What is travel without local food? The local taste of San Francisco is really a taste of the whole world. The Japantown tour by Edible Excursions I experienced during my visit was a delicious portal into another place and culture!
Our tour guide for the Japantown food tour was Alice. I loved her; she was great! She is also a Japantown local, so she knows the area, its cultural nuances, and its food very well. Alice’s family has a long history in the area. They’ve been a part of the town since its founding days as a village, so she had a lot to share. We learned a lot about food, culture, and history on the tour. Best of all, it came from a first hand experience.
Super Mira is a small café by a grocery store. It doesn’t seem like much from the outside, but the best places usually don’t! it is really good. Definitely worth visiting. I loved the udon!
Benandkyodo has been a staple in the neighborhood forever. They say that if you want to know the local gossip, you just have to go there! My favorite thing here was the mochi. It felt so fresh.
Dosa is an Indian restaurant. The founders of the restaurant created the menu to reflect India’s cuisine as a whole, rather than just tastes from the typical regions that Westerners know. The food was amazing! Even the lasse was delicious. Yum!
Yaquiniq Café has unique drinks. We tried the sweet potato latte, which tastes as unique as it sounds. It’s become popular enough to become their signature drink.
Mifune Don is known for two things: fantastic customer service and out-of-this-world okonomiyaki. This tiny café is worth the trip.
Shalala Ramen is another yummy ramen place. I liked the Tonkotsu ramen.
Kissako Tea is very different than Crown and Crumpets, although it is also a tea house. Kissako is authentically Japanese and will transport you to Asia with its smells and tastes! If you go, try the salmon onigiri and genmai cha tea.
I highly recommend this tour. If you’re an Asian food lover and think you know your way around an Asian menu, you’ll love learning and tasting new things. If you’ve come to explore the different neighborhoods of San Francisco, I suggest you take a look into Edible Excursion Food Tours. This one costs me $92 but for the amount of food, history and culture I learned, it was totally worth it. I feel like it was a great way to learn more about Japan Town
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I would LOVE this food tour! What a neat experience!
I ssssssooooo wanna go to Japantown! Such a lucky packet.
Everything looks so historic and magical.
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Oh wow this sounds like such a great place to visit that architecture and the food!
A food tour of the city sounds great to me. I love trying new foods.
Snap there is something wonderful about getting to try new things from around a locality. x
This looks like an awesome food tour! My kids got hung up on Japanese culture when they were learning about it, and I think this would blow their minds!
Everything looks amazing.The pics are wonderful.
The architecture and food look amazing. I would really like to visit one day.
I go to Sf so often it has gotten mundane. But a new Food Tour – thanks, something new to do.
Ah! I would love to explore these little cafe’s and restaurants. My friends LOVE Japanese food.
I’m a self proclaimed foodie so this food tour is definitely a must for me! I love that you get to taste different flavors, especially from Asia. They have the most interesting dishes and they are fresh too.
I love that the tour is led by someone who really, really knows the area. This is super cool!
Your photos make the food look delicious! I’d love to try their sweet potato latte!
Japantown seems awesome! I would love to spend a day there.
This sounds like an amazing tour. All the food looks delicious.
That looks like so much fun! If we ever get out to San Francisco, I’m so there.
I think this food tour sounds like just about the best thing ever! I would love to do that if we’re ever in the area.
Japan has a very rich culture. This sounds like a super fun tour.
My son loves Japanese food, so he would love this tour. Actually, I would too. I love trying new foods and restaurants.
Same, I am a fan of Japanese food.
Local food is everything!! I love that you’re open to trying it, such a great attitude. My dad grew up in Chinatown in SF, but I haven’t checked out Japan Town! I love Japanese food so much so next time I go home I will check it out!
The foods and the infrastructures are so wonderful. Japan is a must on the bucket lust country to visit!
I would love to visit there sometime. Those photos look beautiful. That food looks really good too. I’d love to try that out.
I loved the udon and the Ramen. The indian one was also really neat. Try it.
