Easy and delicious - My wife and I have been on a number of food tours and this was arguably the best. The Monzen Nakacho area is not super touristy so we were able to calmly experience local spots and had enjoyable moments with restaurant/shop owners. Our guide Michelle had put together an informative and thoughtful tour. We experienced so much and the day was relaxed and personal at all times.

One of our best experiences in Japan! Highly recommend especially if you can get Chika as your guide. - Our guide, Chika, was top notch! Fun, energetic and very engaging. We thoroughly enjoyed every single minute! This tour was not only a food tour but was educational as well. We experienced a Buddhist fire ceremony, learned about fermentation, sake, plum wine and ate tuna ribs! Chika was an utter delight. We all loved this tour and would give it 10 stars if we could!

Excellent tour of the neighborhood - Our guide, Chika, took us on a wonderful tour of the Monzen Nakacho neighborhood. It was a 6 hour tour but felt longer since we had so many cool stops at small restaurants. It didn't seem like we walked too much. We had no problem meeting her at the subway stop, and she even recognized us first. Her English was very good and with a good sense of humor. We tried food we never would have thought of, which we really appreciated. We capped off a fun evening with making our own Monjayaki. Highly recommend this tour.

Go to Monzen Nakacho! - Talk about a multipurpose tour! History, food, and walking the city. The food was excellent, the chefs cared deeply about their craft, and Diana was a fun and knowledgeable host to stitch it all together. She took us to restaurants where we felt like family. Being from Texas, I’ll never forget one of the restaurant owners telling Diana the story of the Alamo in Japanese which she then translated to me! 10/10 would recommend

A PHENOMENAL time - This was such a phenomenal and unmatched experience that I can’t imagine not doing it again. I’ve never been one for food tours, but everyone I spoke to was quick to suggest it considering the sheer variety that can be found in Tokyo. Michelle did not disappoint. She was intimately familiar with the culture, the food, and seemed to have personal relationships with many if not all the places we were brought to. The owners and staff welcomed us with open arms, showcasing a wide range of personalities to go along with the interesting food. Fukugawa meishi was a personal favorite, but there wasn’t one thing we tried that I didn’t enjoy. Finding the start location was easy, the tour was a great mix of cuisine with spots of culture to let us digest between meals. Seriously, I don’t think there’s any way to go wrong with this, and I’ll be sure to look up Culinary Backstreets the next time I’m out of the country.

Exceptional Culinary/ Cultural Tour of Monzen Nakacho - This was my second tour with Culinary Backstreets in Tokyo. Such a fun, informative experience with our engaging, knowledgeable guide, Michelle. Not to mention all the delicious food and drinks we tasted along the way. This tour gives an insight into the backstory of the shop and restaurant owners in the Monzen Nakacho area of Tokyo. We walked the streets of this interesting part of the city,sampling all the culinary delights there, but Im not going to give anything away, just find out for ourself, make sure you don’t have much breakfast beforehand! There is only a max of 6 guests, I went solo and enjoyed meeting the fun, interesting people in my group. A non culinary highlight was watching the Buddhist ceremony in the local temple. Culinary Backstreets may well provide the best value food/cultural tours, and I’ve been on many. Will definitely try more in other parts of the world if I get a chance.

Great for Japanese Food Nerds! - This is the second Japan tour I’ve done with Culinary Backstreets and I had the same tour guide both times. I have to say these are hands down some of the best tours I’ve done in my life. The curation of where we go is top notch, the food is always really delicious, and I end up learning so much. I’m a huge Japanese food nerd and I feel like I get exposed to really niche Japanese food history and experiences on these tours. Definitely well worth the time and money!!

Extraordinary tour like no other! Do not pass this by if you love historical food culture! - We are avid travelers and enthusiastic foodies, particularly interested in local culinary excellence wherever we travel. When planning our trip to Japan, we put particular emphasis on extraordinary food experiences. Our extensive research led us to Culinary Backstreets Tours, (highly rated in some of the most prestigious travel magazines). Before we arrived and knowing only that Japan is one of the premier culinary destinations in the world, we chose them for both Osaka (see our review posted for the umami food tour, which also delivered a 5-star excellence rating from us!), and Tokyo. Our time schedule in each city was limited but we wanted to try as many culturally significant foods as possible, and Culinary Backstreets made that possible. The Tokyo Monzen Nakacho food tour was one of the best food tours we have ever taken anywhere in all of our travels of over 30 years! Our guide, Michelle, was beyond amazing, not only in the choices she made to introduce us to the very old school traditional food world of Japan, but also the history and clarity she presented while teaching us more than we ever dreamed possible about the food culture in this magnificent city. The description on the website cannot possibly do justice to the kind of tour this is, in both its authenticity and deliciousness! The way Michelle structured our day was like reading a thrilling book you just never want to put down, chapter by chapter, each one leading up to a grand finale that you would have never expected. This is no ordinary food tour; it is like eating a bite of history and culture at every stop! Michelle made our day absolute perfection, and by the end of the day we not only had one of the most memorable and educational days ever, but we had made a genuine friend who shared everything she knew with a group of 6 six American strangers to her city, all eager to learn and understand the importance of food and it's traditions to a culture. Her love of her city and all the amazing and unique food treasures she introduced to us was nothing we could have ever imagined before this tour, and we did it in the oldest part of Tokyo with a guide who had a personal relationship with these small local purveyors who have been honing their craft and producing the purest versions of this food for years. The places she took us to were small, quaint and incredibly authentic; every bite was not only delicious, but felt like a bite of historical knowledge, impossible to get anywhere else except on this tour. We were warmly welcomed at every stop and enjoyed meeting and learning from the dedicated people who have been part of building the incredible food culture Japan is so well known for, and who have been doing it with purity and discipline all their lives. We came away feeling like we saw the very best parts of this amazing city and left feeling like we had had the most incredible and unique food experiences in all of Japan. We know it was because of Michelle that we came to understand the country of Japan more than we ever dreamed possible in the short time that we were there. She was passionate and knowledgeable and so enthusiastic to share what she knew with us, and the time we spent on this tour with her was worth far more than the price of the ticket; every stop was better than the last and each one so thoughtfully selected not only to delight us with the best bites possible but to educate us in a way we never could have expected. She truly cares that you understand and enjoy your day, and it's so obvious she loves what she does by the way she interacted with us, and that is worth so much more than money can buy. There is absolutely nothing touristy about this tour, which was our goal, and Michelle achieved it 100%. Absolutely everything we ate, drank or experienced was included in the cost of the ticket so that you never had to reach for your wallet once. We cannot thank her or Culinary Backstreet Tours enough and many thanks and much respect to all the purveyors and everyone we met along the way who helped us create memories of Japan that we know we will carry for a lifetime! Culinary Backstreets is absolutely the top of the line, first class tour company for private food tours, and they will for sure be on our tour list for our next adventures!

Incredible experience. - We had an incredible tour. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable and did a great job teaching us not only about the food culture but many aspects of Tokyo. Would highly recommend and would take it again given the opportunity.

Great guide, food and drinks. We will be back for more. - We had a wonderful long lunch/ dinner experience with Nicole and our small group of 6. Nicole made sure that all in the group had a great time! The food was excellent across the bars and intimate restaurants, and provided an educational window to Japanese culture through the varied dining (and drinking) experiences. We will be back for more.