Oden is winter Tokyo in a clay pot: daikon, eggs, fishcakes, konjac and beef tendon simmered for hours in a kombu-and-katsuobushi dashi spiked with shoyu; in Japan we have verified places to eat it in Tokyo. Start with where to eat Oden in Tokyo.
Oden · Tokyo
Oden is winter Tokyo in a clay pot: daikon, eggs, fishcakes, konjac and beef tendon simmered for hours in a kombu-and-katsuobushi dashi spiked with shoyu. Counter food, served piece by piece.
Oden traces to Muromachi-era miso-dengaku, but the simmered Kanto-style broth that defines Tokyo oden took shape in the late Edo period as street vendors moved indoors. The dish became a yatai (cart) and izakaya staple by the 1920s, and Tokyo's Kanto-shitate version (dark shoyu broth, no miso) is now the national reference. The dish peaks November to March; many Shinjuku and Asakusa specialists run an open clay pot at the counter from October through the new year.
Where to eat in Tokyo:
- Omoide Yokocho yakitori alley
- Shinjuku Golden Gai
- Harmonica Yokocho
Where to eat Oden in Tokyo: the editor picks