Sennichimae’s famed Doguyasuji ‘kitchen town’ is packed with shops catering to every conceivable cooking, baking, dining, drinking and serving need. Most of these stores specialise in a specific item or genre, but not Ebisuya Kanamonoten. Established back in 1938, this iconic cookware dealer’s shelves buckle under the weight of some 20,000 different products, from pots and pans to coffee machines and plastic food samples, while restaurant equipment such as ovens and industrial-grade freezers stand guard here and there throughout the labyrinthine space.
‘We sell everything you need to open a restaurant’, says Masanori Shibata, the man in charge of this culinary emporium. We certainly don’t doubt that, but there’s plenty of fun to be had here even if you aren’t planning on setting up your own eatery. Above all, Ebisuya’s more whimsical products make for superb souvenirs. How about a dainty heat-conducting ice cream spoon, or perhaps a peeler developed especially for pumpkins?