Tokyo's Nostalgic Backstreet Alley: Omoide Yokocho (a.k.a. Piss Alley or Memory Lane) 东京新宿深夜食堂的回忆横丁15/6/2019 I can’t see a thing. There’s clouds of smoke billowing in every direction. People rushing by me with growling bellies or expensive cameras; and everywhere I turn I smell the essence of Japan. It’s night time in Tokyo Omoide Yokocho (more commonly known as Piss Alley or Memory Lane), and the place is starting to fill. Every shop is wafting a different delicious smell from their open BBQ’s down the narrow and crowded alley that’s usually filled with locals and tourists from every country. It has its roots in the black market which sprang up in post-war Japan in the late 1940s. It was more famously known as Piss Alley, probably as back in the old days at makeshift black market tent bars, there were no proper toilets, and drunken people just pissed around. While the entire place actually burnt down in 1999 and was remade into the alley of today, all the decor and the general vibe was deliberately made to feel authentic to the post-war era. I think this would be an awesome setting for a Kung Fu movie of sorts. There’s just something about it; from the old looking decor, the crazy amount of smoke coming from the open flames, the shoulder-to-shoulder people sitting on tiny chairs in tiny restaurants, the lights, the sounds, the smells. Oh god, the smells. It's chaos. But i love it. 在日本旅行时,我都会去居酒屋喝杯小酒吃串烧,感受一下日本的居酒屋悠哉气氛。沿着东京新宿站西口陆桥,与高楼大厦形成对比,充满昭和复古氛围的长屋,就是Omoide Yokocho (回忆横丁)。横丁在日语里是胡同、小巷的意思,思い出横丁 翻译过来就是“充满回忆的小路”,是不是光听名字就有一种很文艺很浪漫的感觉呢?然而这里之所以出名倒不是文艺,恰恰相反,是因为在这里可以体验到繁华东京最接地气的市井美食。从远处看也非常醒目的个性招牌,是这里的特色之一。回忆横丁都是满满居酒屋店家,共有80几间的餐厅。每家都是小小的,人们肩并肩地坐在吧枱前。当中有17间是串烧店,烟雾弥漫,非常热闹。虽然环境简陋但是价格相对外面的居酒屋要便宜许多,可以算是迷你版和低配版的深夜食堂了。 Impossible to find, this alley is dark, dank, borderline creepy and absolutely fabulous. Just steps away from the bright neon lights and the bustling Shinjuku, Piss Alley is an oddly quiet place with virtually no sign of hustle and bustle. The only thing you find down this alley are bars. Lots of bars. Very, very small bars. The bars seemed to be almost stacked on top of each other with what seemed like 2 feet of alley space. Each bar has only 4-6 stools and when someone in the back wanted to get out of the restaurant, all the other people sitting had to stand up and scoot in. 回忆横丁的原型是战后不久出现的黑市临时建筑群。不同于邻近的新宿的喧嚣与路旁时髦的餐厅,这一区给人古老的印象。战后食物不足的时代,很多人使用相对容易到手的牛或猪的内脏经营烧烤店,直到今天这里还有许多烧烤内脏料理和烤鸡肉串的店。其他还有定食店,金券店,酒吧,速食店等等。而当时只用一块门板做隔间的独特样式也保留下来,现在两间店之间仍然共用同一道墙。 It makes for a great experience. Pull up an empty chair in any of the restaurants and you’ll instantly be greeted by a cheerful Japanese person more than happy to supply you with a hearty meal and a tall drink. Once you’ve bathed in the experience for a while, pull out your camera and start documenting the experience. 感觉走在这回忆小路之中,人仿佛也被吸进这条充满故事的小巷弄之中。对于倾情小店的我来说,简直是加分再加分。我能够走进时光隧道,看看70年前的东京,觉得很吸引。 The lights, the lanterns, the colours – the Piss Alley is a cultural visual assault on the senses that’s nothing like how the rest of Tokyo looks like today. The Piss Alley is actually a Yakitori haven. The beautiful aroma of fire roasting yakitori skewers filled the air in the tiny yakitori-ya restaurant like a smoking meat sauna. The menu was simple, and they even had an English version (which really helped in the ordering process). You could either order each stick of yakitori a la carte, or the special mixed plate. 小店里有烧烤、黑轮、乌龙面、拉面等,有让人能马上吃饱的,也有让能小酌一杯的。店内很小,没有放置桌椅座位,只有吧台的座位,因此客人们比肩而坐享受热闹的用餐时光。推荐在这里品尝串烧和内脏料理。因为二战后最容易买到的食材是猪和牛的内脏,内脏很腥,多做成了烧烤。回忆小巷里就有很多此类美食的代表。 I ordered two special mixed plates, one with sauce and one dry version. The mix of chicken and pork were cooked fresh and served immediately. The mixed skewers of meat and vegetables were seared over flames, and the plate was then covered in a thick sauce which was like a sweet and tangy teriyaki sauce. Each stick of meat looked beautiful, and I couldn’t wait to dig in. The dry plate of yakitori was the same mixture of meat skewers, but instead of being glazed in sauce, each skewer was just salted and dry seasoned (though I think it may have been pre-marinated in the first place). Again, each skewer of meat was nicely grilled and roasted over a high flame for a slight char on the exterior. What I really loved about the yakitori that I ate on Piss Alley was that it was scorched over a hot flame so it had some wonderful crunch and charred flavor to it, yet at the same time it was only cooked until just done, and not a second longer, keeping the meat juicy. Dining at Piss Alley is not for everyone. If you like perfectly clean and quiet restaurants, formal, polite service, and non-smoking establishments, you’ll be out of luck here. This is where you come to experience izakaya dining at its most raucous and informal. This is an evening or nighttime experience. Squeeze yourself into a tiny, smoky, counter seating-only bar with years of accumulated soot and grease on its walls. Order a beer and some grilled meat skewers, and talk to the folks next to you. It’ll be a night to remember.
作为一个旅行者,我总是最喜欢到当地人最爱去的地方感受一座城市的地道风情。而来到这条小巷,你会看到那些五颜六色的招牌写着颇具特色的店名,无论是拉面烤肉还是串烧居酒屋,随便选一家都不会错,因为这些日本美食在这里填补了许多人下班以后的时光,也真正让你融入到东京的夜生活里。我漫步在回忆横丁巷弄里,真像是走进过去某一段时代里、置身于哪一部复古的电影戏剧一般。 无论是当地人还是游客,新宿都是一个独特的存在,白天这里有着变幻无穷的魅力,拥挤着很多商场高级餐厅以及知名的店铺,可是到了晚上,这里灯红酒绿,变了另外一番模样,却依旧热闹。而思出横丁,大概就像新宿的怀旧地标,这里上演着东京人的日常,也将过往,铭刻在此。
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