Himitsudō

Himitsudo, the most famous shaved ice shop 🍧 in Yanaka! When making their syrups, they never use water or store-bought products—only the best ingredients. The owner proudly says, “It’s delicious just as it is!” The syrup is made with carefully selected fresh fruit and just a touch of sugar. Their top five syrups? All made from 100% Japanese-grown fruit! Strawberries, melons, mangoes, peaches, and citrus—each one a world-class delight you can trust. Step into this nostalgic, retro-style café and enjoy a dreamy bowl of shaved ice that will stay in your happy memories forever.

Kakigori is good but quite expensive. We had the strawberries and cream, melon and chocolate banana flavored. My favorite was the melon. The grain of the ice isn’t as fine as I have had but it is still very nice.

Cute little kakigori near Ueno. Stumbled upon it by chance. The red door is quite eye catching. One member of staff was quite helpful in helping me decipher the menu which is pictorial and all in Japanese. He could speak a bit of English. Not sure about the rest. It’s a small tightly packed restaurant. I was lucky as it was very crowded and I took the last seat at the counter. I had the orange kakigori. I enjoyed it but there are kakigoris of higher standard in Tokyo like Mamatoko and Azuki to Kori.

Rich, delicious kakigoori with a homey interior! You won’t be disappointed with any of the flavors, and if you like your kakigoori with a richer, creamier texture, add yogurt as a topping! The menu is a bit difficult to read (but very cute since it’s all hand written!) but the ones at the top tend to be the premium flavors with seasonal and premium fruit. However, the wait can get long and each person in your party needs to order one item.

The kakigori was very good, but overpriced in my opinion. I’ve had much better kakigori at the same price point. I’d like to go back and try another flavor to truly judge their offerings - perhaps the appeal of the Christmas tree option was mainly the visuals - the matcha flavor was ok, but lacking in my opinion. I’ll go back again and update when I do.

When ordering the strawberry special I was expecting to get it with fresh strawberries on top (as per the pictures both here and the menu description) and instead it was just served with more strawberry syrup on top, which was disappointing. It did taste good and there is lots of choice on the menu though. the place is nice and the shaved ice is made by hand. Be prepared to queue, especially on a weekend.

Amazing kakigori in a cosy shop. No English menu but the staff are friendly and will give recommendations. Portions are also very generous and toppings are overflowing. The sweet potato cream kakigori (1600yen) is amazing, highly recommended. Full of flavour and strongly tastes of sweet potato without being too overbearing. The strawberry yoghurt kakigori (1600yen) while nice, is pretty normal. Just strawberry puree and yoghurt.

Great shaved ice! Flavors are always good and staff is nice. 30-45 min wait normal for weekend and some weekdays...no where to sit while wait outside. Shop is not airconditioned either. $14-$18 dollars for one shaved ice, depending on topping. It is huge though, able to share for sure!

Tokyo, Yanaka. March 2024. It is no secret where to find the best kakigori anytime of the year, even winter, in Yanesen. Yet unless you wander off the main thoroughfare of Yanaka Ginza you will have no idea about this place. They started as an outdoor stand and have evolved into a shop with an extensive modern list of milk and fruit flavored syrups and purees. There is a regular list updated seasonally with some things that may change daily. No matter when you come you will find an amazing variety of kakigori flavors. It starts with blocks of ice that were slowly cold frozen from spring water being shaved by a hand cranked machine. I was amazed to see such a thing still exists in Tokyo! The blade shaves fluffy airy powder that will melt on your tongue. Halhway, they will add stuff into the middle, like whipped cream, azuki bean paste, fresh fruits. Then they finish it with a mound of shaved ice that threatens to overwhelm the vessel. Finally they drizzle on some of the basic syrup flavor you ordered and top it with some puree to finish the combination. You must be very experienced to eat this without dropping melting shaved ice and puree onto the tray that holds your kakigori. Cash only. Inside they have an English version of the menu posted outside. Walk-in only. When it gets busy in the summer they have a ticketing queue. Not inexpensive. But this old school vibe in an old school inner Tokyo neighborhood is worth finding.

Waited in line a little over an hour on a Saturday afternoon at this Yanaka neighborhood shaved ice spot and it was worth every second. The place is popular with locals and I can understand why. English menu is available. Order/pay with cash while in-line on the sidewalk, patiently wait to move closer to the building, and eventually get a seat inside. The friendly staff has the timing down perfect- as soon as the previous guest leaves their counter seat, they begin manually shaving the ice for your order. A messy mountain of fluffy ice hand cranked right in front of you. The melon and yogurt is covered in a slightly tart yogurt with a side of puree melon that is perfect when poured on top. Bry's strawberry and cheese was just as tasty. The servings are huge, light, and refreshing. Worth the wait, highly recommend!

Excellent kakigori (Japanese shaved ice). We lucked out and only had to wait about 20-30 minutes. The menu is posted outside (the flavors change) and was not in english but thankfully one of the women taking orders spoke english and translated for us. I had the strawberry and milk and my husband had the plum. Both were excellent but the strawberry was the best. We compared all of the other strawberry kakigori we had on our trip to this one. So good! We happened to get seats at the counter right in front of the ice shaving machines which was fun. Very local place. The service was very friendly.