Fukagawa-meshi

What is Fukagawa-meshi?

Fukagawa-meshi

Fukagawa-meshi

Fukagawa-meshi (深川めし・ふかがわめし) is,
A dish that has been eaten in the Fukagawa area of Koto-ku, Tokyo, since the Edo period. It is one of the traditional dishes that allow you to feel the atmosphere of the Edo period. Tokyo speciality. Local cuisine of Tokyo.

Along with Chushichi-meshi (Saitama), Sayori-meshi (Gifu), Kayaku-meshi (Osaka) and Uzume-meshi (Shimane), it is one of the five most famous rice dishes in Japan.

The area around Fukagawa in present-day Koto-ku was once located near the mouth of the Sumida River, where an abundance of seafood, known as ‘Edomae’, was caught, with shellfish such as clams and baka-gai being among the most famous products, and Fukagawa-meshi is a dish using such shellfish and is said to have originated as a fisherman’s dish.

Fishermen in the Fukagawa area, who were short-tempered Edo people, used to eat shellfish miso soup over rice, or bowls of peeled shellfish quickly boiled and served over rice.

This style of eating was favoured by fishermen because it was quick and easy, tasty and nutritious, even when they were busy. It is now called ‘Fukagawa-meshi’.

In the past, ‘Baka-gai’ were mainly used, but now clams are exclusively used.

The dish currently served in restaurants as ‘Fukagawa-meshi’ includes Asari clam soup over rice, and the other type is made by cooking rice in clam broth and mixing peeled clams into the rice at the end. In recent years, many of the dishes served as ‘Fukagawa-meshi’ are of the ‘takikomi-gohan’ type (rice cooked with asari clams).

On the other hand, a bowl of rice topped with a bowl of asari miso soup is called ‘fukagawa-don’, some restaurants call a similar dish ‘Fukagawa-meshi’, The clear difference between ‘Fukagawa-meshi’ and ‘Fukagawa-don’ is blurred. One theory is that ‘fukagawa-don’ is a variant of fishermen’s meals, Fukagawa-meshi is said to have been derived from home-cooked rice with scallions.

where can I eat Fukagawa-meshi?

[Name]: Kappo Miyako
[Address]: 2-7-1 Tokiwa, Koto-ku, Tokyo
[Opening hours]: 11:30 – 14:00, 16:30 – 20:30 (L.O)
[Regular closing day]: Monday

[Name]: Fukagawa Yado
[Address]: 1-6-7 Miyoshi, Koto-ku, Tokyo (in front of Fukagawa Edo Shiryokan)
[Opening hours]: Weekdays 11:30-19:30, Sundays and public holidays 11:30-17:00
[Regular closing days]: Mondays, 3rd Tuesdays

[Shop name: Fukagawa Kamasho
[Address]: 2-1-13 Shirakawa, Koto-ku, Tokyo
[Opening hours]: Monday – Friday 11:00 – 15:00 17:00 – 22:00 Saturday, Sunday and holidays 11:00 – 22:00 Sat/Sun/holidays 11:00-22:00
[Closed]: 2nd and 4th Mondays