It’s called the Ryu no Miyako Inshokugai Shinjuku Higashiguchi Yokocho, and let’s start by explaining that mouthful of a name. In Japanese folklore, the Ryugo is the undersea palace of the Dragon God. But what we have here isn’t just a dragon palace, but an entire Dragon Capital City (“Ryu no Miyako”) with restaurant alley (“Inshokugai Yokocho”) atmosphere located near the East Exit (“Higashiguchi”) of Shinjuku Station.

The center’s exterior is done in the style in which the Dragon Palace is commonly depicted in paintings and picture books, and inside are 17 different restaurants with interior design no less eye-catching.

On the ground floor are five restaurants, specializing in cuisine from Asian countries, such as Japan, Korea, and Thailand, all of which are open 24 hours a day.

The remaining 12 eateries are found on the two basement levels, and on the bottom level are arrayed around central courtyard-style seating that allows you to mix and match menu items from whichever restaurants you want.

Many of these smaller restaurants focus on regional favorites, such as Fukuoka-style ramen or Hiroshima shellfish.

The basement-level restaurants aren’t open 24 hours a day, but they do keep serving until 8 in the morning before shutting down for a brief break until noon. They also offer gigantic cocktails served in cooking pots, woks, and other containers ordinarily used for much less intoxicating contents, presumably for sharing with the rest of your dining/drinking group, and there’s also a space for weekend-night DJ events.

Ryu no Miyako Inshokugai Shinjuku Higashiguchi Yokocho opened at the end of October, and is right across the street from Shinjuku Station, which means it’ll also be within pretty easy walking distance of the Shinjuku theater that’s going to be the venue for the live-action Evangelion stage show.

Location information
Ryu no Miyako Inshokugai Shinjuku Higashiguchi Yokocho / 龍乃都飲食街～新宿東口横丁
Address: Tokyo-to, Shinjuku-ku, Shinjuku 3-36-12
東京都新宿区新宿3丁目36−12
Website

Source, images: @Press

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