My choice would be the Mifune Don, although they all look delicious. I love trying new foods and to me, the experience is as good as the taste.
This is so amazing, I really want to go to Japan one day, it looks so rich in culture and foreign friendly!
I love food tours! You did an amazing job with the recap as it does look like a piece of Japan in San fran!
I’m so bummed I didn’t know about this tour when I went to San Francisco! I loved Japantown but I’m sure having this food tour would have made it better. I would love to eat the okonomiyaki and sweet potato latte. Thanks for the tip!
What amazing looking places to eat! Would love to go to these places myself.
Wow, this looks like an amazing place to travel. I have never been beyond the East Coast, but someday would love to get over to this area and experience it!
Oh wow…I guess if you have China Town then it makes sense to have Japan Town. Lovely food tour
I think it is so important to get the local food while traveling – I agree that it greatly enhances the travel experience.
It was great you got a guide for yourself that could assist you in this matter – sounds like a good resource.
Wow what fun. The food looks incredible, I think this would be such a fun tour. Something I would for sure really enjoy!
It sounds like a really yummy tour! We have one authentic Japanese restaurant near us that we like to frequent because the food is soooo good. I would really love this tour!
That actually sounds like a great price for the experience! I didn’t even know that Japantown even existed. Thanks for sharing.
What? I did not know that they had a Japan town. I only went to Chinatown when I was there.
Japan town was further out.I like going to less known places.
Well, it does sound like you had fun!
This brings back so many memories! I used to live in San Francisco and loved Japantown. Thanks for all the scoop!
I did not know this existed. I definitely want to go there.
I love that this tour doesn’t feature the same old types of food usually featured on food tours! There was such a great selection of Asian cuisine!
A food tour is an awesome way to get to know new cultures!
I loved San Francisco when i was there. I would love to check out Japantown the next time i get in the area. It looks like you had a fantastic time.
The architecture and food look so beautiful! I would love to visit there, one day.
All that awesome food! I love ramen and would get a bowl whenever I have the chance. I’d love to try the okonomiyaki too!
I love San Fran. I haven’t been in so long and this makes me miss it so much. Looks like a fun excursion.
I have always wanted to visit San Francisco! I have only heard good things about the food there!
I will have to keep all of these suggestions in mind if I travel to San Fran again anytime soon. Everything looks Delicious.
Oh how cool! I haven’t visited this part of San Fransisco yet. I really need to try that food tour.
This looks like a really neat area of town to visit. I will have to check it out this food tour the next time we go to San Francisco.
Oh my God.This food looks so tasty.I bet you had really lots of fun on this food tour
I am in the city a lot and I actually have not visited Japan Town. Thanks for your list of great cafes! I will try to make it to some of them soon!
What a food tour. Totally superb and amazing. Love it.
I would love to go on a food tour one day! This looks amazing!
I would do this in a heartbeat. I love asian cuisine and crave it often.
We spend our honeymoon in San Francisco! There’s definitely a wide variety of food. We went to China Town while we were there, but I would like to check out Japan Town.
This sounds like an amazing food tour! I’d love to take this one. I’ve taken one in Atlanta and had a great time.
I had no idea this neighborhood existed! Thanks for an excuse to visit my favorite city again soon! We love San Fran!
My goodness that sounds like a wonderful place to visit some great architecture & to try out those delicious foods. I would love putting my hands on that Dosa right away, it looks yum & the pictures are so inviting!
All the food looks amazing! I was also struck by the architecture… especially the Peace Tower Japan Town.
Never thought there is a Japan town in SF. I like ramen, it is one of the best contribution of Japan in food menu!
I think that the food is one of the best things about traveling. These look like tasty places to visit.
So super interesting. I’d love to go there for the eats!
What a fun experience. We live in LA and get to San Francisco now and then. A food tour is definite motivation for a road trip!
A food tour sounds like so much fun! I’ve explored Chinatown in NY & Philly many times. I’d have to do this next time in SF!
I recently went to Hongkong and I can definitely agree that food is the one thing that matters most when you go to a different place. We really need to try the food they have to offer.