When we got to Tokyo after visiting Nikko we were starving, and what’s the best place to have a late dinner if not Shinjuku?

We got out of Shinjuku station through one of its 200+ exits, heading north looking for a place to eat. We wandered around for a while looking for seats in any restaurant we could find and then spotted two empty places in the tinniest of places.

It was one of those places where you order your food ahead of time, outside the restaurant, through a vending machine. Each menu item has a corresponding button: you insert the money, choose the dish you’d like to have by clicking on it, out comes a ticket, and a bell goes off, letting them know inside that someone just ordered. Next step would be to go in, take a seat and have a delicious meal. And delicious it was: two orders of katsudon!

After putting out heads down and devour every last bite of what the tiny little lady put in front of us, we took a stroll around the area and stumbled on Omoide Yokocho — a little narrow street we’ve heard of as Piss Alley or Memory Lane. It consists of really small eateries (mostly yakitori) where people have fun, relax, eat good food and have a drink or two. Or four. We’ll leave you with the photos, they’ll explain what it is better than we’ll ever be able to.