Older than the street it cooks on

Monja is downtown Tokyo's own griddle dish: a loose batter cooked straight on the teppan built into your table, eaten off the hot iron with little metal spatulas. The table is the kitchen. This is Oshio, in Tsukishima, the neighbourhood of the famous Monja Street.

Oshio was already grilling monja before Monja Street existed. The owner puts it at close to thirty-five or forty years, back to when the street was first made. The Makoto branch is the youngest of the family's shops, and because it opened last they use it to break the mould. This is the creative-monja branch.

That's where the odd ones live: a monja piled with so much seafood they jokingly call it the Gout Set, and another that somehow tastes like carbonara. Tsukiji is close, so the first of the new wave was mentaiko, mochi and cheese. You cook all of it yourself, right on the iron.