Where is Monzen Nakacho?

Monzen Nakacho, which is commonly called ‘Mon Naka,’ is filled with a quaint atmosphere and locates at Kaito-ku (Kaito-ward) in Tokyo. Tokyo Metro Tozai Line and Toei Subway Oedo Line stops at this Monzen Nakacho station. Tomioka, the neighboring town, has the famous Tomioka Hachimangu Shrine and Monzen Nakacho developed as a town originally built around this shrine. As many shops are lined up at a shopping arcade near the station, lots of people visit ‘Mon Naka’ to enjoy shopping in a traditional atmosphere.

Report

One rainy night, I was looking for dinner after finishing my business at Mon Naka. It was 19:30 in the night. Having come all this way I wanted to eat at a Mon Naka’s local restaurant, instead of a chain restaurant.

Even I was very hungry, kept walking about 30 minutes to look for a local restaurant. This time, I chose not to search on the internet in advance so I can run into nice restaurants. It was, however, quite hard to find a nice restaurant… As the shopping arcade has many chain stores, I purposely walked around a bit far away from this arcade. Some stores were already closed at 19:00 and residential areas had no restaurants. Just when I was about to give up and return to the shopping arcade as being too hungry, finally found a nice restaurant!

Walking to Eitaibashi direction from Monzen Nakacho station for about 10 minutes, you’ll find this ‘TRATRIA LIBRO.’

This is the interior of the restaurant! It has a wood wall with relaxing and calm atmosphere.

①Ice-cold beer and highball

Firstly made a toast with these drinks! Beer is new summer orange flavor! It was very delicious that the sour and refreshing taste perfectly matched well.

②Seaweed Salad

I chose seaweed for the salad. It had chopped seafood like octopus, scallops, and squid!

③16 months aged prosciutto from Italy

Next is this special prosciutto. This was super delicious! With its large portion, alcohols tasted great! Sticks on the side also went well with the meal.

④Cream risotto of porcini mushroom from Italy

This cream risotto had a rich taste which was very very delicious…! The combination of porcini mushroom and the thick cream was just so perfect!

⑤Cream pasta of urchins from Hokkaido

This was our last dish, pasta using Hokkaido urchins abundantly. Pasta and urchins are the best pairing. Loved this dish!

⑥Mont Blanc

After eating all the dishes and feeling very satisfied, the owner offered us this free cake. The handmade Mont Blanc was really awesome. Delicious dessert after great meals and the restaurant’s hospitality made me very happy.

Summary

How did you think about this exclusive Italian restaurant? Isn’t it very fun to find a local restaurant based in the town? Monzen Nakacho is a very nice place to get into the Japanese local atmosphere. Why don’t you visit to soak into Japanese local life and enjoy the great Italian dishes here…?