Koto

Koto is crossed by canals and rivers in a grid. Goods moved easily by boat, so warehouses and factories gathered here, and cheap, fast food developed to feed the people working in them. Every entry for this ward begins in workers' food.

Fukagawa-meshi was originally fishermen's rice cooked with clams. These waters were clam grounds, and the dish took shape as something that could be eaten quickly on a boat, broth poured over the top. Today it exists in two lineages — broth poured over, or cooked together in a pot — and which came first depends on which shop you ask.

Bars serving nikomi are the ward's other signature. This dish of long-simmered beef offal has a lineage tidy enough that people speak of Tokyo's five great nikomi, and some of those survive in Koto. Counters are narrow and turnover is quick: order as soon as you sit, and do not linger. That is the basic etiquette of the form.