Best Dishes at Tsukishima Monja Street

The foundation of the street - flour batter, chopped cabbage for sweetness, tender squid, pink shrimp, and agedama (bits of deep-fried batter that add crunch). You mix the ingredients together on the hot griddle, creating a runny, bubbling dish that firms up at the edges while staying custardy in the middle. This is monjayaki at its most authentic, ordered the same way for 50+ years.

This signature monjayaki blends the classic Edo style with contemporary toppings. The chewy rice cakes and gooey cheese create contrasting textures as they cook into the runny batter, while mentai (pollock roe) adds briny heat and pop. As you mix the batter towards the center, the ingredients fold into the crispy-edged pancake. It's a good example of how monjayaki shops innovate while respecting tradition.

Monja Kura brings the style from Gunma Prefecture, monjayaki's birthplace outside Tokyo. Using udon flour instead of the standard flour changes everything - the texture becomes chewier, more substantial, less custardy. Cooking on a copper plate rather than iron creates different heat distribution and flavor. It's a regional variation that shows monjayaki isn't monolithic, and well worth trying once you've had the classic.

Daruma's signature is precision - the batter is thinner and more refined than standard monja, and you choose between two dashi (broth) styles to mix into it, creating subtle flavor differences. This is monjayaki that rewards attention: watch how the thin batter cooks, notice the color changes, taste the depth that dashi adds. It's the kind of dish that makes you reconsider whether monjayaki is simple or sophisticated.

A newer innovation on Monja Street, Okame's jyan-monja (spicy monjayaki) brings gochujang and other Korean flavors into the traditional batter. It's richer, spicier, and more umami-forward than the classic version. The fact that the street's oldest shops happily coexist with restaurants like this shows Tsukishima's willingness to evolve while keeping its identity. Good if you want monjayaki with more heat.