Tsukishima

An 82-seat monja restaurant on the third block of Monja Street, open straight through from 11:00 to 22:30 every day of the year. Smoking is allowed.

Its own site has English and Korean pages, which is rare here. On them the shop says its ingredients are hand-picked each day at Tsukiji or Toyosu, and that the stock is its own long-simmered recipe. Most monja on the list are ¥1,500.

Good to know

• Smoking is allowed.
• The shop's own site does not publish opening hours; the hours here come from the Tsukishima Monja Association listing.
• Open every day of the year.

A monja restaurant founded in 1954, which says on its own site that it is the oldest monja shop on Nishinaka Street, the shopping street known as Monja Street, and that it marked its seventieth year in April 2024.

It is small: three tables for up to four and two for up to six, with the shop noting that the six-seat tables are a little tight for adults. It opens at 17:00 on weekdays and 16:00 at weekends, takes its last order at 21:30, and asks guests to be inside by 21:00. There are no smoking seats.

Good to know

• Last entry is 21:00 and last orders are at 21:30.
• Closed on Tuesdays, plus one further irregular day each month.
• Bookings are by telephone only.
• Prices are not published on the shop's site.
• Kondo Honten on the same street gives its own founding year as 1950, so the two shops' claims differ.

A monja restaurant on the third block of Monja Street which gives its founding year as 1950, and says it started when the family was cooking monja in the corner of a sweet shop just after the war. The building has since been rebuilt, but the shop says it has kept the original recipe.

It opens at 17:00 on weekdays and 11:30 at weekends, and closes at 22:00 every day of the year. Courses have to be booked two days ahead, directly with the shop.

Good to know

• There is no lunch service on weekdays.
• Courses must be booked two days ahead.
• Prices are not published.
• Yoshimiya on the same street says it is the oldest monja shop there, so the two shops' claims differ.
• Listed by the Tsukishima Monja Association; the shop has no site of its own.

A monja restaurant on the fourth block of Monja Street with 65 seats, which the association also lists as a place to drink. Last orders are at 21:00, earlier than most of the street.

It is closed on Mondays, but if the Monday is a public holiday it opens and closes on the Tuesday instead. The shop runs a seasonal monja all year round: the spring one is built on shiso, cheese, raw squid and mentaiko.

Good to know

• Last orders are at 21:00.
• Closed on Mondays; if the Monday is a public holiday it opens and closes on the Tuesday instead.
• Opening hours on public holidays are not published.
• Listed by the Tsukishima Monja Association; the shop has no site of its own.

The smallest room on this list: twenty seats across five tables, down a back alley off the third block of Monja Street, run by a parent and child together. The shop says on its own site that it explains the cooking carefully, so first-timers need not worry.

It opens at 18:00 on weekdays and 17:00 at weekends, and closes at 22:30. It is closed on Mondays. The dish it is known for is a sweet shrimp monja with five or six large shrimp bought at Tsukiji; the heads and tails are grilled crisp and eaten like a cracker.

Good to know

• Closed on Mondays.
• Only twenty seats, so booking is worth it.
• The shop posts a notice of each month's opening on its own site; check it before you travel.
• There is no lunch service.

A monja restaurant with white plaster walls and wooden lattice, standing opposite a police box built in the Taisho period, on the boundary between the second and third blocks of Monja Street. It seats 40 and allows smoking.

The hours are worth reading twice: Thursday to Monday it opens for lunch and again at 17:30, but on Wednesday it opens only in the evening, at 17:00, and it is closed on Tuesdays. There is no course menu — the shop asks you to discuss budget and dishes when booking.

Good to know

• Closed on Tuesdays, and on Wednesdays there is no lunch service.
• Smoking is allowed.
• There is no set course menu.
• Listed by the Tsukishima Monja Association; the shop has no site of its own.