LocalEatsJapan

If you are a lover of manga, or just restaurants with a really cool history behind them, then this is the place for you. 

This was a shop that was featured in a relatively popular manga called “manga-michi” or manga road which started in 1970 and ran for about 43-44 years. 

Because of this, when you go into the shop, and shown in the picture I put up, you can see a ton of famous manga authors whose signature and most recognizable characters are posted on the wall. 

For example, the author of slam dunk and doraemon, some of Japan’s most popular manga of all time, have visited this shop, so it is safe to say it is very popular among fans of this community. 

I personally didn’t know this was the case at all before I went, and simply just came across this restaurant randomly, but it was very cool to find out its rich history afterwards. 

The shop is family run, and it seems that it is now run by its third generation owner as well as her daughter.

This is really cool to see because the unfortunate truth is that a lot of people who run restaurants in Japan don’t end up having kids, and even if they do, it is rare that they take it over. 

They were both very nice, and it was a relatively big shop with quite a few tables. I got the feeling that it mostly consists of locals because the other people who came in after me didn’t look at the menu before they ordered. 

They serve Chinese food, and there is a term in Japanese called “machi-chuuka” which means a local, family run Chinese restaurant which is what they would be referred to as. 

Most of these restaurants tend to have similar menus with ramen, fried rice, gyoza etc.

I personally went with the fried rice and the meat set meal. 

The fried rice was great – slightly crispy and was generous with the pork and egg. It also had that nice authentic taste to it (in other words lots of msg). 

The meat set meal consisted of rice, really flavorful and well seasoned pork and half of a boiled egg, as well as some lettuce and pickled radish. 

The meat was very tender and the set was only 750 yen. With the fried rice it was only 1300, so it is very much worth your penny.

Oh yeah, every dish comes with an egg and seaweed soup for free which is a nice addition too!

The third generation element is also something I find genuinely moving about Matsuba. Japan has a real succession crisis when it comes to small restaurants — so many great places close not because the food got worse but simply because nobody was willing or able to take over. S

eeing a daughter step in alongside her mother to keep something her grandfather started going is the kind of thing that makes you want to go out of your way to support it. And the fact that the food is also legitimately good makes it even easier to justify.

The fried rice alone, with its generous pork and shredded egg, is something I would go back for on its own. But it is the combination of the history on the walls, the family behind the counter, and the honest home-style cooking that makes Matsuba one of my favourite posts on this entire blog.

This is a very good Japanese style Chinese restaurant in Tokyo that has a really unique history, so If you have the chance I highly recommend it!

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More about me

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