14/7 Claire - Hmmm tripe

We ducked down a less lit up side street that was very narrow and wide enough for pedestrians only. Red Japanese lanterns outside a place mean that you can get meals and drinks (although these are not outside restaurants so it seems more like informal food). There were a few open fronted eateries we passed and one of which the lady waved us toward two empty seats. We weren’t going to stop in this area as we’d moved into an area where the locals worked, ate and played so we were quite unsure (no plastic models pictures of food here) but after walking past we had a change of heart and turned on our heals. These places are basically stools up to a tiny bar with the cooks cooking the food right in front of you, it wasn’t glam, was very basic and I’d say only a beer fridge away from street food but when you see Japanese people eating at these places you know this is something you should try for a real taste of Japan. Yakitori is grilled meat on skewers and for 1000yen you could get a special selection of different meats that they put on the griddle. We were only able to find this out from a friendly Aussie who gave us the low down. There was a pan of stew in front of us that turned out to be pigs stomach stew. I have made my mind up that nothing is off limits and I need to try things so I did. Basically tripe and tofu stew and surprising not at all as bad as it sounds. In fact, had I not known what it was I’d have probably gone as far as saying it was quite good (but I did, therefore I can’t).