Amazake Yokocho (alley) is a lovely street in Ningyocho neighborhood in Tokyo. The name comes from the old days, before the big Kanto earthquake, when there was a popular shop selling amazake (a sweet drink made from fermented rice). The street, less than 400-meter long, is dotted by interesting shops and eateries.
The visit
I spent some time checking out the shops after a meal in Futaba restaurant.
The first obvious stop was Futaba shop itself specializing in tofu products.
In the shop you can find tofu in all imaginable ways. Most of their offering seems to cater to households or other restaurants, but…
There is a product you should not miss. Made out from soy milk, their donuts are something to try. Just a few hundred yen.
in front of the shop they have a bench and a couple of chairs where you can enjoy the donuts.
Next to Futaba, there is a shop called Morinoen specializing in toasted green tea (houjicha). You can smell the aroma of the green tea being toasted from the street. They have a nice houjicha soft-serve ice cream that I tried. They also have a tea room upstairs. The place deserved another visit.
Across the street there is a famous seller of taiyaki (the popular cake filled with read bean sauce shaped as a fish) called Yanagiya. On a Saturday afternoon the queue was just too much for me. Go on a weekday.
I did go back and got my prize during a weekday later in December (just 160 yen for one). It was peeping hot and the red bean paste was tasty, but I am not so expert to judge what makes people queue.
Next to the taiyaki place, there is a shop selling traditional sweets that I highly recommend. A lady that I suspect was the owner spoke English with me.
One of their signature product is a type of dorayaki, pancakes stuffed with red bean paste that have a tiger-pattern (for this reason is called torayaki, tora meaning tiger in Japanese) . Hence the tiger in the shop window. These are very nice gifts.
The choice was pretty amazing. In the end I tried a cake with chestnut. This sweet is called gyokuman, which consists of a chestnut surrounded by five stacked layers of red bean paste.
They even had some parfaits and their own soft-ice cream good for your stroll.
One more snack
Ningyocho is the place where ningyo-yaki were originated. These are small pancakes filled with sweet red bean paste shaped as heads. Literally, it means “cooked dolls” and is yet another reference to the doll-making businesses that were once located in the area (Ningyocho means “doll town”). The head actually are a reference to the faces of the Seven Lucky Gods. There are a few places selling those in Ningyocho. The ones pictured above were purchased from Amamidokoro Hatsune (甘味処 初音). On one of the corners of Amzake street Itakuraya is another shop selling them.
The check
All the snacks mentioned above cost a few hundred yen each (just a few dollars). I highly recommend this street for a good snack or two.
Where in Tokyo:
Nihombashi, Ningyocho 2.
In Japanesse: 日本橋人形町2.
Website: http://amazakeyokocho.jp.