We all have heard about Sushi, Ramen, and Tempura, but have you ever heard of Hitsumabushi, Miso Nikomi Udon, or Tebasaki? Chances are you haven’t. And that’s okay. These and more are the local dishes you will get to try on a ‘Specialties of Nagoya Food Tour’. This tour will let you deep-dive into the Nagoyan cuisine and by extension the culture and even history of the city.
2-6 people (15000 yen/person)
Private Experience
Oasis 21 Sakae Station (Google Maps)
Sakae Station (Google Maps)
Start flexible between 11:00 and 15:00 (3.5 hours)
English, German, Japanese
English: Fluent ★★★★☆
German: Native ★★★★★
Japanese: Business ★★★☆☆
This food tour of Nagoya will provide you with the unique opportunity to learn about the local food culture.
Meet your knowledgeable guide in the heart of the city from where you will start exploring the food scene on foot. There will be quite a bit of walking involved, but don’t worry lots of breaks at restaurants are provided throughout the tour where you can rest and recharge your energy.
You will try Miso Nikomi Udon, a variety of Udon noodles served in a steaming hot soup of red Miso paste, try pickles from the world’s longest radish, hear the story behind the local rice balls stuffed with shrimp Tempura, and explore the underground level of Japan’s oldest department store.
Your tour guide will talk about Japanese demons and famine and what they have to do with a local sweet potato treat. Learn how to eat Hitsumabushi, the local dish made from freshwater eel. Because in Japan it’s always more complicated than you think.
And finally learn about the drinking culture of Japan in a popular Nagoya Izakaya, and wash down your peppery chicken wings with a cold Japanese beer or other beverage.
All of this and more is included in the ‘Specialties of Nagoya Food Tour’!
Meet your guide at Oasis 21 Bus Terminal in Sakae. You will learn about the brief history of Nagoya from its founding all the way to today. The views on top of Oasis 21 will help you orient yourself in the city and the guide will point out the places of interest.
We hope you are hungry by that point, because your first stop of the tour is waiting. It is a restaurant known for popularizing Miso Nikomi Udon. A local specialty made of Udon noodles in a flavorful and dark Miso-based soup.
The second shop you visit has only 8 seats and sells only a single item: Ebi Tenmusu, mini-sized rice balls stuffed with a single shrimp Tempura and wrapped in seaweed. Hot and salty, this dish is simple and delicious.
It is time to explore the underground levels of Matsuzakaya, arguably the oldest Department Store in Japan. Here you will find a wide variety of foods, confectionaries, sweets, and more. You will get to try Ebi Senbei, shrimp rice crackers as well as Oni Manju, sweet potato rice cakes.
The highlight of this tour is no doubt the Hitsumabushi, grilled freshwater eel on rice. A real local specialty that doesn’t come cheap. And its consumption has to follow some important rules.
By this point you will surely feel full to the bursting, but even now it is hard to say no to an ice cold beer or cocktail served with peppery deep-fried chicken wings called Tebasaki.
From here your guide will walk you back to Sakae Station or give you directions to your hotel or any other place you want to visit next.
I offer unique and authentic food tours in Nagoya. I have been living in Japan for more than 5 years and I have always loved trying and learning about the different kinds of Japanese food. Starting my food tour business in Nagoya gave me the chance to really dive deep into the local cuisine which is very different from other parts of Japan.
After living in Nagoya for one year and devoting my time to the local food, I now have knowledge about the Nagoyan food not even many locals have. I love sharing my knowledge with foreign visitors to Japan and I want people to fall in love with the local Nagoya cuisine as I have.
We are glad that we booked the tour with you. We learned a lot about foods that are found in Nagoya.
We had a great time with Lena, will tell others about the tour. Thank you again Lena.
Lena is absolutely passionate about Nagoya’s cuisine & history, and we as guests were able to grasp a part of that in-depth knowledge through her tour. I had no idea many of the shops she took us existed! I was able to enjoy learning about Nagoya and tasting new food at the same time.
She even gives good recommendations on what kind of gifts to choose for friends back home or colleagues in Japan that reflect Nagoya’s distinct history.
I would recommend for those who travel to Nagoya not only for sightseeing but also for a lifetime experience.
Thank you, Lena, for the great tour I had!
I discovered delicious Nagoya’s specialties and Lena always gave the story behind each meal or snack. Everything was carefully chosen to represent Nagoya and many of them I wouldn’t know about without joining this tour.
Lena is very friendly and very organized, always caring about everyone on the tour. She is truly passionate about Nagoya’s food. I will definitely join the tour again with friends or my family.
