This is technically the area I spent my childhood time, and this is the soba restaurant owned by my grade school friend. It's authentic Tokyo Style soba, all hand made soba, and simply good and healthy. My favorite is always the cold soba noodle. I think you can really smell the buckwheat when it goes down your throat. You swallow and the smell somehow goes thru your throat and up thru your nose. If I am hungry, I add the tempura as well like the one you see in picture, comes with shrimp and seasonal vegetables tempura. And always finish with making soup with the hot water the soba was cooked and the sauce that you dip the soba in. And you take all the soba, everything you can to your body. God bless soba.
“If you want Tokyo style soba, Yabusoba is it. This is the soba I grew up with.”
This is the soba I grew up with. Handmade Tokyo-style soba in Ueno, owned by my grade-school friend and still one of my favorites.
Ueno has a long connection with American casual style. Hinoya is one of my favorite places to see that history through Japanese denim.
One of the first sushi restaurants I felt comfortable visiting on my own. Sit at the counter, talk to the chef and definitely try the negitoro.
Great chicken, yakitori, sake and oyakodon to finish. This is one of my favorite ways to spend an evening around Ueno.
Military jackets, MA-1s, camouflage and classic Americana. Nakata Shoten is part of the wonderfully chaotic shopping culture around Ueno.
Beer, nikomi, skewers and seats under the train tracks. Daitouryo is one of those places where Ueno feels completely like Ueno.
Small space, tons of stuff, locals and tourists all mixed together—Yamashiroya is wonderfully chaotic and, to me, very Ueno.
Good sushi doesn’t always need to be expensive or intimidating. Yoshi Sushi is an easygoing Ueno spot I like for quality sushi with family and friends.