Dish finder in Tokyo

Tokyo's own Edomae style: cured and marinated fish over lightly vinegared rice. Lunch sets at serious counters cost a fraction of dinner; conveyor-belt chains are good value any time.

Tokyo's classic: a clear soy-based chicken broth with curly noodles. Buy a ticket from the machine at the door, hand it over, eat fast.

Thick cold noodles dipped into a concentrated hot broth. At the end, ask for soup-wari to thin the leftover broth into soup.

Buckwheat noodles in hot dashi, eaten standing at a counter in or near a station, in about five minutes. Add a tempura fritter on top.

Rice balls with salmon, tuna mayonnaise or pickled plum, wrapped in nori. The convenience-store version has a numbered pull-tab: follow the numbers.

Prawns, fish and vegetables in a lacy batter, fried to order. A tendon bowl over rice is the quick lunch version.

Chicken skewers over charcoal, with salt or tare sauce, in the smoky alleys under the train lines. Order a beer and a few at a time.

Breaded pork cutlet with shredded cabbage, rice, miso soup and a thick fruity sauce. Refills of cabbage and rice are often free.

A runny savoury batter cooked on a hotplate at the table and eaten off it with tiny spatulas. Tsukishima's street of monja restaurants is the place.

Daikon, eggs, fish cakes and tofu simmered in dashi, sold from convenience-store counters in winter and served in small specialist bars.

A thick, mild curry sauce over rice, often topped with a pork cutlet. Chains let you pick the spice level from one to ten.

Thin beef simmered with onion over rice, from 24-hour chains for well under ¥1,000. Add a raw egg and pickled ginger.

Eel brushed with a sweet soy glaze and grilled over charcoal, laid over rice in a lacquered box. Expensive, and eaten for stamina in high summer.

Meat- and fish-free cooking from the temples: tofu, seasonal vegetables and sesame. Dashi elsewhere usually contains fish, so this is the safe vegetarian meal.

Raw fish and roe piled over rice, at its freshest around the outer market at Tsukiji, where the stalls open early.

A fish-shaped waffle filled with sweet red bean paste, eaten hot from a paper sleeve.

A soft bun under a crisp, sugary cookie crust patterned like a melon, from bakeries and convenience stores. There is usually no melon in it.