sat right down to benefit from the subsequent course and as we walked we discovered some hidden spots and noticed some key areas of Shinjuku alongside the way in which that might assist orientate us for the rest of our keep.
Our first restaurant on the tour was a sushi restaurant however as we’ve come to anticipate from Magical Journey they’ve discovered one thing a little bit totally different. On this case it has an Edo theme with lengthy wood tables and bench seats. We’re proven to our seats and given a customized ‘Magical Journey’ collaboration menu to choose from.
I go for the fashionable sushi board whereas Drew takes the extra adventurous possibility together with each trendy and Edo interval sushi choices. It was a dish loved by townspeople again within the day and the model resembles the nigiri sushi we all know right this moment made with shaped vinegared rice and uncooked fish laid excessive however it’s big, a superb 3 occasions the dimensions of regular sushi!
There may be additionally a soup, extra hearty than the standard miso, served with greens and a thicker fish base. It tastes good, however I do know higher than to refill on soup so early within the night.
There are additionally choices for vegetarians, these with a bigger urge for food, or these much less concerned about uncooked fish, together with soba noodles and grilled eel.
As a part of the tour, we select from a superb vary of drinks, each alcoholic and non-alcoholic. Drew had a beer at this cease whereas I went with the momo chu, a peach Shoshu highball, which is quite common in Japan. It’s alcoholic however this one is scrumptious and never too robust, at the least it doesn’t style too robust, they will have a little bit of a kick.
We have now round 45 minutes between ending at our first cease and our second venue. Throughout this interlude we’re taken on a strolling tour of the world. It’s a leisurely tempo and there may be lots to see. We wander via the slim lanes of Kabukicho the place tiny doorways and slim staircases lead into the hidden bars and izakaya hidden past, this a part of city gained’t come totally to life for just a few hours but however it can undergo into the early hours of the morning.
We stroll previous the lineup of maids and others seeking to appeal to vacationers to their numerous bars and institutions. Truthfully, most look bored or severely sad to be there, and who can blame them? We spot Godzilla peeking out above the brand new Gracery Resort and proceed on to discover that newer addition to Shinjuku.
We’re proven a spot to get an elevated view of Shinjuku that’s each free and public entry and but we’re the one ones there having fun with it. The town lights are mesmerizing under, however it’s quickly time to maneuver on to the subsequent a part of our meal.
One other factor I actually take pleasure in about doing a meals tour early in our keep in an space is that as you focus on your meals preferences and issues you have an interest in making an attempt along with your information, they’ll typically level out good and widespread locations to attempt one thing that you simply move so you possibly can head again there. There have been just a few locations we handed through the night that I mentally famous to seek out our approach again to within the following days.
We had been informed that our second vacation spot could be Japanese BBQ. We cease outdoors a specialty Wagyu restaurant. Once more, it’s not someplace we’d have stumbled upon ourselves. It seems to be nearly closed from the entrance, however as we make our well beyond the entrance counter and up the slim staircase, it’s clearly not.
Our desk has been put aside for us, and we make our option to it immediately. A gasoline BBQ plate is within the centre, and a sequence of plates and bowls are laid out. There’s a menu specifically ready for Magical Journey, this time providing a number of wagyu or a vegetarian possibility. I’m certain the greens are scrumptious, however the wagyu is looking, and it’s what all of us select.
There may be additionally a various drinks menu of beer, native wines, spirits, and comfortable drinks. Together with a drink at every cease is a good characteristic of this tour. It does make it really feel like an precise course of the meal that you’re taking time to cease and recognize moderately than a tasting and racing off once more.
The meal contains soup, rice, recent salad, and pickles. Given what we’ve already eaten, we’re given the choice to skip the rice, and I enthusiastically welcome that selection. Nevertheless, these with a bigger urge for food can have the total meal set.
The meat is clearly the star, and we every get to grill a bit of wagyu from 4 totally different cuts that supply a spectrum of flavour and fats marbling. This fashion, you get it cooked to your personal liking, and with meat this good, it will be onerous to go fallacious until you bought distracted and overcooked it, however it’s such a enjoyable, interactive a part of the meal that it’s unlikely.
A novel facet of this restaurant we loved is that you’ve got a salt ‘coaster’ or Himalayan salt block on which you relaxation the meat for 1-2 minutes after you take away it from the grill. This completely seasons the meat, however you possibly can add wasabi or dip it in a teriyaki-like sauce if you would like. I favor resting on the salt block, however it’s scrumptious with wasabi and sauce.
The Wagyu Olympics are run throughout Japan each 5 years to seek out the farm that provides one of the best wagyu beef. In 2021, it was gained by a farm in Kagoshima, on the very backside of Kyushu, which provides the meat to this restaurant. It was a terrific alternative to attempt a Japanese BBQ restaurant with a Japanese-speaking information.
For our remaining candy course, we went to a dagashi izakaya—one thing new to us! Dagashi is penny sweet; in Japan, they name it American sweet. It’s the processed packaged form moderately than conventional Japanese confectionery known as wagashi. An izakaya is an informal Japanese bar that sometimes additionally gives meals.
Now I usually don’t eat processed sweets, synthetic colouring and all that, so I might need anticipated to be a bit upset besides that the place was completely oozing character and enjoyable, you possibly can’t assist however get caught up in it. Additionally it is becoming to finish a night in Shinjuku. Shinjuku shouldn’t be conventional Japan; Kabukicho, specifically, clings intently to its Showa-era (post-war) roots and Americanisation. For those who boil down Kabukicho and add a contact of caprice, then this candy izakaya is it.
The place has a post-war Tokyo vibe and themed decor. You’re seated at a sales space, order your drink, after which take your basket to load up on snacks. There are each savoury and candy choices, however I’ve to confess that at this stage, I spent most of my time rummaging via the candy cabinets and baskets, some distinctive others very nostalgic.
The drinks additionally fitted the period; I had a melon soda cocktail, and Drew tried Hoppy. It’s what Hoppy Road in Asakusa is called after, however we haven’t truly tried it earlier than. Beer was nearly unattainable to get after the battle and positively not within the common finances, so Hoppy was created, a non-alcoholic carbonated drink that tasted barely like beer; add a slug of sake (no matter potent spirit is on the market), and it’s the subsequent smartest thing. It’s positively drinkable and value a attempt when you’ve the prospect, however that alcoholic melon soda I might order it once more!
What we loved most concerning the Magical Journey Shinjuku Meals Tour
An important native information.
Megami is from Western Japan however has lived in Tokyo for a few years. She (or Magical Journey) clearly had a superb relationship with every institution we visited and shared fascinating spots and knowledge each through the meal and whereas strolling between venues. The information actually does make or break a tour and, in our expertise, Magical Journey have nice individuals.
Small group.
The Magical Journey excursions are small teams, which is vital someplace like Shinjuku, the place you’ll need to maneuver via the crowds, sustain along with your information and in addition wish to hear what they’re sharing concerning the space you’re passing via.
I positively additionally put a pin in Google Maps for just a few of the spots she identified in passing so we may head again and check out a few of their dishes within the following days.
They rigorously choose and associate with every place you go to.
- The meals and drinks had been scrumptious and of excellent high quality.
- They develop a menu and drinks checklist with every place you go to that’s only for their tour so that you get to decide on what you wish to eat and drink, in fact your information offers high pointers alongside the way in which.
- Every place had our desk ready for us on arrival, so our time in every place was maximised, and the night felt full however not rushed.
Is the Shinjuku Meals Tour good worth?
We felt it was. We had a memorable night and loved all of the totally different foods and drinks choices. No meals tour in Japan is cheap, however Magical Journey excursions are sometimes a little bit extra reasonably priced and are very nicely deliberate and executed.
Different Magical Journey meals excursions
This was the Shinjuku Foodie tour, which we totally loved, however in the event you aren’t staying in Tokyo, or Shinjuku is someplace you already know fairly nicely, there are different good choices to contemplate.
They run extremely rated excursions in Kyoto and Hiroshima. Or whereas in Tokyo, you may wish to discover one other vacationer centre like Shibuya or the Tsukiji market or head someplace barely off the vacationer path just like the outdated city of Yanaka Ginza.